The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

#24,426
#24,426
CornbreadVol said:
Also people keep saying the UK is a “bad” matchup for us however I believe we actually matchup fairly well despite the 2 earlier losses. They don’t possess a big man that can go 1-on-1 which has typically hurt us and yes, they can shoot it but if we would have just shot our percentages both games we would have won despite them shooting 50%. We need to put them in PNR repeatedly, especially when Butler sits.
Click to expand...

I think the stigma of losing both games is worse than the losses were. It feels like we got dominated 2 games but we actually didn't. First game we did get solidly outplayed in the second half yet we had a chance to tie with 12 second left and missed the 3. The second game we were leading with just over 4:00 left and then we fell apart which left the game feeling like a blowout.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chunkyvol12, berryvol and cardvolfan
#24,427
#24,427
VolsSportsFan said:
I think the stigma of losing both games is worse than the losses were. It feels like we got dominated 2 games but we actually didn't. First game we did get solidly outplayed in the second half yet we had a chance to tie with 12 second left and missed the 3. The second game we were leading with just over 4:00 left and then we fell apart which left the game feeling like a blowout.
Click to expand...
Yep. And I think we have gotten exponentially better at attacking the basket since then. Felt like we settled a lot in those 2 games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chunkyvol12, berryvol and cardvolfan
#24,428
#24,428
Bottom line, we’re going to have to shoot well to win this game. Kentucky rarely has off shooting nights. We don’t need (nor should we) to jack up 45 3’s again, but we do need to be respectable from the perimeter so that Kentucky cannot just clog the line and take away the dribble drive.

I think we need to do what found some success against Auburn, which is when we had ZZ start to run our offense much higher up, near half court, which spread Auburn out and allowed us to get down hill faster and with more space.

I did read one interesting stat though on Twitter, which is since the Florida game in Knoxville, Tennessee has the 11th best offense in the country, but the 33rd best defense. We really need to put the clamps down and play with the same intensity on defense we did for the first 16 minutes of the 2nd half against UCLA.

With that being said, surely, SURELY, Kentucky won’t shoot 50% from 3 against us for a 3rd straight game……
 
  • Like
Reactions: DowntownVol, berryvol, TrumpedUpVol and 1 other person
#24,432
#24,432
omghulkhands said:
I’d love to play Purdue.
Click to expand...

Purdue would be a great matchup for us. Personally, I think Houston is going to beat them down by about 12+ but I would certainly welcome an opportunity to play them. My only hesitation would be that Indy is a very short drive from Purdue’s campus, so we’d basically be facing an Elite 8 road game against them for the 2nd straight year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: berryvol
#24,433
#24,433
TheMookieMonster said:
I really hope we win on Friday. I think our knucklehead fanbase may never forgive Rick if he gets knocked out by a limping Kentucky team that has been worse than us all year and somehow finds ways to beat us.

Not to mention it would really suck if Rick did decide to retire this off-season and Kentucky is the team that gets to claim they “retired Rick” like UNC to Coach K.
Click to expand...
It would be unbearable . Losing In the Sweet 16 would hurt no matter who it’s against but this would be a new level of pain .
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: berryvol
#24,436
#24,436
TheMookieMonster said:
I really hope we win on Friday. I think our knucklehead fanbase may never forgive Rick if he gets knocked out by a limping Kentucky team that has been worse than us all year and somehow finds ways to beat us.

Not to mention it would really suck if Rick did decide to retire this off-season and Kentucky is the team that gets to claim they “retired Rick” like UNC to Coach K.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t worry about UK claiming that because I know Rick will retire when he himself decides it’s time, without regard to outside influences. Any chatter by them about that specifically would be nothing more than an arrogant taunt by a fan base who knows they haven’t been what they could have been the last decade.
 
#24,437
#24,437
Seth Greenberg, famed for his deep and detailed analytical breakdowns of matchups, said on ESPN today that he expects Kentucky to win because all you have to do to stop Tennessee is “take out Lanier, take out Zeigler, and take out Gainey and Tennessee struggles to score.”

