Outrebounded by 25

[VolGee4]

I never broke things but I used to get so mad when UT would lose, but since I’ve been a fan that’s mostly all they do so I’m pretty much used to it. I still hate to see them lose in any sport but I guess you could say they’ve just beaten it out of me over the years. The university hasn’t been serious about championship level athletics in a long time, when that’s the case you mine as well just accept your fate.

In the last 15 years, the basketball program has had the best sustained success in the program's history. More Sweet 16's since 2005 than in the program's total history. We have gone to the NCAAT 9 times in that period compared to 13 times total in the many years before that (and the 13 includes Jerry Green's years).

22 years ago, we won a national championship in football, and that hadn't been done since really 1951. Football hasn't been good lately, but you have to put some of these things in perspective.

If want to go on, softball is an elite national program that has been to the title series twice. LV basketball is down and should be elite, yet, we still haven't missed an NCAAT.

I think I can probably guess your age range.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

In the last 15 years, the basketball program has had the best sustained success in the program's history. More Sweet 16's since 2005 than in the program's total history. We have gone to the NCAAT 9 times in that period compared to 13 times total in the many years before that (and the 13 includes Jerry Green's years).

22 years ago, we won a national championship in football, and that hadn't been done since really 1951. Football hasn't been good lately, but you have to put some of these things in perspective.

If want to go on, softball is an elite national program that has been to the title series twice. LV basketball is down and should be elite, yet, we still haven't missed an NCAAT.

I think I can probably guess your age range.

Probably would get me destroyed on the FF, but this fanbase pretty much highly inflates our football program's success historically. I'm not saying most of the past 12 years should be acceptable, but some us seem to think we have some birthright to be in the NC hunt every year and historically that's pretty laughable.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Probably would get me destroyed on the FF, but this fanbase pretty much highly inflates our football program's success historically. I'm not saying most of the past 12 years should be acceptable, but some us seem to think we have some birthright to be in the NC hunt every year and historically that's pretty laughable.

Historically in the top 10-12 all-time best programs so being in the hunt is a reasonable expectation... but not EVERY year.

 

[Alex10]

In the last 15 years, the basketball program has had the best sustained success in the program's history. More Sweet 16's since 2005 than in the program's total history. We have gone to the NCAAT 9 times in that period compared to 13 times total in the many years before that (and the 13 includes Jerry Green's years).

22 years ago, we won a national championship in football, and that hadn't been done since really 1951. Football hasn't been good lately, but you have to put some of these things in perspective.

If want to go on, softball is an elite national program that has been to the title series twice. LV basketball is down and should be elite, yet, we still haven't missed an NCAAT.

I think I can probably guess your age range.

Yeah I’m early 30’s and didn’t grow up in a sports household so I’ve only been a fan for about 18 years. Again I’m talking about a commitment to championship caliber sports.. winning X amount of games in a Y amount of time is nice but not really how champions measure things. I’ve seen us make 3 sec champ games in football, lost them all. I did get to enjoy a couple of lady vols basketball titles, now we aren’t even competing for championships in a sport we basically created. Anyway I think we have different levels of expectations which is kind of my point, anymore I no longer expect to compete for championships because we are just so far behind the bell curve in most sports. Our administration as a whole has seemed to be fine with that for many years now. I certainly can’t do anything about it so when the ones who can are happy with mediocre you mine as well just expect it. But please don’t hit me with the whole instant gratification generation thing. I’ve waited 15+ years and not really much has changed.

 

[VolGee4]

Yeah I’m early 30’s and didn’t grow up in a sports household so I’ve only been a fan for about 18 years. Again I’m talking about a commitment to championship caliber sports.. winning X amount of games in a Y amount of time is nice but not really how champions measure things. I’ve seen us make 3 sec champ games in football, lost them all. I did get to enjoy a couple of lady vols basketball titles, now we aren’t even competing for championships in a sport we basically created. Anyway I think we have different levels of expectations which is kind of my point, anymore I no longer expect to compete for championships because we are just so far behind the bell curve in most sports. Our administration as a whole has seemed to be fine with that for many years now. I certainly can’t do anything about it so when the ones who can are happy with mediocre you mine as well just expect it. But please don’t hit me with the whole instant gratification generation thing. I’ve waited 15+ years and not really much has changed.

We are in the basketball forum, and the last 15 years in basketball is the best it’s ever been. Compared to our history, it’s been far from mediocre. I will just leave it at that.

 

[Alex10]

We are in the basketball forum, and the last 15 years in basketball is the best it’s ever been. I will just leave it at that.

Ok that’s fine, there best isn’t anywhere close to championship level. So again you just learn to lower your expectations to where the people who can do something about it are happy. Their happy is mediocrity, not sure what we are arguing about here?

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

I never broke things but I used to get so mad when UT would lose, but since I’ve been a fan that’s mostly all they do so I’m pretty much used to it. I still hate to see them lose in any sport but I guess you could say they’ve just beaten it out of me over the years. The university hasn’t been serious about championship level athletics in a long time, when that’s the case you mine as well just accept your fate.

I made sure it was old lamp stands with little value that were in the garage where a TV was. I wasn’t going to destroy good furniture.

 

[VolGee4]

Ok that’s fine, there best isn’t anywhere close to championship level. So again you just learn to lower your expectations to where the people who can do something about it are happy. Their happy is mediocrity, not sure what we are arguing about here?

It’s entertainment for me. I can’t control it. I enjoy it for the most part. It’s called perspective.

But everyone’s different, so I hope you do find happiness.

