No home UK game

#51
#51
bleedingTNorange said:
It's those that haven't paid attention that are up in arms right now, as has been said this was inevitable, last year just happened to work out.

Does it suck, absolutely. Let me play devils advocate for a minute though, the positive spin on this is that we will play them only once, and at their place. When it comes to RPI that game will be a no lose game for us....you win and you're talking a HUGE win on the road. Lose, and your RPI probably doesn't suffer at all and it's hardly unexpected.

The way our schedule appears so far it's set up very nicely for Tennessee, and in a year that couldn't be much more important. From the way it appears I see 23-25 wins regular season being very possible which would likeky have us ranked all season, and on our way to a 6 seed or better in the dance...that would be great!
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This is what the expansion of the NCAAT has changed from my day (70s). Back then you just thought about winning that next game and nothing else. And if you lost, you were fan-wise miserable until that next win. And you pretty much did double duty in your brain by always thinking about beating UK from the moment you last played them.

Now, as long as we get into the NCAAT we are happy....

Not me. I'm still playing by the old rules, hopefully always will. I just want to beat them, don't care where.
 
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#52
#52
VolFreakJosh said:
Even though it's at Rupp, I still think we'll win with the experience our team has. Remember, Kentucky is still going to be very young with the new set of freshman coming in so we have a realistic chance of winning this game.
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Yeah, this is suppose to be the best recruiting class in history, so I'm anxious to see the team in action. Only returning Cauly-Stein and Poythress will be interesting because they were really underachievers and show absolutely no leadership. How will this team mesh. Will there be another game changer on the roster like Davis.

Play this game early in the SEC, then I think the Vols have a very good chance. But, I'm expecting it to be one of the last games at Rupp this year and Calipari will have time for the Freshman to grow up into lottery picks. It will be one of the best games in the SEC this year, but advantage KY.
 
#54
#54
johnnybravo said:
Yeah, this is suppose to be the best recruiting class in history, so I'm anxious to see the team in action. Only returning Cauly-Stein and Poythress will be interesting because they were really underachievers and show absolutely no leadership. How will this team mesh. Will there be another game changer on the roster like Davis.

Play this game early in the SEC, then I think the Vols have a very good chance. But, I'm expecting it to be one of the last games at Rupp this year and Calipari will have time for the Freshman to grow up into lottery picks. It will be one of the best games in the SEC this year, but advantage KY.
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In a previous post you liked our chances better against FL later in the season. Now I am NOT a gator fan, but why would UT and KY progress to be a tougher opponent later in the season and not FL? just curious
 
#56
#56
GoobieVol said:
In a previous post you liked our chances better against FL later in the season. Now I am NOT a gator fan, but why would UT and KY progress to be a tougher opponent later in the season and not FL? just curious
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From what I've seen from CCM's teams the last 2 years, TN is virtually unbeatable at home the second half of the SEC season. That is why I would have UT as a favorite against FL at home late in the year.

On the flip side, it's a rare win when UT comes out on top at Rupp. I expect KY to be a much better team at the end of the SEC season then at the beginning. We will have to play our best game of the season to win at Rupp if the game is in late Feb.

UT won a few good road games the end of last year, but it's still very apparent that they are no where near the same team that plays in TBA. CCM hopefully will improve that, but it will be difficult with the road schedule that we have this year.
 
#58
#58
johnnybravo said:
From what I've seen from CCM's teams the last 2 years, TN is virtually unbeatable at home the second half of the SEC season. That is why I would have UT as a favorite against FL at home late in the year.

On the flip side, it's a rare win when UT comes out on top at Rupp. I expect KY to be a much better team at the end of the SEC season then at the beginning. We will have to play our best game of the season to win at Rupp if the game is in late Feb.

UT won a few good road games the end of last year, but it's still very apparent that they are no where near the same team that plays in TBA. CCM hopefully will improve that, but it will be difficult with the road schedule that we have this year.
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Agree with all especially the bold. Will add though that I think our road record improves this year in large part to having a pg that can only score 5-8 pts and still lead his team to a win. I am not a Trae hater, but I did keep quite a lot last year because he was a Vol. Of course not having a decent back up for him hurt us, but he could barely guard a cup of gatorade and when he missed a couple of shots his head dropped. JMO

Super excited to have two pgs this year. And hopefully they both have J Mc's desire to WIN!
 
#60
#60
What Stallings was ignoring is that Kentucky was very good that year, so they got the prime game. The prime time game just so happens to be on a different night. It's TV. Don't blame the schedulers...blame ESPN.

