Pre Game/Post Season perspective....

#1
jakez4ut

jakez4ut

Patience... It's what's for dinner
Joined
Jul 7, 2005
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#1
seems like the nation today is all a buzz about tonight's game and should be. and as i've had to listen to the local yocals on the radio pump up UNC this week and as the tip tonight approaches, i've had a chance to kind of soak all this in.

a couple of things about tonight........
1. I completely understand why we are underdogs, and why there are a good many people picking us to lose. I get it. we are experimenting at the point in the NCAA tourney, not exactly a recipe for a NT run. we have been careless with the ball, haven't played great defense, and one of our best offensive weapons has been a non factor.

2. yet we still win, to the tune of 31 games. with each game now, the season just resets. each game is a season in and of itself. win, you get to play again. Lose, and your season over. i'm just really glad we had this week to get ready for tonight. and i'm hoping that tonight's season resembles what we saw in January vs. what we saw last weekend.

3. Regardless of the outcome tonight, this should be a celebration of what this program has accomplished in such a short time under Coach Pearl. Understanding that we should expect to make it to the next round, should we lose, we will still hang a banner in the rafters as the out right conf. champs for the first time in 41 years. we still have made it to back to back sweet 16's for the first time ever. we beat a no.1 ranked team for the first time in my lifetime. we were ranked no. 1 for the first time ever. it has been a good season.

4. This is just FUN. maybe moreso for those of us going to the game tonight, but i'm as excited and anxious about tonights game as i ever have been for a UT sporting even not taking place in Neyland Stadium. For that i'm grateful.

5. I don't care what anyone says about Bruce Pearl. Just keep saying it.:thumbsup: so long as people are talking, we're relavent.

6. this season has been a pure pleasure to keep up with and watch. and to be here and able to see part of what i hope to be a culmination of the best basketball season in our history, well, i can't say what that means.

so for all of you that are probably like me, excited, anxious, worried all at the same time, ENJOY IT. those feelings have usually been reserved for a select few Saturdays in the fall. And here we are, in late March, a frothing at the mouth fan base wanting, waiting, hoping to see this basketball team give us reason pound our chests and sing Rocky Top in to the wee hours.......

what a feeling. what a feeling indeed to have now, and not in Sept or October.

I care about Men's Basketball at the University of Tennessee.

i will be rooting and cheering like crazy tonight. I want to win this game. but should our season end tonight, i just couldn't help but get all this off my chest now. this team deserves that, because regardless of what happens, nothing should be taken away from them as it relates creating the atmosphere and enviroment we, the fans, now enjoy in basketball.

so, thanks coach and team, and GO VOLS.:salute:
 
#3
#3
whew, I feel winded just reading your post, but all kidding aside, spot on.

I care about Men's Basketball at the University of Tennessee.
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#6
#6
try some herbal tea. I already know I cannot stay awake until 11pm. It's just going ot have to be a Friday mornign surprise for me.
 
#7
#7
7. This huge post shows how I have gotten 0.90% done today at work like the rest of us here.:eek:lol:
 
#9
#9
Awesome post! CBP and the team have made VOL FANS enjoy men's basketball again! Thanks...:)

GO VOLS!!!
 
#10
#10
Everyone I think is excited and anxious about tonight. This may be the most memorable overall season for a while in men's bball. More than I want them to advance, I just don't want this ride to end.
 
#11
#11
VolunteerHillbilly said:
try some herbal tea. I already know I cannot stay awake until 11pm. It's just going ot have to be a Friday mornign surprise for me.
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clearly, you and i are not on the same page.......and that's ok.

this is a big deal to me. and i'm sure i'm not alone.
 
#14
#14
I have been anxious since this morning. I need to go to the gym and work out for a couple hours until I can calm down.
 
#15
#15
Here's hoping you make the ride home with a smile on your face that just won't go away Jakez.

I'm glad you managed tickets. It's only fitting.

I'll be cheering from the comfort of a leather chair(well, the chair will be behind me anyway).

When you're the kind of fan that freqeunts this Nation, the thought of what might be possible here is just... just.. indescribable.
 
#16
#16
orange+white=heaven said:
Here's hoping you make the ride home with a smile on your face that just won't go away Jakez.

I'm glad you managed tickets. It's only fitting.

