Can you believe they did it?

[TennEddie]

BVS. Its like “ long Covid “.

 

[utvolpj]

This team hasn't played this well for 3 or 4 games straight all season until now. They got kicked on the road against A&M, couldn't do anything against USCe at home. Lost to MSU on the road. Nearly lost on the road to the worst team in the leauge (Missouri) played poorly for a half against Vandy, and needed a come from behind win against UGA. This team has had plenty of inconsistent moments this season, enough to doubt whether they could pull off what appears to be a running of the table these last 4 extremely difficult games. Still gotta win Saturday, but still. To act like it was a certain thing they wouldn't have any trouble these last 4 games is silly.

The difference now from before, is we appear to be figuring out how to win on nights when DK doesn't go for 30+, and everyone just seems locked in. Hope it continues in to the big dance. It's been fun to watch them win these games with the conference on the line, especially on the road.

They also haven't lost 2 in a row since November

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

Or maybe it’s just his opinion. Why does every non-sunshine post have to be clueless or a troll?

If a 1-3 finish wouldn’t surprise him, then it was an uninformed opinion. It was possible, but you can’t look at a top 5 team in all of basketball, state that them closing 1-3 wouldn’t be surprising, and expect to be taken seriously.

If he’d said that he wouldn’t have been surprised to see Purdue, Zona, Houston, etc close the season losing 3 out of 4, you’d have rolled your eyes at him.

Difficult schedule or not, if 1-3 wouldn’t have surprised you, then you just haven’t watched this team play enough to seriously opine on it.

 

[GAVol]

This team hasn't played this well for 3 or 4 games straight all season until now.

Honestly don't think we even played all that great last night. Shot about 35% from the floor and got out-rebounded, but . . . we found a way.

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

If a 1-3 finish wouldn’t surprise him, then it was an uninformed opinion. It was possible, but you can’t look at a top 5 team in all of basketball, state that them closing 1-3 wouldn’t be surprising, and expect to be taken seriously.

If he’d said that he wouldn’t have been surprised to see Purdue, Zona, Houston, etc close the season losing 3 out of 4, you’d have rolled your eyes at him.

Difficult schedule or not, if 1-3 wouldn’t have surprised you, then you just haven’t watched this team play enough to seriously opine on it.

"wouldn't have surprised" is a figure of speech as old as dirt. Most people realize that means something is "possible". Example - Folks getting bent out of shape on Volnation when someone's opinion doesn't match their own wouldn't have surprised me at all.

 

[Putbacks]

 

[cardvolfan]

A poster can have an opinion and be clueless at the same time. They definitely aren't mutually exclusive

Amen.

 

[Redleg68]

I thought we would lose one game being @ Tuscaloosa.

Watch out for Kentucky. They do not look like the same team we played earlier. The refs will have to allow us to get physical in their face to shut down their hot shooting. Plus they seem to have found a little bit of defense.

 

[ThatVolGuy]

If a 1-3 finish wouldn’t surprise him, then it was an uninformed opinion. It was possible, but you can’t look at a top 5 team in all of basketball, state that them closing 1-3 wouldn’t be surprising, and expect to be taken seriously.

If he’d said that he wouldn’t have been surprised to see Purdue, Zona, Houston, etc close the season losing 3 out of 4, you’d have rolled your eyes at him.

Difficult schedule or not, if 1-3 wouldn’t have surprised you, then you just haven’t watched this team play enough to seriously opine on it.

I specifically said that I didn't think 1-3 would necessarily mean we played poorly—just that we were playing four very capable opponents in a row, each game with high stakes, and two of them on the road in hostile environments. If you can look me in the face and say 1-3 didn't seem at all possible, you're absolutely lying or completely ignorant of the circumstances. Not that I should have to repeat myself, but prior road struggles against worse teams (MSU, A&M, Mizzou) made wins against Alabama and South Carolina far from certain, and Auburn had us down 8 in our house with 12 minutes to go. My opinion is not uninformed—I apparently just have a better grasp on reality than some here who refuse to acknowledge the Vols are capable of losing difficult games.

But yeah, my sincere apologies for not suggesting our team is invincible against an extraordinarily difficult schedule. What the f*** was I thinking?

