The Gonzaga Game...

#1
hatvol96

hatvol96

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#1
will define the preconference portion of UT's schedule. A win will make November and December a definite success. A loss leaves UT with two notable wins, WVU and X. That's not exactly the stuff high seeds in the NCAA Tournament are made of these days. The lack of quality teams in the SEC this year will keep the Vols from falling back on league play to boost their resume.
 
#2
#2
hatvol96 said:
will define the preconference portion of UT's schedule. A win will make November and December a definite success. A loss leaves UT with two notable wins, WVU and X. That's not exactly the stuff high seeds in the NCAA Tournament are made of these days. The lack of quality teams in the SEC this year will keep the Vols from falling back on league play to boost their resume.
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If we beat the Zags, when do we play another tournament teams for our resume?

edit:Will Ole Miss make the NCAA tourny?
 
#3
#3
Unless the Rebels collapse in conference play, it's hard to imagine them not getting into the tournament. Ohio State will be a possible NCAA participant. Vanderbilt will bethe next sure fire NCAA tournament team the Ols play.
 
#5
#5
Why don't the Ohio State and Memphis games count for anything???

I, personally, don't see the significance of this Gonzaga game, especially with it still being December.
 
#6
#6
I definitely see the Gonzaga being another "seed winner", if Tennessee finishes strong in the SEC reg. season and then bounces out of the tourney (historically), then a cross country win against the zags means a ton and could mean the difference between a 2/3/4 seed.

Guys don't you find it interesting how Tennessee in '05 stepped it up with scheduling even with a coaching change and personnel losses. The continued that trend over the next two years and yet a team like Florida because they lose a couple of players has the 300th overall SOS in pre-conference schedules?

Without a doubt, hat is right, this may be the weakest the SEC has been in 10 years. Conf. SOS is not going to help much for seeding.

I say GO VOLS and beat whatever the hell a ZAG is.
 
#7
#7
It's a game Tennessee should win. However, it'll take their best game so far to do so. Another 5 minute on, 5 minute off performance will get them beaten. Soundly.
 
#10
#10
Memphis would be a huge resume builder, but I don't have any real expectation of winning that one in their house. Possibility on a neutral floor.
 
#11
#11
BigPapaVol said:
they have heytvelt, who is reasonably good. probably the best center we've faced this season
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He's just coming off an injury though, and was suspended a large portion of last year due to his use of the magical mushroom. He's not quite 100% yet. This team is very beatable.
 
#15
#15
johnnybravo said:
I hope they are ranked #1 when we play them. It will make the victory much sweeter.
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I really don't think we have a chance unless we can't start playing with some more consistency. This would be one of those games were our halfcourt defense and rebounding would have to be its best, and we would need JuJaun and Chris both to show up and knock down a bunch of 3's while Tyler Smith plays well down low and while we're holding Rose to an average game. Also, the whole time, we're hoping that Dorsey didn't come to play while hoping that CDR, Kemp,Mack, Anderson, etc all have subpar games.
 
#16
#16
dickens821 said:
He's just coming off an injury though, and was suspended a large portion of last year due to his use of the magical mushroom. He's not quite 100% yet. This team is very beatable.
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don't get me wrong, I don't think they should be competitive with us. We will certainly have a talent advantage at most position for most of the night.

However, we are on their floor, 2,500 miles from home and we are the least consistent good team that I have seen in quite some time.
 
#17
#17
BigPapaVol said:
don't get me wrong, I don't think they should be competitive with us. We will certainly have a talent advantage at most position for most of the night.

However, we are on their floor, 2,500 miles from home and we are the least consistent good team that I have seen in quite some time.
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This is the problem that I'm struggling with. We should be 10 points better, but with this team, you can't make that assumption
 
#18
#18
TennesseeFan07 said:
I really don't think we have a chance unless we can't start playing with some more consistency. This would be one of those games were our halfcourt defense and rebounding would have to be its best, and we would need JuJaun and Chris both to show up and knock down a bunch of 3's while Tyler Smith plays well down low and while we're holding Rose to an average game. Also, the whole time, we're hoping that Dorsey didn't come to play while hoping that CDR, Kemp,Mack, Anderson, etc all have subpar games.
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So you are saying that we need to play well and score more points than they do?

We have a lot of time between now and then to straighten out a few minor problems. All teams have their weaknesses and are facing issues like we are. We are as talented and deeper than anyone in the country. We can definitely beat them. Did last year. If we don't hopefully we will learn something from the loss. This team will not lay down to Memphis. It will be close no matter who wins.
 
#19
#19
johnnybravo said:
So you are saying that we need to play well and score more points than they do?

We have a lot of time between now and then to straighten out a few minor problems. All teams have their weaknesses and are facing issues like we are. We are as talented and deeper than anyone in the country. We can definitely beat them. Did last year. If we don't hopefully we will learn something from the loss. This team will not lay down to Memphis. It will be close no matter who wins.
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Difference between last year and this year, this time it's in Memphis, Memphis is better, we don't have an answer for Dorsey or CDR or Derrick Rose. Sorry, but we are just flat out not as talented as Memphis.

I hope we can somehow eek out a win, but I am not banking on it.
 
#20
#20
emainvol said:
Difference between last year and this year, this time it's in Memphis, Memphis is better, we don't have an answer for Dorsey or CDR or Derrick Rose. Sorry, but we are just flat out not as talented as Memphis.

I hope we can somehow eek out a win, but I am not banking on it.
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Not saying this will happen, but we have almost two months to figure out everything... but JP could definitely be an answer to CDR if he keeps playing like he is. If Dorsey plays smart he could be a problem for us. If he plays like Dorsey he will get in early foul trouble. The PG position there is no way we can compete unless Ramar suddenly becomes amazing overnight. And that won't happen.
 
#21
#21
Our best chance against CDR is to simply hope that JuJuan can contain him. Now, J Smith is a great defender, but CDR takes it to another level when he is on, and honestly I haven't seen him off much this year.
 
#22
#22
emainvol said:
Difference between last year and this year, this time it's in Memphis, Memphis is better, we don't have an answer for Dorsey or CDR or Derrick Rose. Sorry, but we are just flat out not as talented as Memphis.

I hope we can somehow eek out a win, but I am not banking on it.
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Plus, last year Memphis decided to jack up 3's and refused proper shot selection. Dorsey got frustrated and was a non-factor. He was pissed before the game even started, we talked trash through warmups. If that got to him, imagine how bad he was when he couldn't shoot.
 
#24
#24
If UT can play the improved level of halfcourt defense they displayed against X, they should handle Gonzaga. Big if, I know, but with the number of offensive threats we have, I think we can score on anybody. Unfortunately, scoring 85 is meaningless if you give up 90.

How quickly things change... we're not even into SEC play yet and we're already talking about seeding. Three years ago, we were talking about getting a few breaks, stealing a couple of road wins, and having things fall the right way so UT could "sneak in" as a 9 or 10 seed.
 
#25
#25
BigPapaVol said:
don't get me wrong, I don't think they should be competitive with us. We will certainly have a talent advantage at most position for most of the night.

However, we are on their floor, 2,500 miles from home and we are the least consistent good team that I have seen in quite some time.
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Well, it's not exactly on their floor. The game is in the Key Arena in Seattle, not the Kennel in Spokane.
 
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