New Ranking after toppling #1

We should be above zags and below Kansas.

1. Kansas
2. Duke
3. Vols
4. Zags
5. Michigan
6. Virginia
7. Nevada



This is fair and is what it should be I would think.

I think this is spot on except the Vols and Duke should swap places.
Duke lost to the Zags on a neutral court. The Vols beat the Zags on a neutral court. The Vols only loss comes by way of the new No. 1 Kansas, which they came extremely close to knocking off as well. Michigan needs to play someone good away from home to warrant top 2 or 3 status. Duke may very well be the best team, but they have to prove it, as they don't play any true road games. Virginia like Michigan needs to actually knock off a top 5 team to move up any further. Nevada is going to be tough, but needs a top tier game or 2 to show that they should move up.
 
I think this is spot on except the Vols and Duke should swap places.
Duke lost to the Zags on a neutral court. The Vols beat the Zags on a neutral court. The Vols only loss comes by way of the new No. 1 Kansas, which they came extremely close to knocking off as well. Michigan needs to play someone good away from home to warrant top 2 or 3 status. Duke may very well be the best team, but they have to prove it, as they don't play any true road games. Virginia like Michigan needs to actually knock off a top 5 team to move up any further. Nevada is going to be tough, but needs a top tier game or 2 to show that they should move up.
Michigan knocked off Nova when they were pretty high on their floor.
 
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We are 4 in the coaches poll, about right probably but 3 would have been nice. Anything higher we end up being an even bigger target and putting even more pressure on this great team. Being 2 or 3 at the end of the season and getting a number 1 Tournament seed is best of all!
 
I’m saying any contact occurred simultaneously, at best, with a clean block at the ball. Pons doesn’t even go to the ground. If he were hit as hard as you implied with the body, he sure did a bad job of selling it.

And see my above post. Literally, no one protests the call from Tennessee’s bench. Not Barnes, an assistant, a player, not even Pons himself.
Pons himself was getting back on defense, as he should have. Defender was knocked well beyond the basket out of bounds. So, what I am getting is that play was no contact, no foul?
 
Pons himself was getting back on defense, as he should have. Defender was knocked well beyond the basket out of bounds. So, what I am getting is that play was no contact, no foul?
I agree there was contact. I don’t agree it was a foul. We can agree to disagree. We probably won’t find common ground on the topic.
 
I agree there was contact. I don’t agree it was a foul. We can agree to disagree. We probably won’t find common ground on the topic.[/QUOTE
I do appreciate your perspective. Respect your opinion. You make some good points, and obviously have a good knowledge of the game.
 
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It's really fun for the vols to be included in the discussion for top 5 ranking and potential tournament success. I think it's most gratifying that this team was built from the bottom up and isn't reliant on a whole team of one semester flashes like many of the blue clad teams. To quote Bo Ryan " we aren't doing rent a player"
 
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It's really fun for the vols to be included in the discussion for top 5 ranking and potential tournament success. I think it's most gratifying that this team was built from the bottom up and isn't reliant on a whole team of one semester flashes like many of the blue clad teams. To quote Bo Ryan " we aren't doing rent a player"
To see a team this old, this mentally tough and motivated is a rare combination these days.
 
Haha...That’s a fairly sensational interpretation of what I said.

My point is that it didn’t appear to me to be enough body contact to warrant a call. Had he hit him with the body first and that enabled him to make the block, my opinion would be different. In this case, the actual block came, at worst, simultaneously, but probably a split second before the contact with the body.

And I’m not calling it a clear no foul situation. Contact was made, clearly. I just disagree that it affected Pons’ ability to finish that dunk, and that more times than not, that won’t be called. It had nothing to do with the refs favoring Gonzaga in that moment.
I could have let the body contact go also. What clearly made it a foul to me was when he followed through with his arm and hit Pons in the head - foul every time you hit a shooter in the head. Hard to validate your position when you keep downplaying the hit to the head
 
Wes Rucker
(@wesrucker247)
#Vols coach Rick Barnes: One of the officials walked up to me during the game yesterday and said, “This feels like March.” I said, “Well, then, let’s ref it like March."


Barnes is awesome and I hope he stays forever.
 
Wes Rucker
(@wesrucker247)
#Vols coach Rick Barnes: One of the officials walked up to me during the game yesterday and said, “This feels like March.” I said, “Well, then, let’s ref it like March."


Barnes is awesome and I hope he stays forever.
Hilarious
 
I could have let the body contact go also. What clearly made it a foul to me was when he followed through with his arm and hit Pons in the head - foul every time you hit a shooter in the head. Hard to validate your position when you keep downplaying the hit to the head
I didn’t see the hit to the head as being much, and since this discussion began this morning, I’ve watched the replay half a dozen times or more and still don’t find it to be much. In fact, I think there is a stronger argument to be made for the body contact than any contact to the head. It looks to me like Pons gets his face buried in Clarke’s armpit, but I don’t see Clarke coming down on the follow-thru and clubbing him in the head that a few others seem to see.

The replay from halfcourt gives the best angle for me to make my judgement on that. Clarke seems to stop his follow-thru before making forcible contact to Pons’ head, and instead Pons just get his face buried in the chest/armpit of Clarke. I’m not sure Clarke’s arm ever touches Pons’ head, honestly. Maybe it grazes it, but nothing to force his head in any direction. It just doesn’t look like much to me with the benefit of multiple replays, camera angles, and slow motion, so I can’t fault an official for not making a snap judgement in real time when it was clear that he cleanly blocked the ball. A lot of elements to consider in that one play and about half a second to get in position and make a decision as an official on a fast break.
 

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