UT's chance at March Madness

#176
#176
MphsBlues said:
Ole Miss, Bama and KY are our first three games in SEC play, as it turns out.
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2 out of the 3 on the road. If we can steal the one at Bama and win the Ole Miss game at home, then our post season will be looking very good. We will not be a bubble team, but working on seeding at that point. The KY game on the road is an expected loss, so not too worried about that --- even though I think this year it is very winnable if we can somehow learn to win on the road.
 
#177
#177
johnnybravo said:
2 out of the 3 on the road. If we can steal the one at Bama and win the Ole Miss game at home, then our post season will be looking very good. We will not be a bubble team, but working on seeding at that point. The KY game on the road is an expected loss, so not too worried about that --- even though I think this year it is very winnable if we can somehow learn to win on the road.
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That's what I was thinking. If I was to circle any of the first three, Bama would be the one. I do hope that Cuonzo can get a few problem areas ironed out before we start the SEC schedule. Movement, passing, etc.. Our shooting is not good right now, either, but I suppose there's only so much a coach can do in that respect. I would also LOVE to see us steal that UK game.
 
#178
#178
MphsBlues said:
That's what I was thinking. If I was to circle any of the first three, Bama would be the one. I do hope that Cuonzo can get a few problem areas ironed out before we start the SEC schedule. Movement, passing, etc.. Our shooting is not good right now, either, but I suppose there's only so much a coach can do in that respect. I would also LOVE to see us steal that UK game.
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I'm glad that the Bama away game is early on our schedule. They are stumbling right now. Lost 4 out of the last 5 and may be digging a hole that they can't get out of. Even though the teams they lost to are good teams now would definitely be the time to get them. Ole Miss on paper is good, but they haven't beaten anyone and the two losses that they do have should have easily been wins. They had a very close game with Loyola. A loss there would have been 3 out of the last 4. I think we can win these 2 and have a 7 game win streak going into Rupp.
 
#179
#179
johnnybravo said:
2 out of the 3 on the road. If we can steal the one at Bama and win the Ole Miss game at home, then our post season will be looking very good. We will not be a bubble team, but working on seeding at that point. The KY game on the road is an expected loss, so not too worried about that --- even though I think this year it is very winnable if we can somehow learn to win on the road.
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I would be very pleased going 2-1 over that stretch.
 
#182
#182
johnnybravo said:
RPI up to 59 as of this morning. I think mid to low 40's possible with 2 wins over Xavier and UM.

The easiest way I look at it right now is that there is no way with adding 2 teams to the SEC that we don't get at least 4 in the tourny no matter how bad the SEC is. KY, Missouri, and FL will be there. That leaves TN, Ole Miss, and Bama, fighting for the 1 or 2 remaining spots. We play both teams home and away. These will be very big games that will separate us from the other 2 teams that have a shot.
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Great point.

And if we win the next 2 our resume is better than those other teams fighting for the 4th spot, so we control our destiny.
 
#183
#183
These next 5 games can be a big opportunity. If we can win the next 4, and lose at Rupp, we will be 11-4 (2-1) in conference. We will have beaten two teams that we are likely to be fighting with for a NCAA bid, one of which was on the road.

Like already mentioned, they then are almost playing more for seeding than actually trying to get in at that point.
 
#184
#184
bleedingTNorange said:
These next 5 games can be a big opportunity. If we can win the next 4, and lose at Rupp, we will be 11-4 (2-1) in conference. We will have beaten two teams that we are likely to be fighting with for a NCAA bid, one of which was on the road.

Like already mentioned, they then are almost playing more for seeding than actually trying to get in at that point.
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We will probably also be looking at top 25. It's been a long time. Go Vols!!!
 
#186
#186
Ole Miss and Bama are both toss ups but very winnable games. UK at Rupp, not so sure. Even though they aren't the Cal teams of the past, they are still very hard to beat in Lexington and we hit pot holes on the road. Can't wait for the Xavier game!!!!
 
#187
#187
Teams in the SEC that can really help our RPI are Ole Miss, Alabama, Kentucky, and Missouri. We need to win those home games we have with those four teams. We also need to knock off the rest of our non conference foes. It goes without saying we need to win against Georgia, Auburn, Miss. St. Vandy, and all the other SEC teams and get to 20 plus wins. If we can do most of this we should be around 40 rpi and should get in the tournament.
 
#188
#188
bleedingTNorange said:
Great point.

