Opinion: It feels like the Tennessee fanbase, as a whole, greatly under appreciates this basketball program. That's disappointing.

#1
TheMookieMonster

TheMookieMonster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2015
Messages
32,200
Likes
128,024
#1
I've been a little disappointed this week with some of the reactions by the fanbase online concerning the Memphis game vs. the Indiana bowl game. I'll preface this by saying, it's not in the least bit unexpected, but it's definitely disappointing to see it in action. There was a poll last night on Fox Sports Knoxville asking fans whether or not they valued a win against #13 Memphis more or the Gator Bowl against Indiana. The results? As I said, not unexpected but 55% of the fanbase said football. Now, Fox Sports Knoxville's audience is relatively small, so I actually think that number would be closer to 60% if you could realistically poll the entire fanbase.

IMO, I think people greatly over-value the importance of any non-playoff bowl game. It has a minimal impact on recruiting, and the importance of the victory is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Talk Sports! followed this poll up by discussing this morning their thoughts stating that 7-6 is far different than 8-5. Disagree. I know people will describe Tennessee as a "football school" but I disagree with the notion that at a program as big as Tennessee that you have to be one or the other. Elite programs can balance success in both sports.

In general, I thought this might be an interesting topic to discuss. Do you think our fans, as a whole, under-value our basketball program? I do. We were #1 in the country for five weeks last season and will more than likely be in the 2020 Preseason Top 5-10. Rick Barnes has this program rolling. And the future is exceedingly bright. Bowl games are meaningless, and I can't wait for another statement win for our basketball program this weekend, something our football program hasn't been able to do. GO VOLS!
 
  • Like
Reactions: knucklehead_vol, Willy14, RollerVol and 5 others
#4
#4
Volsurance said:
The Memphis game is sold out. That tells me everything. Our fan base has the capacity to think very highly of both basketball and football and the support for both shows that. What more could you want?
Click to expand...

It's not necessarily financial fan support (i.e. ticket sales) I'm referring to. That's why I said as a whole. It was more of just a discussion about what people relatively care more about. I'm not trying to start an argument, I thought it was a really interesting poll question, and I guess it was just a little disconcerting to see fans tend to care more about a meaningless bowl game than a nationally-televised Top-20 rivalry game in basketball.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RollerVol
#5
#5
Yeah, I'm definitely going to value actual attendance over a random Fox Sports poll. As noted above, the Memphis game is sold out (and probably has been for a while), so there's plenty of excitement about the game Saturday.

With the state our football program has been in for the last decade, I think Tennessee fans are just going to be very eager to latch on to positive momentum, and making it to a bowl game in Florida when we started the season with two bad OOC losses is definitely progress. I'm glad fans are psyched about football again.

I think it's fair to say we don't have the consistent, collective basketball support of a school like Kentucky, but every year Rick keeps us in the conversation, the excitement and support will continue to build. I think coaches like Rick and Bruce Pearl have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that our fans will come out in droves with the right person at the helm of the program. And really, there's no reason we shouldn't be in contention every year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RollerVol, stevo_88, rbjnet and 4 others
#6
#6
TheMookieMonster said:
It's not necessarily financial fan support (i.e. ticket sales) I'm referring to. That's why I said as a whole. It was more of just a discussion about what people relatively care more about. I'm not trying to start an argument, I thought it was a really interesting poll question, and I guess it was just a little disconcerting to see fans tend to care more about a meaningless bowl game than a nationally-televised Top-20 rivalry game in basketball.
Click to expand...

nationally televised primetime bowl game for the money-making sport on the rise is meaningless?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 08Vol, DocVOLiday, BigOrangeArsenal and 11 others
#8
#8
One is a regular season rivalry game, the other is the final chapter in the football season. If the choices were sweet 16 against Indiana, or a regular season football game against Memphis, I imagine basketball would win.

Any reasonable person wouldn't deny that the bowl game is more important than a regular season basketball game.

