Most unexpected win in the Barnes era?

#77
#77
cncchris33 said:
Reminds me of the 2009-10 team that beat #1 Kansas with only 6 scholarship players after the infamous new year's day gun incident/traffic stop that knocked out Smith, Melvin Goins, Brian Williams, and Cam Tatum, each for an amount of time.
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Literally texted family this morning after the ZZ and IM announcement and said today would be the next 2010 KU game. Had a gut feeling we’d show up and pull it off but not in dominating fashion like that.
 
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#78
#78
VolCalls said:
Call me crazy but I don’t think Florida is even close to a top 5 team this year. I also think if you held a neutral site five team round robin with us, them, Bama, Auburn and UK the Gators would finish last. I’m just not impressed overall.
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Thats a silly example to make your point my friend. You named 5 of the top probably 7 teams in the Nation. Then say them coming in 5th means they arent good? Also I think FL is better than KY and probably Bama. They'd probably place 3rd in that tourney.
 
#81
#81
pimo1 said:
Thats a silly example to make your point my friend. You named 5 of the top probably 7 teams in the Nation. Then say them coming in 5th means they arent good? Also I think FL is better than KY and probably Bama. They'd probably place 3rd in that tourney.
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They have exactly one win over a ranked team (I’ll let you guess which one) and only 3 Quad One wins. The other four teams have 12, 7, 6, and 5. I’ll bring my receipt to you when they’re bounced the first weekend of the tournament.
 
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#82
#82
Auburn is clear cut winner with Bama close 2nd.

Vols, Ky, Fla . Vols scare me away from home. I'd rank them Fla, Ky, Vols on neutral floor. (depends
entirely on which Lanier shows up)
 
#83
#83
orangemadam said:
Auburn is clear cut winner with Bama close 2nd.

Vols, Ky, Fla . Vols scare me away from home. I'd rank them Fla, Ky, Vols on neutral floor. (depends
entirely on which Lanier shows up)
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I agree with your first sentence. The state of Alabama runs college hoops right now.
 
#84
#84
deezvols said:
I feel like this game gave us a whole new identity for when ZZ needs rest. We took a lot less 3’s and actually scored down low.
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When he went out vs Vandy with those fouls the team looked terrible and prob the reason we ended up losing among many things...I just think it was our night . And it was at home
 
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#88
#88
tennrich1 said:
That’s why USUALLY these people are muted on my TV. They are basically shooting in the dark like all of us🤷‍♂️
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They 100% are shooting in the dark just like all the rest of us. If they weren't, there's no way they would be making 3 or 400,000 a year doing TV when they could make $100 million a year in Vegas. People that get so upset about rankings and by predictions of games picks and all that, simply do not pay attention to the failures and almost every single case.
 
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#89
#89
walkenvol said:
I don’t recall another game where I had lower expectations going into tipoff. For me, this is on par with the 22 football victory over bama.
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It's for sure up there... a few others I will mention

2016-17, Barnes' second year...coming off a 15-19 season. Team was 10-9 and hosting #4 Kentucky. Hubbs scored 25 points, Schofield added 15 and Grant 13. To help the Vols win 82-80

2018-19, Team had lost to #2 Kansas in OT by 6 and was now facing #1 Gonzaga, we were a top 10 team at the time but was still not sure if we belonged...Admiral drops 30 points shooting 60% from deep and the Vols beat 'em by 3

2018-19, Beating Kentucky to make the SECT Championship game... was the 2nd win over the Wildcats that season. Sadly we then got blown out by Auburn and had an early March exit to Purdue in OT as well. But getting over that hump to make a Championship game AND beating Kentucky to do it was unexpected

2019-20, the rebuild year and the start of the post Grant Era...16-13 going into Rupp Arena to face #6 Kentucky. Was down almost 20 at one point and Fulky went wild! 27 points on 10 of 15 and went 7 of 7 from the line. Big offensive game from Pons and JJJ as well. Scored 50 points in the 2nd half and won 81-73

2021-22 the KC season where we finally won the SECT Championship over A&M had quite a few unexpected wins...the game over A&M to win the title was probably the biggest for me personally...but they beat UNC in the 4th game of the season on a Neutral court by 17...beat #6 Arizona in TBA, beat #4 Kentucky by 13 in TBA and then the 2nd most unexpected win IMO was taking down #3 Auburn at TBA in a game where Jabari Smith seemed unstoppable. After scoring just 25 in the first half the team hung 42 on them in the 2nd half while holding them to 31. 4 players scored double digits for us, but no one scored 15. Another team effort and a game where the big difference came down to rebounding. We ended up out rebounding them by 19.

2022-23 also had a few unexpected wins this team didn't have KC, Fulky was gone and our 1 & done freshmen never seemed to find his game. But again as a team this became one of the best defensive seasons we've had. Holding #3 Kansas to 50 points to when the Battle of Atlantis. Beating #10 Texas when they came into TBA...but for me this year was defined by the win over #1 Bama in TBA. Everyone thought Brandon Miller and the Crimson Tide would murder us...an offense that season scoring over 80 ppg and top 10 in the nation. But Mashack, Santi, ZZ, Aidoo, Uros and ON said not so fast my friend! Holding Bama to just 59 point the fewest of the season for them and scoring 68 ourselves behind 4 players in double digits and ON adding 9. Ball pressure, steals and making every shot a challenge for them was the difference. We created 19 turnovers, 11 steals and held them to 35.4% FG. A very close 2nd unexpected win was beating Duke to make the Sweet Sixteen AFTER losing ZZ to a torn ACL no one gave us a shot. Olivier played the single greatest game of his entire career though and we held Duke to just 52 points.

Last year after seeing what Dalton could do in the loss at UNC...no win after that seemed unexpected for me. I'd say beating Creighton in the tournament to make just our 2nd Elite Eight and Barnes' first here would be the one to highlight with Santi out. DK did what he does, but JJJ and ZZ both had big nights and each shot 50% or better from deep. Allowing DK to drive & kick and punish the Bluejays with more than just his shooting.

So mentioning all those and reliving them... for the Barnes Era:

1. Saturday beating #4 Florida by 20 with just 7 scholarship players & 2 starters out
2a. Beating #1 Bama in TBA and holding them to their lowest points total of the season
2b. Beating Duke to make Sweet Sixteen after losing ZZ to injury
4. Beating A&M to win our first SECT title in 4 decades
5. Beating #4 Kentucky in Grant's first year as a Vol and Barnes' second season
6. Fulk Smash at Rupp
 
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#90
#90
Barnes is a HOF coach and first class guy. I'm extremely grateful that we had him here over the greatest ever era of UT basketball. Having said that, the one trait of his that has always bothered me is his tendency to yank players and chew them out every time they make a mistake. During this game, he couldn't do that because he didn't have anybody to replace them. Therefore, I believe they were able to play through their mistakes and played with much greater confidence, especially in the second half. Just my opinion.
 
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