And if we win the next 2 our resume is better than those other teams fighting for the 4th spot, so we control our destiny.
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Mass and WS will both be good wins. Both are tearing it up.
Xavier and Memphis added would make a very good OOC resume.
 
#190
#190
This was a good home win. If we had lost, it would've really hurt. We were favored by 7.

This isn't the Xavier of old though, but still a pretty solid win.
 
#191
#191
bleedingTNorange said:
Wow up to 41.

Don't think anybody saw that jump coming.
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Sitting at 40 right now. I certainly didn't see that big a jump. Their SOS went from 98 this morning to currently sitting at 71. That's a jump of 27 spots and is the main reason for the big overall RPI jump.

Just goes to show how beating teams with quality records early in the season can really boost a teams RPI. If beating Memphis gives the same boost this team would be sitting pretty good, tournament-wise, going into conference play.
 
#192
#192
zansdad said:
Sitting at 40 right now. I certainly didn't see that big a jump. Their SOS went from 98 this morning to currently sitting at 71. That's a jump of 27 spots and is the main reason for the big overall RPI jump.

Just goes to show how beating teams with quality records early in the season can really boost a teams RPI. If beating Memphis gives the same boost this team would be sitting pretty good, tournament-wise, going into conference play.
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Quite the different scenario from last year.
 
#193
#193
bleedingTNorange said:
Quite the different scenario from last year.
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Very much so. Also the SEC slate is much easier this year than last. Last year going into conference play there were 4 teams everyone felt confident would be in the NCAAt (UK,UF,Bama and Vandy) and UT played 3 of them twice and the 4th in the road. (they did manage to go 3-4 in those games though). This year there are only 3 teams I think most people are confident about making the NCAAt (UK, UF and Mizzou) and we only play 1 of them twice and the other 2 at home.
 
#194
#194
zansdad said:
Very much so. Also the SEC slate is much easier this year than last. Last year going into conference play there were 4 teams everyone felt confident would be in the NCAAt (UK,UF,Bama and Vandy) and UT played 3 of them twice and the 4th in the road. (they did manage to go 3-4 in those games though). This year there are only 3 teams I think most people are confident about making the NCAAt (UK, UF and Mizzou) and we only play 1 of them twice and the other 2 at home.
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Not many will agree, as most stil think this team sucks, but....

If we beat Memphis I think we are basically playing for seeding through the SEC slate.
 
#195
#195
bleedingTNorange said:
Not many will agree, as most stil think this team sucks, but....

If we beat Memphis I think we are basically playing for seeding through the SEC slate.
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We'll need to go at least .500 in the SEC. One game over to be safe IMO. If we can beat Ky, Fla or Mizzou and not have any "bad" losses then we can get in.

I still want to see this team on the road. Good teams find ways to win on the road.
 
#196
#196
bleedingTNorange said:
Not many will agree, as most stil think this team sucks, but....

If we beat Memphis I think we are basically playing for seeding through the SEC slate.
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Maybe to a degree, but there have been plenty of teams that have "played for seeding" themselves right off the bubble. I could see UT go 9-9 in conference 18-12 overall, lay an egg in the SECt and slide right off the bubble.
 
#197
#197
OrangeBalls said:
We'll need to go at least .500 in the SEC. One game over to be safe IMO. If we can beat Ky, Fla or Mizzou and not have any "bad" losses then we can get in.

I still want to see this team on the road. Good teams find ways to win on the road.
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And the SEC is so bad it's going to be hard not to win 10 games honestly.
 
#198
#198
zansdad said:
Maybe to a degree, but there have been plenty of teams that have "played for seeding" themselves right off the bubble. I could see UT go 9-9 in conference 18-12 overall, lay an egg in the SECt and slide right off the bubble.
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Yea obviously.

I see no way with our schedule us winning less than 10 games though in conference. If we go 9-9 or worse in the league THIS YEAR we don't deserve to be dancing.
 
#199
#199
bleedingTNorange said:
And the SEC is so bad it's going to be hard not to win 10 games honestly.
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We should have a good chance. Did you see Auburn give Illinois all they wanted at Illinois today though? Ky played Louisville better than I would've thought. Louisville should make the Final 4.
 
#200
#200
OrangeBalls said:
We should have a good chance. Did you see Auburn give Illinois all they wanted at Illinois today though? Ky played Louisville better than I would've thought. Louisville should make the Final 4.
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Yea I would've loved for auburn to pull that out...help out the conference RPI.
 
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