And this is coming from a guy who told all my friends from October 1st when asked about Tennessee, 'hey, it's basketball season now'
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 08Vol, InVOLuntary, RollerVol and 3 others
#9
#9
With basketball, I guess you could say back, stands to reason people would be a little more concerned about the state of our football program at present. Been a while since we could say, we back, on the gridiron. Not sayin we are but I think Pruitt is headed in the right direction.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RollerVol
#10
#10
You are of course entitled to your opinion....but if this was March and in the NCAAT, UT fans will travel well and there will be more excitement as it gets closer. The current game is sold out.

For football, People are excited about the bowl game, because the football team seems like it is turning the corner, like Barnes in year 3 and we are just finishing the season. Once January comes around all focus will be on BBall until the end of the tourney....
 
  • Like
Reactions: 08Vol, RollerVol and feathersax
#11
#11
You may think that a gator bowl win has "Minimal impact on recruiting" and it very well may for the 2020 class. I think however if we win this gator bowl, when we walk in to a 2021 or 2022 recruits house and say hey we won 8 games last year we feel like this train is starting to roll and if we get a couple more pieces we'll be fighting for the playoffs." How does that not help?

The issue is we are a good basketball team and yes we want to beat Memphis because they are a hated rival with a punk for a HC, but if we lose that game and still manage to have a good overall season and make the tourney it is not a big deal. This game becomes hey we lost to a ranked team or great we beat a ranked team that we hate.

The football game means more because we are trying to get where the basketball team is now on a national level.
 
  • Like
Reactions: StoneColdStunner, windrider, RollerVol and 5 others
#12
#12
TheMookieMonster said:
I've been a little disappointed this week with some of the reactions by the fanbase online concerning the Memphis game vs. the Indiana bowl game. I'll preface this by saying, it's not in the least bit unexpected, but it's definitely disappointing to see it in action. There was a poll last night on Fox Sports Knoxville asking fans whether or not they valued a win against #13 Memphis more or the Gator Bowl against Indiana. The results? As I said, not unexpected but 55% of the fanbase said football. Now, Fox Sports Knoxville's audience is relatively small, so I actually think that number would be closer to 60% if you could realistically poll the entire fanbase.

IMO, I think people greatly over-value the importance of any non-playoff bowl game. It has a minimal impact on recruiting, and the importance of the victory is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Talk Sports! followed this poll up by discussing this morning their thoughts stating that 7-6 is far different than 8-5. Disagree. I know people will describe Tennessee as a "football school" but I disagree with the notion that at a program as big as Tennessee that you have to be one or the other. Elite programs can balance success in both sports.

In general, I thought this might be an interesting topic to discuss. Do you think our fans, as a whole, under-value our basketball program? I do. We were #1 in the country for five weeks last season and will more than likely be in the 2020 Preseason Top 5-10. Rick Barnes has this program rolling. And the future is exceedingly bright. Bowl games are meaningless, and I can't wait for another statement win for our basketball program this weekend, something our football program hasn't been able to do. GO VOLS!
Click to expand...
In fairness, this happens when you achieve success in sports. An early regular season game - even a big game - does not garner the same enthusiasm once you’ve ascended as a team. At that point, enthusiasm gets centered on the post season. Another recent local example is the Preds. They made the SC Finals in 2017, and then the next season (one in which they won the Presidents Cup for the first time) felt like one giant slog till they got to the playoffs to some folks. I think it happens. Football has been out of the postseason for a few years. A bowl game is sign of progress, and people are excited. You’re overthinking it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RollerVol
#13
#13
mrredskin said:
nationally televised primetime bowl game for the money-making sport on the rise is meaningless?
Click to expand...

