Thoughts on the Elite 8

[Wise-Vol]

1. Thanks Vols for making history. Chism, JP, Bobby -- what a ride. Enjoyed every minute.

2. A hobbled MSU, Butler and WVU, Duke, or Baylor to win it all. I fear we won't see anything like that again. Very sad.

3. Free throw shooting, shot selection, rebounding, lack of defensive intensity. We are a better team than MSU, but they brought the intensity and focus today -- we did not.

4. Tom Izzo is a Master. Great coach who knows how to win with less. It is much better to lose to a professional like Izzo than cheaters like ___________.

5. I would encourage Vol fans to not start singling out players for criticism. This is an historic team. They should be treated that way.

Go Vols. I'm proud to be a Vol

 

[VolinFL2]

I will be the first to not listen to you.

Scotty Hopson:
Hit your free throws!
Hit your free throws!
Hit your free throws!

 

[Volman93]

We were a no call away from a final four appearance. I will take that any day of the week

 

[BuckheadVol1]

+1, well put.

 

[Rockytoprowdy]

The easy basket on the inbounds before the half hurt us. Take that one play away and its a different game. Inbounds plays are usually our strong suit but they caught us sleeping.

 

[SamQB7]

We were a no call away from a final four appearance. I will take that any day of the week

Yep, I wish it would have ended differently. Pretty much losing on a foul like that really sucks. I would rather have been beaten by a last second prayer shot than the way we lost today.

 

[TennesseeFan07]

It's tough way to lose, but I'm proud of our fight.

 

[vol4eva]

Yep, I wish it would have ended differently. Pretty much losing on a foul like that really sucks. I would rather have been beaten by a last second prayer shot than the way we lost today.

When I saw JP jump in the air I knew it was over.

 

[Heebs]

We're the better team, but we didn't do anything good down the stretch.

 

[Wise-Vol]

I will be the first to not listen to you.

Scotty Hopson:
Hit your free throws!
Hit your free throws!
Hit your free throws!

If you want to blame someone, blame Coach Pearl. You have the ball and the shot clock is off. JP Prince and Wayne Chism have taken you to the Elite 8. What do you do? You let Scotty Hopson take the winning shot?

Pearl should have called time out and that last play should have started with the ball in JP's hands and Wayne on the same side of the court.

If you want to blame something -- blame us losing the Coaching battle.

With that, I love Coach Pearl. He has taken us where no one else has and I wouldn't trade him for anyone (well, except Tom Izzo). He'll have us back.

 

[Jonboy]

If you want to blame someone, blame Coach Pearl. You have the ball and the shot clock is off. JP Prince and Wayne Chism have taken you to the Elite 8. What do you do? You let Scotty Hopson take the winning shot?

Pearl should have called time out and that last play should have started with the ball in JP's hands and Wayne on the same side of the court.

If you want to blame something -- blame us losing the Coaching battle.

With that, I love Coach Pearl. He has taken us where no one else has and I wouldn't trade him for anyone (well, except Tom Izzo). He'll have us back.

I love Pearl...but you are spot on. That ball should have been in the hands of either Maze/JP/Chism. Gotta go with experience on a play like that.

 

[zjcvols]

Except other than Maze, nobody has ever hit a game-winning shot like Hopson.

It was a good look. He got fouled. He missed the shot. Blame the D for not getting back quick enough.

 

[PoochPunt3rdDown]

Nice report. It's just starting to sink in that basketball season is over. It's worse than the end of football season because the end of football season is right in the thick of the basketball season. What do we have to look forward to now? The great QB battle between Nick Stephens and Matt Simms?

It was the best season of sports I've ever witnessed from a fan's perspective. To me, basketball will always be superior to football. The Vols played so incredibly down the stretch and I'm less sad today than I've ever been at the end...

 

[Wise-Vol]

Except other than Maze, nobody has ever hit a game-winning shot like Hopson.

It was a good look. He got fouled. He missed the shot. Blame the D for not getting back quick enough.

That too. How do we come out of a time-out, Hopson misses the FT, and our guys don't seem to have a clue who they are supposed to be guarding? I don't get it.

Did Pearl not talk to them about that? There have been a lot of late-game heroics in this Tourney, but I cannot remember one in which I guy gets that wide-open that close to the basket at the end.