I'll be cheering from the comfort of a leather chair(well, the chair will be behind me anyway).

When you're the kind of fan that freqeunts this Nation, the thought of what might be possible here is just... just.. indescribable.
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:thumbsup: exactly.
 
#18
#18
Our guys I think have to go into this game with the mindset the Louisville team is here to steal something from them. They have to IMO to play this game starving and furious, setting a tone of dominance. I also think if Chism does'nt show a huge presence tonight it'll be tough to win.
 
#21
#21
dan4vols said:
Our guys I think have to go into this game with the mindset the Louisville team is here to steal something from them. They have to IMO to play this game starving and furious, setting a tone of dominance. I also think if Chism does'nt show a huge presence tonight it'll be tough to win.
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Agreed. Chism is a huge factor. If he plays poorly, we're finished. However, if he even plays well we should squeak it out. I'm hoping he plays out of his mind and we win big. Anxiety is definitely upon us and for that I thank CBP...
 
#22
#22
I'm grateful that this basketball season has closed the long gap between New Years and the start of the 2008 Football season. We only have five months without Big Time Vol Excitement (Baseball could make World Series) instead of the usual nine months.

Go Vols!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#23
#23
I will stay up and watch the game. Im willing to sacrifice sleep for the Vols. That's saying alot since I have a newborn.
 
#24
#24
Good post Jake. While we're getting things out of the way beforehand, I'd just like to go ahead and talk about the terrible officiating in tonight's game.
 
#25
#25
OWB said:
Good post Jake. While we're getting things out of the way beforehand, I'd just like to go ahead and talk about the terrible officiating in tonight's game.
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:eek:lol:

VHB........sadly, my anxiety was spot on.

a few observations from the game:

-big orange nation showed up. i was glad to see that. as i was heading to Uptown yesterday evening, the afternoon sports show was on at Dixie's and he couldn't stop gushing about how many Tennessee fans were there.

-Washington St. played defense. they forgot they also have to score. Carolina outclassed WSU athletically. man for man, they were so much faster. once UNC got up by 8 or so, it might as well have been 20. WSU just didn't have the offense to make any kind of run to cut the lead down.

-Carolina fans.....hmmm......it's official. they're the bammers of college basketball. I'm so glad we don't have to play them on a regular basis, and had we won, i don't know that i could have sat thru 2 hours of those fans on Saturday not gotten arrested.:no: may the force be with you L'ville fans.

-what happened to us last night is what i like to call the perfect recipie for defeat. And we've all known all year what kind of opponent could beat us and what kind of game we could have that could result in a loss.

-94 ft of defense. really worked our guards over. forced them to play faster than maybe we wanted to, which caused some ill advised shots and some turnovers.

-personnel groupings...was it just me or were there some odd personnel groupings last night? i can't remember the last time, if ever, i saw Steven Pearl and Ryan Childress on the floor, at the same time?

-it was a tightly called game. there were some bad calls. some really bad calls. but at the same time, we never adjusted to the way the refs called it, and we gave up some really cheap ones, esp early on with Chism.....why guard Padgett that hard 30+ feet from the basket? Once he got in FT, along with TS and JS....you knew what was coming.

-no production from the point. JP and Ramar both had pretty bad games. though i liked the tenactiy Ramar showed, as he really tried to put this team on his back. but both had too many mistakes to overcome.

-the people that had to be factors.......weren't. Lofton had one of the worst nights he's ever had, J Smith cooled off fairly early, Chism got in ft early, TS was a non factor. Combine just poor play with L'ville playing better defense than us, and it turned out awful for the boys in orange.

-of the two teams on the floor, neither played particularly well offensively. L'ville however, played defense. credit L'ville for being the team able to dicate tempo and make us do what we didn't want to do.

-on the flipside of that.....we played 0 defense. and even when we did (how many times last night did we force a TO, only to turn it right back over? that was frustrating as all get out), we let them off the hook.

-the saddest part for me is that i know for sure the way L'ville turned the ball over, had we had any semblence of our former selves from a shooting standpoint, we could have won this game. but, we didn't play defense, we were ice cold from the feild and we turned it over way too much.


all that translates in to a 19 pt blow out loss. and i just didn't see that coming.

oh well, until next season.......go vols.
 
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