 

[Orangeslide]

Before this 4 game stretch began, Barnes said that these games would be like NCAA Tournament games. Hope we finish off the stretch Saturday with a win over Kentucky. That should solidify our hold on the final 1 seed. I really hope Barnes can finally discard the regular season Rick tag that the good folks on Rupps Rafters refer to him as and make a deep run in the big dance. With a win Saturday would finish off an amazing run against top notch competition and all top 20 ranked teams. No way the committee could justify putting Arizona in over us as a 1 seed.

 

[LIFE TIME VOL]

A poster can have an opinion and be clueless at the same time. They definitely aren't mutually exclusive

These guys don't realize who they are sparing with here. tell them you are an expert in judging talent and just because they got blown out in road games you knew that there was no chance that would happen against ranked teams.

 

[Unconditional Surrender]

Sorry, that's not called being a realist it's called not having a clue what you're watching or talking about.

This is called being a jerk

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

These guys don't realize who they are sparing with here. tell them you are an expert in judging talent and just because they got blown out in road games you knew that there was no chance that would happen against ranked teams.

Texas A&M was the only double digit loss of the season. We haven't lost one since

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

Honestly don't think we even played all that great last night. Shot about 35% from the floor and got out-rebounded, but . . . we found a way.

Agreed. I think we have turned it up some defensively. But we didn't shoot it great last night, really didn't against Bama either.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

I specifically said that I didn't think 1-3 would necessarily mean we played poorly—just that we were playing four very capable opponents in a row, each game with high stakes, and two of them on the road in hostile environments. If you can look me in the face and say 1-3 didn't seem at all possible, you're absolutely lying or completely ignorant of the circumstances. Not that I should have to repeat myself, but prior road struggles against worse teams (MSU, A&M, Mizzou) made wins against Alabama and South Carolina far from certain, and Auburn had us down 8 in our house with 12 minutes to go. My opinion is not uninformed—I apparently just have a better grasp on reality than some here who refuse to acknowledge the Vols are capable of losing difficult games.

But yeah, my sincere apologies for not suggesting our team is invincible against an extraordinarily difficult schedule. What the f*** was I thinking?

Going into Rupp and beating their asses gave me confidence. That was right after the A&M loss. They seemed to refocus.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

They also haven't lost 2 in a row since November

No body is saying we suck dude. You just can't sit here and say we are some all-world team that has no flaws and has had no inconsistencies this year, and that you knew without a doubt we were winning these last 2 roads games. Most of the games we lost we got dominated down low. And that will continue to be a problem, better hope we don't get in foul trouble like we did against Bama. We're lucky they don't have any real physical bigs.

On the flip side. This team has the potential to be special. And they are starting to gel at the right time. Hoping they continue to keep this up.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

No body is saying we suck dude. You just can't sit here and say we are some all-world team that has no flaws and has had no inconsistencies this year, and that you knew without a doubt we were winning these last 2 roads games. Most of the games we lost we got dominated down low. And that will continue to be a problem, better hope we don't get in foul trouble like we did against Bama. We're lucky they don't have any real physical bigs.

On the flip side. This team has the potential to be special. And they are starting to gel at the right time. Hoping they continue to keep this up.

Bama was just as lucky that Knecht only had 13

 

[ThatVolGuy]

Going into Rupp and beating their asses gave me confidence. That was right after the A&M loss. They seemed to refocus.

That's actually a great point about their resilience. Pulling a victory out in Rupp—and a pretty dominant one, no less—was really impressive and speaks to the team's ability to bounce back after a deflating loss.

 

[LIFE TIME VOL]

Defense won the Alabama and sc Games.

 

[Navy boy]

Now let’s whip the kitties arse on Saturday

 

[djohnnyg]

Or maybe it’s just his opinion. Why does every non-sunshine post have to be clueless or a troll?

Some posts are simply pointing out where the Vols need to improve to advance far in the tourney. Some are obviously fans of other teams just trying to stir stuff up...those are the real trolls.

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

I specifically said that I didn't think 1-3 would necessarily mean we played poorly—just that we were playing four very capable opponents in a row, each game with high stakes, and two of them on the road in hostile environments. If you can look me in the face and say 1-3 didn't seem at all possible, you're absolutely lying or completely ignorant of the circumstances. Not that I should have to repeat myself, but prior road struggles against worse teams (MSU, A&M, Mizzou) made wins against Alabama and South Carolina far from certain, and Auburn had us down 8 in our house with 12 minutes to go. My opinion is not uninformed—I apparently just have a better grasp on reality than some here who refuse to acknowledge the Vols are capable of losing difficult games.

