1. JP Prince is earning his place in UT history. He's starting to tip the balance for me on possibly missing him next season. He led this team from the beginning, knocked down 2 big FTs, handled the ball well, played his rear off on defense, hit the boards, got pushed out of bounds late with no call -- the kid did it all. 15 points, 6 rebounds (3 offensive), 3 assists, 3 turnovers officially (1 was a shove out of bounds with no call), and helped hold SDSU's best player to 12 points.
2. But Prince couldn't do it all. He needed some help from another leader. Enter Wayne Chism; better late than never. Wayne was a man down the stretch. He made some big buckets and may have made two of the biggest FTs of his UT career. That kid has ice in his veins. Reminds me of the game at FL two years ago when he calmly stepped to the line and nailed two big ones.
3. Five 10 and 11 seeds played today. Florida (a 10) and SDSU (an 11) were the only two to lose. Win and advance is the name of the game. Texas just showed how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Our guys (Maze, Prince, Chism, Williams, Goins) brought the victory home.
4. So many upsets that could have been picked today. I got my big one right -- St. Mary's. Georgetown, Vandy, ND. But Seth Davis. Well, to quote one of the knight guarding the Holy Grail, "He chose poorly". As much as his big mouth has run about this happening, as if it was a foregone conclusion, he should give CBS his salary back. Schmuck!
5. Here is some more perspective. We just faced one of the top rebounding teams in the nation statistically. They got 30. We got 29. We shot 41.7% from three point range. Honestly, as big as he was late, Chism is the guy who killed our 2 point FG percentage, going 4 of 12. In fact, he hurt our 3 point percentage too, even though he was a respectable 33%. We also shot a very good 77.8% from the FT line.
6. But this was a defensive show by the Vols. Aztecs shot 38.5% from the field and a paultry 16.7% from three point range. They got 10 offensive rebounds -- we got 11.
7. Thank you to the Committee for giving us San Diego State. Does anyone believe Melvin "Mighty Mouse" Goins goes 4 of 5 from three point range, including the dagger at the end, if we aren't playing a school with players he used to scrimmage with when he was in JUCO? Kid comes off the bench, I believe plays more minutes than Maze, and is tied with Prince as our leading scorer. This time last season we were lamenting our poor PG play. In fact, the last two post-seasons we have. Can anyone do that now? These two PGs combined for 26 points and no turnovers. They were also 5 of 6 from the FT line.
8. Guys, Ohio should be our dream match-up. For all those who say (me included) that Baby Pearl plays because of his last name -- John Thompson III coaches because of his. To have Greg Monroe playing on the perimeter while his team fell behind by as many as 19, only to go inside to him late and make it close, the guy is a moron. Ohio won that game by hitting 56.5% of their three pointers. And all of them were from three guys, two of them guards who played 40 and 37 minutes in that game. And one is 6'1 and the other a freshman. If there is one team in the entire field that we could play that is not playing a #1 seed on the first day, it would be Ohio. They are extremely thin, rely way to much on the three pointer -- where we excel on defense. And they aren't exactly a great defensive team. They went 7-9 in the MAC this year (9th place). Common opponents? We beat Austin Peay at home by 29. They lost to them by 2 at home. Their conference is so weak that they are the only team that got in -- by winning the conference tourney.
9. SDSU was a very athletic team in the frontcourt, but they couldn't get over the hump against the Vols offensively. Defensively, I was impressed. I thought Williams and Chism played great defense as well. DJ Gay came out of nowhere to have a good game. Hopson is really struggling, even defensively. He hit two big threes and hopefully that will get him going, but we have to get more production out of our shooting guards. You got to give it up for Williams, who grabbed 8 big rebounds. :rock:
Don't blow this Vols -- we are 20 points better than Ohio. But so is Georgetown. We have to bring it because strange things happen in the Madness.
2. But Prince couldn't do it all. He needed some help from another leader. Enter Wayne Chism; better late than never. Wayne was a man down the stretch. He made some big buckets and may have made two of the biggest FTs of his UT career. That kid has ice in his veins. Reminds me of the game at FL two years ago when he calmly stepped to the line and nailed two big ones.
3. Five 10 and 11 seeds played today. Florida (a 10) and SDSU (an 11) were the only two to lose. Win and advance is the name of the game. Texas just showed how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Our guys (Maze, Prince, Chism, Williams, Goins) brought the victory home.
4. So many upsets that could have been picked today. I got my big one right -- St. Mary's. Georgetown, Vandy, ND. But Seth Davis. Well, to quote one of the knight guarding the Holy Grail, "He chose poorly". As much as his big mouth has run about this happening, as if it was a foregone conclusion, he should give CBS his salary back. Schmuck!
5. Here is some more perspective. We just faced one of the top rebounding teams in the nation statistically. They got 30. We got 29. We shot 41.7% from three point range. Honestly, as big as he was late, Chism is the guy who killed our 2 point FG percentage, going 4 of 12. In fact, he hurt our 3 point percentage too, even though he was a respectable 33%. We also shot a very good 77.8% from the FT line.
6. But this was a defensive show by the Vols. Aztecs shot 38.5% from the field and a paultry 16.7% from three point range. They got 10 offensive rebounds -- we got 11.
7. Thank you to the Committee for giving us San Diego State. Does anyone believe Melvin "Mighty Mouse" Goins goes 4 of 5 from three point range, including the dagger at the end, if we aren't playing a school with players he used to scrimmage with when he was in JUCO? Kid comes off the bench, I believe plays more minutes than Maze, and is tied with Prince as our leading scorer. This time last season we were lamenting our poor PG play. In fact, the last two post-seasons we have. Can anyone do that now? These two PGs combined for 26 points and no turnovers. They were also 5 of 6 from the FT line.
8. Guys, Ohio should be our dream match-up. For all those who say (me included) that Baby Pearl plays because of his last name -- John Thompson III coaches because of his. To have Greg Monroe playing on the perimeter while his team fell behind by as many as 19, only to go inside to him late and make it close, the guy is a moron. Ohio won that game by hitting 56.5% of their three pointers. And all of them were from three guys, two of them guards who played 40 and 37 minutes in that game. And one is 6'1 and the other a freshman. If there is one team in the entire field that we could play that is not playing a #1 seed on the first day, it would be Ohio. They are extremely thin, rely way to much on the three pointer -- where we excel on defense. And they aren't exactly a great defensive team. They went 7-9 in the MAC this year (9th place). Common opponents? We beat Austin Peay at home by 29. They lost to them by 2 at home. Their conference is so weak that they are the only team that got in -- by winning the conference tourney.
9. SDSU was a very athletic team in the frontcourt, but they couldn't get over the hump against the Vols offensively. Defensively, I was impressed. I thought Williams and Chism played great defense as well. DJ Gay came out of nowhere to have a good game. Hopson is really struggling, even defensively. He hit two big threes and hopefully that will get him going, but we have to get more production out of our shooting guards. You got to give it up for Williams, who grabbed 8 big rebounds. :rock:
Don't blow this Vols -- we are 20 points better than Ohio. But so is Georgetown. We have to bring it because strange things happen in the Madness.
