HoopNotes: Just some scraps

#1
orange+white=heaven

orange+white=heaven

VN GURU
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#1
Not much reading material to dig into. Heck, ESPN has tried it's best to say everything possible about the tournament. My picks are in, now nothing to do but wait.


First, some of ThePearl's comments about round one and LBS...

from utsports...
Tell about Long Beach State and how well the Vols match up for the opener Friday (2:45E).
A - "Long Beach State reminds me of my old Wisconsin-Milwaukee teams, if you will. Undersized, very athletic, great one-on-one players -- and seven seniors. It's a dangerous matchup. It's not that physically they will overwhelm us. It's just that they have so much experience and so many good one-on-one players. We'll have a hard time stopping them, and they'll have a hard time stopping us as well."
Click to expand...

What will you need from the Vols for the team to advance to the second round?
A - "Special. They've got to do something special. We're best when everybody contributes. We're going to need that if we are going to advance."
Click to expand...

Tennessean:Various notes..

In fact, if anybody slows the game down on Friday, it might be the Vols.
"This will be an up-tempo game," Pearl said. "But we don't want to go crazy with the up-tempo against these guys, because it makes them so much better."
Click to expand...

They're undersized inside, and their best player is Aaron Nixon, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound guard who can bully smaller players inside and take taller players off the dribble. The Big West Conference Player of the Year made 77 of the 49ers' school-record 261 3-pointers this season.
He reminds Pearl of Joah Tucker, who was Pearl's best player at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"They have seven seniors, and they all can play," Pearl said. "They're 20-0 when they have a lead with five minutes to go, which speaks to their experience. If we play well, we'll beat this basketball team. If we don't play well, we won't."
Click to expand...

Long Beach State's offensive system is the same one Memphis runs.
"The only difference is they shoot it better than Memphis," Pearl said. "Now they're not as big nor quite as talented as Memphis. If you'll recall, we had a lot of success against Memphis, but Memphis missed a lot of outside shots that these guys have been making. This team is built the same way."
Click to expand...

Lofton, from Maysville, Ky., is happy to be playing close by where family and friends can come see the games. Just don't ask for tickets.

"I'm probably going to turn my phone off," he said with an innocent smile. "How do you decide who to say no to?"
Click to expand...

The turnout by UT fans in Atlanta for the Vols' first-round SEC Tournament game was as large as any in recent memory, which still has Pearl apologizing for his team's early exit.
"I talked to a lot of our fans, even some families of our players, who couldn't get out until Saturday or Sunday for one reason or the other with their hotel, their flight or the bus," Pearl said. "My kids stayed in school Thursday and came down Thursday after school just in time to get to the game and turned around and had to go back Friday morning, and they weren't real happy about coming back, either.
"If we're going to make another step in the direction we want to go, we've got to advance this weekend. To do that, we have to win two games. And to do that, we're going to need our fans."
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Tennessee assistant Jason Shay, whom Pearl has tagged "Super Scout" for his ability to successfully break down foes, is handling the scouting duties for Long Beach State. Each of the nine players in their rotation got compact discs with clips and cut-ups of Long Beach's top seven players.
Click to expand...

Under Pearl, UT is 37-3 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game. Two of those losses came in the postseason — LSU last Thursday in the SEC tourney and Wichita State last season in the NCAA Tournament. The third loss was to Arkansas last season.
Click to expand...

Travel plans: The Vols will go to Columbus Wednesday.
They will practice at Nationwide Arena on Thursday from 1:15 to 1:55 p.m. That practice is open to the public.
Click to expand...

Put a good shine on those dancin' shoes folks...

Go Vols!!!
 
#11
#11
I'm glad that Coach Shay has the scout for the opening round game - that usually seems to be a good thing, as he has scouted our opponent in a lot of our bigger wins over the past couple of years.
 
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