What incredible insight. So very easy to do, too. You just can’t let these guys score, and Kentucky will win.
 
  • Like
Reactions: berryvol, Ryno14, Orange. and 3 others
#24,438
#24,438
TheMookieMonster said:
Seth Greenberg, famed for his deep and detailed analytical breakdowns of matchups, said on ESPN today that he expects Kentucky to win because all you have to do to stop Tennessee is “take out Lanier, take out Zeigler, and take out Gainey and Tennessee struggles to score.”

What incredible insight. So very easy to do, too. You just can’t let these guys score, and Kentucky will win.
Click to expand...
Easier said than done to be sure. There’s a reason why Seth Greenberg is no longer coaching and hasn’t been for a while.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chunkyvol12 and VolsAgainstTheWorld15
#24,439
#24,439
TheMookieMonster said:
Seth Greenberg, famed for his deep and detailed analytical breakdowns of matchups, said on ESPN today that he expects Kentucky to win because all you have to do to stop Tennessee is “take out Lanier, take out Zeigler, and take out Gainey and Tennessee struggles to score.”

What incredible insight. So very easy to do, too. You just can’t let these guys score, and Kentucky will win.
Click to expand...

I wanna see this clip lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: Orange.
#24,443
#24,443
TheMookieMonster said:
Incredible insight. Just shut down the team’s best players and you win. It’s that easy.
Click to expand...

It reminds me of some interactions I've had with UK fans lately. At Rupp the other night, there was a UK fan there who was taunting the line of TN fans waiting on Chik-Fil-A by saying we were frauds.

And then on Reddit, I've seen numerous UK fans appaled by Chaz Lanier's inclusion as an All-American. Calling him overrated.

I have to say, if they only watched our games against them, from their perspective, these things seem true to them.

So I can't wait for them to get a little dose of reality. It'll make the loss sting that much worse for them lol.
 
  • Like
Reactions: berryvol
#24,448
#24,448
TheMookieMonster said:
Another one bites the dust.

Click to expand...

Obviously would make hiring him this year tough, but if Barnes has another year or two in him I like it. The other hot MM names got higher end P4 jobs and will be harder to move, we should be able to hire a USF coach away from them if that’s who is atop our list imo. This will also give him the chance to get another year or two under his belt and on his resume and hopefully clarify whether he is or is not a good candidate.
 
#24,449
#24,449
bleedingTNorange said:
Obviously would make hiring him this year tough, but if Barnes has another year or two in him I like it. The other hot MM names got higher end P4 jobs and will be harder to move, we should be able to hire a USF coach away from them if that’s who is atop our list imo. This will also give him the chance to get another year or two under his belt and on his resume and hopefully clarify whether he is or is not a good candidate.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don’t think this keeps us from hiring Hodgson in the future if he is successful. But if the rumors are true that Barnes is hanging it up this off-season, it’s just yet another name off the list.

I really hope Barnes does have at least 1 year left in him, because if he doesn’t and this is really it, he’s picked arguably the worst off-season possible to retire. The coaching carousel is insane this year. Few names left.
 
#24,450
#24,450
TheMookieMonster said:
Yeah, I don’t think this keeps us from hiring Hodgson in the future if he is successful. But if the rumors are true that Barnes is hanging it up this off-season, it’s just yet another name off the list.

I really hope Barnes does have at least 1 year left in him, because if he doesn’t and this is really it, he’s picked arguably the worst off-season possible to retire. The coaching carousel is insane this year. Few names left.
Click to expand...
Absolutely…don’t recall a year with so many P4 openings and hot MM names getting snagged, Alan Huss & Bucky McMillan are about the only 2 MM names left I can think of, and Bucky doesn’t really excite me much from a resume standpoint. Could play into doing the interim tag and getting first pick next cycle being the best option out there.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top