I think any bowl game that isn't part of the playoff is mostly meaningless. Bowl games are over-valued. The importance of getting to a bowl game for a struggling program is the extra practices that allow you to keep working with your roster longer. People cite recruiting as why bowl games matter, but I highly doubt any kid is making their decision based on what Tennessee does against Indiana. Butch Jones won plenty of bowl games and we all saw how little impact that had on the following season.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RollerVol
#15
#15
TheMookieMonster said:
It's not necessarily financial fan support (i.e. ticket sales) I'm referring to. That's why I said as a whole. It was more of just a discussion about what people relatively care more about. I'm not trying to start an argument, I thought it was a really interesting poll question, and I guess it was just a little disconcerting to see fans tend to care more about a meaningless bowl game than a nationally-televised Top-20 rivalry game in basketball.
Click to expand...
I love the basketball team. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that there are going to be 20+ more basketball games. Also basketball is more of a tournament sport. That's where Tennessee has not had any success so it does get the fan base down a little bit. Last year they managed to win 31 games but did not have one single banner or Championship to hang. Also the Fiasco at the end of last year with Barnes threatening to go to UCLA didn't help things either. I think both are important and both would be big wins if we can get them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RollerVol
#18
#18
I definitely think more people enjoy would rather pick the football program than basketball program. However, I still think Tennessee has the second best group of fans in the conference. And, outside of the bb's, ranks right up with the best of them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: feathersax
#19
#19
TheMookieMonster said:
I've been a little disappointed this week with some of the reactions by the fanbase online concerning the Memphis game vs. the Indiana bowl game. I'll preface this by saying, it's not in the least bit unexpected, but it's definitely disappointing to see it in action. There was a poll last night on Fox Sports Knoxville asking fans whether or not they valued a win against #13 Memphis more or the Gator Bowl against Indiana. The results? As I said, not unexpected but 55% of the fanbase said football. Now, Fox Sports Knoxville's audience is relatively small, so I actually think that number would be closer to 60% if you could realistically poll the entire fanbase.

IMO, I think people greatly over-value the importance of any non-playoff bowl game. It has a minimal impact on recruiting, and the importance of the victory is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Talk Sports! followed this poll up by discussing this morning their thoughts stating that 7-6 is far different than 8-5. Disagree. I know people will describe Tennessee as a "football school" but I disagree with the notion that at a program as big as Tennessee that you have to be one or the other. Elite programs can balance success in both sports.

In general, I thought this might be an interesting topic to discuss. Do you think our fans, as a whole, under-value our basketball program? I do. We were #1 in the country for five weeks last season and will more than likely be in the 2020 Preseason Top 5-10. Rick Barnes has this program rolling. And the future is exceedingly bright. Bowl games are meaningless, and I can't wait for another statement win for our basketball program this weekend, something our football program hasn't been able to do. GO VOLS!
Click to expand...



Mookie,

Although the basketball program is loved, this is a football school and that's the bottom line. Throw in the fact that the football program has been down so long, and the turn around this year and you get excitement over going to a bowl game for the first time in two years. I see your point about being both a basketball and football school, and we canbe good in both but this will still always be a football first school and that's just the way it is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 08Vol and BSOVOL1967
#21
#21
CINCYVOL said:
Mookie,

Although the basketball program is loved, this is a football school and that's the bottom line. Throw in the fact that the football program has been down so long, and the turn around this year and you get excitement over going to a bowl game for the first time in two years. I see your point about being both a basketball and football school, and we canbe good in both but this will still always be a football first school and that's just the way it is.
Click to expand...

I guess that’s my main point. I’m obviously in the minority with this opinion, which is completely fair and expected, but it’s disappointing that our basketball program, which has had immense success under Barnes, is destined to always be second-fiddle to a 7-5 football team.
 
#22
#22
TennesseeFan07 said:
I definitely think more people enjoy would rather pick the football program than basketball program. However, I still think Tennessee has the second best group of fans in the conference. And, outside of the bb's, ranks right up with the best of them.
Click to expand...
There’s no doubt. Tennessee has exceptional fan support
 
  • Like
Reactions: sport3500, cardvolfan and feathersax
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement



Back
Top