OrangeBalls said:
Two years ago, I did a breakdown of every team's Thu night-Sat night schedule. Every team had to play a Thu-Sat night game at least once (Vandy had to do it three times which was absurd). Do you know who was the only team that didn't have to do a 2 day turnaround? Oh yes, Ky. They got a Thu-Sun tilt. That is when Stallings complained to the press about it. I don't agree with much of what he has to say, but he was spot on in that regard. Ky got the most favorable SEC schedule of everyone that year.
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#62
#62
GoobieVol said:
Agree with all especially the bold. Will add though that I think our road record improves this year in large part to having a pg that can only score 5-8 pts and still lead his team to a win. I am not a Trae hater, but I did keep quite a lot last year because he was a Vol. Of course not having a decent back up for him hurt us, but he could barely guard a cup of gatorade and when he missed a couple of shots his head dropped. JMO

Super excited to have two pgs this year. And hopefully they both have J Mc's desire to WIN!
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Yeah, the road record should improve, but I'm not thinking by much. Maybe 1 or 2 games. Not because we will not be an improved team, but because our road schedule appears to be pretty tough.

We play away at KY, FL, LSU, MIZZ, Xavier, Wichita State, and possibly Ark, so there will be a few other cupcakes away, but not many.
 
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#65
#65
Brian McCat said:
What Stallings was ignoring is that Kentucky was very good that year, so they got the prime game. The prime time game just so happens to be on a different night. It's TV. Don't blame the schedulers...blame ESPN.
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Yes, but Ky still should've had to play a Thu-Sat tilt at least once when everyone else did too.
 
#66
#66
johnnybravo said:
I can see TN going undefeated at home depending on where the FL game is positioned in the schedule. Play them late in the season, then I really like our chances. Our away schedule is brutal and I expect us to be around 500 with the teams we have to play.
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I thought the same thing when I saw or home schedule, it's definitely possible. That wouldn't be bad either, we have 17 home games an 14 away/neutral games...so if we did what you're saying we'd be 24-7.

I could deal with that :)
 
#67
#67
ZZ13 said:
This is what the expansion of the NCAAT has changed from my day (70s). Back then you just thought about winning that next game and nothing else. And if you lost, you were fan-wise miserable until that next win. And you pretty much did double duty in your brain by always thinking about beating UK from the moment you last played them.

Now, as long as we get into the NCAAT we are happy....

Not me. I'm still playing by the old rules, hopefully always will. I just want to beat them, don't care where.
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I see your point, but if you asked me would you have traded the UK beat down for a NCAA trip last year...yes I would have.
 
#68
#68
bleedingTNorange said:
I see your point, but if you asked me would you have traded the UK beat down for a NCAA trip last year...yes I would have.
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I can understand that. For me, I wouldn't make the trade. For some reason we really learned to absolutely hate Kentucky. My favorite season of all time is '78-'79. Not because DeVoe pulled off a miracle and strung a bunch of wins at the end to finish second in the regular season. And not because we then went on to win the SEC tournament. And not because we then went on to finally win our first NCAAT game. But because we beat Kentucky three times that year. That smile after that third win lasted a real long time. Plus, for me its personal. My entire in-law crew are UK graduates with that typical UK basketball entitlement complex.
 
#70
#70
ZZ13 said:
I can understand that. For me, I wouldn't make the trade. For some reason we really learned to absolutely hate Kentucky. My favorite season of all time is '78-'79. Not because DeVoe pulled off a miracle and strung a bunch of wins at the end to finish second in the regular season. And not because we then went on to win the SEC tournament. And not because we then went on to finally win our first NCAAT game. But because we beat Kentucky three times that year. That smile after that third win lasted a real long time. Plus, for me its personal. My entire in-law crew are UK graduates with that typical UK basketball entitlement complex.
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That was a great season. And the last time we won the SEC tourney after it was reinstated. We're due to win one here sometime soon...you'd think. We should've won it in 2008 and 2009. Right there.
 
#71
#71
OrangeBalls said:
That was a great season. And the last time we won the SEC tourney after it was reinstated. We're due to win one here sometime soon...you'd think. We should've won it in 2008 and 2009. Right there.
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I have literally accepted that we won't win the SEC tourney. We'll either draw UK or the one team that we match up poorly with.
 
#72
#72
Chris4Vols22 said:
I have literally accepted that we won't win the SEC tourney. We'll either draw UK or the one team that we match up poorly with.
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Cal hates the SEC tourney and is only there because the fans love it. I wouldn't bet on UK winning it. Their eyes are on a different prize.
 
#74
#74
bleedingTNorange said:
I see your point, but if you asked me would you have traded the UK beat down for a NCAA trip last year...yes I would have.
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I probably would choose the 30 pt beatdown last year just because that will probably never happen again in my life time. We will see the NCAA tourney this year. I wouldn't choose it for this year though. NCAA here we come.
 
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