Quite a bit of UT bashing...

#1
DownNDirty

DownNDirty

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#1
No, I'm NOT one of the people that believe ESPN hates us but yesterday and today so far there hasn't been much UT basketball love. Thank God we have a tournament to have a chance to win a national title and its not just like the bowl games in football.

Yesterday afternoon I was listening to Tom Brennan, Doug Gottlieb, and someone else in the ESPN studio. They were talking about the comparison between the UNC/Duke match this weekend and the match when Memphis/UT went at it a couple of weeks ago. Brennan said something like watching UNC/Duke was like watching poetry in motion - pure basketball. He said watching Memphis and UT he felt he needed to be in a tree somewhere watching it since all it amounted to was streetball.

Listening to Joe Lunarti this morning on Mike and Mike he was talking like Kansas might get the other #1 seed over UT. Hey, there's still plenty of ball to be played and I don't really let little things irritate me that much. I can blow it off because they have to talk to help create excitement and drama but its just been pretty amazing with some of the things I've heard the past couple of days. I'm not as intelligent as some of the posters on here for sure in basketball knowledge. But, I do know that the comment by Brennan especially was pretty low to both UT and Memphis. But, really I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from him. Oh well, at least we can play it out on the court and earn everything we get.
 
#2
#2
Well, when people start hating you and they are talking about you all the time, It means your doing something right :good!: Screw ESPN and thier opinions.
 
#3
#3
Very interesting observation and post DD. UT will need to make a deep tourney run to get any national respect on the level with NC or Duke...even though I believe this UT team would destroy Duke.
 
#4
#4
UT is no way a lock for a 1 seed. Had a chance to sow it up and blew it. Needs to win a few more and hope someone else loses to be SURE of it.
 
#5
#5
I think when you factor in the rpi and the fact that we earned the 1 spot by beating the team that held the 1 spot at the time we should get the nod. We are not a lock but as long as we don't stumble and make an early exit in the sec tournament we should be ok.
 
#6
#6
Again WHO CARES ABOUT THE #1 SEED...You do not have to be a #1 to win the tourney...Just take care of what we can control and the rest is just gravy...9 Game Season!...Get 'em fired up Bruce!:rock:
 
#7
#7
DownNDirty said:
Yesterday afternoon I was listening to Tom Brennan, Doug Gottlieb, and someone else in the ESPN studio. They were talking about the comparison between the UNC/Duke match this weekend and the match when Memphis/UT went at it a couple of weeks ago. Brennan said something like watching UNC/Duke was like watching poetry in motion - pure basketball. He said watching Memphis and UT he felt he needed to be in a tree somewhere watching it since all it amounted to was streetball.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the whole "trees" comment rubbed me the wrong way too. They also said that the Tennessee and Memphis game was a "one time thing"..
 
#8
#8
G0V0LS33 said:
Again WHO CARES ABOUT THE #1 SEED...You do not have to be a #1 to win the tourney...Just take care of what we can control and the rest is just gravy...9 Game Season!...Get 'em fired up Bruce!:rock:
Click to expand...


Apperantly I care, as do many others, and this is a fourm to talk about sports and to hope our team does well. Winning 9 games is easier when you are a one seed
 
#9
#9
OWB said:
Yeah, the whole "trees" comment rubbed me the wrong way too. They also said that the Tennessee and Memphis game was a "one time thing"..
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Yeah I could see that, perhaps "park benches" would have been better.

One time thing? As in next year it's not going to be as exciting?
 
#10
#10
G0V0LS33 said:
Again WHO CARES ABOUT THE #1 SEED...
Click to expand...

A 1 seed obviously doesn't guarantee a National Championship or a trip to the Final Four..but, historically, 1 seeds have won more national championships and have been in more Final Fours than any other seeds.

It's big.
 
#11
#11
OWB said:
Yeah, the whole "trees" comment rubbed me the wrong way too. They also said that the Tennessee and Memphis game was a "one time thing"..
Click to expand...

I probably read into things more than I should. I work in radio and do ballgames here in East TN and have to be very conscious of what I say as to not offend anyone. The comment by Brennan to me wasn't just about streetball and trees. To me, the way it came out was almost like "those hillbillies in TN are better off watching games from trees." He DID NOT say that but that's immediately what I thought of when he said trees. I'm 28, lived here all of my life, and can take the usual yokel bashing with the best of them. The hillbilly jokes are just part of the culture here - don't really bother me that much until some idiot like Brennan spouts off and makes a cheap comment like that. Maybe he meant it literally but you can sometimes just tell by people's expressions and the diction of their wording that they don't mean exactly what they are saying. I got that vibe when he was talking about the tree comment yesterday. I guess that's the part that has chapped my rear end the most.
 
#12
#12
Bruce cares about the #1 seed, he said history says a #1 seed makes it to the final four twice as often as a #2 seed.
So with that in mind I care for a #1 seed!
 
#13
#13
G0V0LS33 said:
Again WHO CARES ABOUT THE #1 SEED...You do not have to be a #1 to win the tourney...Just take care of what we can control and the rest is just gravy...9 Game Season!...Get 'em fired up Bruce!:rock:
Click to expand...

There is very little you can control in the tournament. There are no easy games once you get to the second and third rounds so I'm not sure you could call it gravy.
 
#14
#14
I believe Lunardi still has us as a # 1 seed and he seems to be the one at ESPN that knows what's going on. If we win out or even make it to the SEC Championship game, I don't think that they can deny us a # 1 seed. # 1 in RPI, # 2 in strength of schedule, a win over the # 1 team in the country on the road, and a 28-3 regular season record should be enough to be a # 1 seed.
 
#16
#16
DownNDirty said:
But, I do know that the comment by Brennan especially was pretty low to both UT and Memphis. But, really I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from him. Oh well, at least we can play it out on the court and earn everything we get.
Click to expand...

I heard it too and was a bit surprised by the comments. Even worse (to me) was how they seemed to dismiss UT as a contender and just sort of laughed at the idea they would be a #1 seed. Just seemed a bit rude, like we're not part of the bball "elite" so we don't count.

Still it won't hurt for our guys to have a little chip on their shoulder :p
 
#21
#21
Vols are not getting any respect. We've got the #1 RPI. Doesn't that help out if we win the SEC tournament? Based on the Washington Post, the top 4 seeds would be UCLA, NC, Memphis and Kansas. If the Vols don't get it, then it should movtivate Coach Pearl and the team even more to try and run the table. GO VOLS!
 
#22
#22
If we win on Friday and Saturday, there's no way the selection committee fails to give the Vols a top seed.

There are many who already think we are the second overall number one.
 
#23
#23
Well, thank goodness for the tournament format. That is the one thing I really prefer about college BB compared to college FB - the fact that the champion is settled on the court... not by popularity contest.

We can go out and TAKE our respect... not sit around and hope that smug east and west coast writers decide we are trendy enough or pretty enough.
 
#24
#24
Its up to the Vols to shut them up. Respectfully, Tennessee will play much better teams in the NCAA tourney than they have faced in the SEC. There are teams I'd hate see them try to match up against, not that there A-game couldn't win it all though.
 
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