But yeah, my sincere apologies for not suggesting our team is invincible against an extraordinarily difficult schedule. What the f*** was I thinking?

I always chuckle when you boys overreact more than womenfolk like myself. 1-3 was possible, but not likely, and would’ve been surprising.

That’s what I said. No idea why your response was so histrionic.

If 1-3 would have left you unsurprised, you were uninformed. 3-1 was always most likely. 4-0 second most likely, 2-2 third most likely, 1-3 the least likely. 0-4 was mathematically so improbable that it shouldn’t even be considered.

I understand now what you were meaning; you just used the wrong phrasing. No biggie. But don’t shít your panties and get hysterical with me just for pointing out that 1-3 would, in fact, have been surprising.

 

[tennrich1]

I marvel that a seemingly innocent thread post can be taken down a jurisprudence path of an epic, verbose, loquacious magnitude. It’s a modern marvel of the human mind (a social media side effect I suppose). Sickly entertaining that it is.

 

[ThatVolGuy]

I always chuckle when you boys overreact more than womenfolk like myself. 1-3 was possible, but not likely, and would’ve been surprising.

That’s what I said. No idea why your response was so histrionic.

If 1-3 would have left you unsurprised, you were uninformed. 3-1 was always most likely. 4-0 second most likely, 2-2 third most likely, 1-3 the least likely. 0-4 was mathematically so improbable that it shouldn’t even be considered.

I understand now what you were meaning; you just used the wrong phrasing. No biggie. But don’t shít your panties and get hysterical with me just for pointing out that 1-3 would, in fact, have been surprising.

Thanks for the explanation, Little House on the Prairie. I appreciate the attempt to give me the "why" behind your decision to act this way, but you still end up looking like a presumptuous a**hole. Don't get offended when people call you out on your unpleasant behavior.

Taken individually, each of these four games could/could have been—without straining our brains—a loss for the Vols. Did I expect 1-3? No. If I had to guess, I probably would've said 2-2 given the difficulty of winning at Alabama (for any team, not just us) and playing on the road against a hungry team that already beat us in Knoxville. But if I slept through all four games and someone told me we lost to, say, Auburn, Alabama, and South Carolina, I don't think I would've been surprised. You can only be surprised if you don't think something can happen. And yet again, let's check the tape—down 8 against Auburn well into the second half, down 7 against Alabama well into the second half, up 3 going into the final minute against South Carolina ... yeah, I was nuts to have doubts.

If you lot are offended that I thought Tennessee could lose three tough games, I question why you're so invested in one fan's thoughts to the point that you'd show your ass on a message board. We all make choices!

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

Thanks for the explanation, Little House on the Prairie. I appreciate the attempt to give me the "why" behind your decision to act this way, but you still end up looking like a presumptuous a**hole. Don't get offended when people call you out on your unpleasant behavior.

Taken individually, each of these four games could/could have been—without straining our brains—a loss for the Vols. Did I expect 1-3? No. If I had to guess, I probably would've said 2-2 given the difficulty of winning at Alabama (for any team, not just us) and playing on the road against a hungry team that already beat us in Knoxville. But if I slept through all four games and someone told me when lost to, say, Auburn, Alabama, and South Carolina, I don't think I would've been surprised. You can only be surprised if you don't think something can happen. And yet again, let's check the tape—down 8 against Auburn well into the second half, down 7 against Alabama well into the second half, up 3 going into the final minute against South Carolina ... yeah, I was nuts to have doubts.

If you lot are offended that I thought Tennessee could lose three tough games, I question why you're so invested in one fan's thoughts to the point that you'd show your ass on a message board. We all make choices!

Youre the only one insulting intelligence and name calling, but I’m the *******.

Again, me disagreeing with you does not mean you offended me. This is a weak argument to present that posters generally resort to when they don’t have anything of substance to say as a rebuttal.

Again, I don’t mind that you have another opinion. I find it silly, but it doesn’t bother me. 1-3 would’ve been a surprise for a top 5 team. You’d have been surprised if any other top 5 team went 1-3 against top 15-20 level teams, so I’m guessing you only feel that way because of BVS.

Don’t see how many suggesting that your opinion isn’t so informed equates to me showing my ass.. with the name-calling your doing, that seems like a projection to me. I’m attacking your opinion, but you’re attacking me personally. Have some awareness.