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

Yeah I’m early 30’s and didn’t grow up in a sports household so I’ve only been a fan for about 18 years. Again I’m talking about a commitment to championship caliber sports.. winning X amount of games in a Y amount of time is nice but not really how champions measure things. I’ve seen us make 3 sec champ games in football, lost them all. I did get to enjoy a couple of lady vols basketball titles, now we aren’t even competing for championships in a sport we basically created. Anyway I think we have different levels of expectations which is kind of my point, anymore I no longer expect to compete for championships because we are just so far behind the bell curve in most sports. Our administration as a whole has seemed to be fine with that for many years now. I certainly can’t do anything about it so when the ones who can are happy with mediocre you mine as well just expect it. But please don’t hit me with the whole instant gratification generation thing. I’ve waited 15+ years and not really much has changed.

You don’t see the change in football and the recruiting success this year? Did you forget the basketball team last year and their current recruiting? Don’t tell us nothing has changed.

 

[cardvolfan]

Say what you want about the officials and our shooting. You dont win many games getting outrebounded by 25 no matter who you're playing. Inexcusable, pathetic effort on the glass. Very disappointing. A&M had the same number of defensive rebounds as they did offensive. I'm not even sure if that's ever happened before.

Sometimes, the ball doesn't bounce your way. Sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. It seems to me that last night A&M got a lot of very good bounces and the Vols were unlucky. The disparity in rebounds is certainly not the whole explanation accounted to bad luck, as we didn't do the things needed to rebound better. But, we hustled the whole night, and the words "pathetic effort" are wrong. The effort was there, but there were bad bounces and some lack of execution was concerned.

 

[Alex10]

It’s entertainment for me. I can’t control it. I enjoy it for the most part. It’s called perspective.

But everyone’s different, so I hope you do find happiness.

? What you just said is literally what I’ve been saying.

 

[Alex10]

The p

You don’t see the change in football and the recruiting success this year? Did you forget the basketball team last year and their current recruiting? Don’t tell us nothing has changed.

ast half of the football season was very good, recruiting is doing well. I hope Pruitt is the man but let’s not pretend everyone wasn’t beating their chest about butch’s recruiting classes and his steady improvement record wise his first few years. I think Pruitt is a lot better than butch but we still haven’t exactly made it out of the abyss yet... it seems we have come close a time or two over the past 15 years but we never can seem to quite do it, at least not with any sustainability. Again I hope we are on the right track this time, I feel like we are but I’m in the show me mode with UT sports, I’ve been fooled to many times. As far as the recruiting class coming in next year for basketball? Yep they are highly recruited on paper but my lord that’s been the case with several of UT’s 5 star guys since I’ve been watching and only 1 has actually even come close to living up to the billing. Again I hope I’m dead wrong but I’m not going to let myself believe that a few highly rated freshman are going to come in here and instantly make us elite. Even Kentucky who recruits elite, top classes every year only competes for championships every 6 or 7 years and we don’t recruit anything like them on average. Hope I’m wrong.

 

[cardvolfan]

Yeah I’m early 30’s and didn’t grow up in a sports household so I’ve only been a fan for about 18 years. Again I’m talking about a commitment to championship caliber sports.. winning X amount of games in a Y amount of time is nice but not really how champions measure things. I’ve seen us make 3 sec champ games in football, lost them all. I did get to enjoy a couple of lady vols basketball titles, now we aren’t even competing for championships in a sport we basically created. Anyway I think we have different levels of expectations which is kind of my point, anymore I no longer expect to compete for championships because we are just so far behind the bell curve in most sports. Our administration as a whole has seemed to be fine with that for many years now. I certainly can’t do anything about it so when the ones who can are happy with mediocre you mine as well just expect it. But please don’t hit me with the whole instant gratification generation thing. I’ve waited 15+ years and not really much has changed.

Live long enough and you will see that everything is cyclical. I am the most competitive person in the world, and I hate losing, but not everyone is up every year. I'm not satisfied with football mediocrity, but the simple fact is that 50% of the teams win and 50% of the teams lose on any given day. Every year in every sport only one team is crowned champion. That doesn't mean that the thousands of teams across all NCAA sports that don't win are losers. It just means that everyone can't win the ultimate prize every year. Take heart and pride in what UT has had in the past and of what inevitably they will have in the future.

 

[wtmvol]

people forget but this happens every season, and no this isn't any worse. he beats the crap out of the DII teams we play in November then disappears for the rest of the year. this year it seems worse because he's our only shooter left so its much more noticeable when he's missing.

I'd like to see your supporting data.

Last year, Bowden averaged 8.5ppg in the non conference. His highest scoring output was 15 points against West Virginia, and while WV was down last year, they were still D1 as far as I remember.

In SEC play, he averaged 12ppg including 4 straight games of scoring at least 17.

In the NCAA tournament he averaged 13ppg. He was arguably our best player against Purdue, hitting 4-6 3-pointers

He seemed to do the opposite of what you're suggesting, and that was on a team with 3-4 NBA players where it would have been very easy for him to disappear.

Bowden is being asked to do something he's never had to do, and do it without having a true PG on the team. It's certainly fair to say he's in a multi-game slump, but this myth that people spew that he's only ever been good against scrub teams doesn't seem to hold much weight.

 

[Alex10]

Live long enough and you will see that everything is cyclical. I am the most competitive person in the world, and I hate losing, but not everyone is up every year. I'm not satisfied with football mediocrity, but the simple fact is that 50% of the teams win and 50% of the teams lose on any given day. Every year in every sport only one team is crowned champion. That doesn't mean that the thousands of teams across all NCAA sports that don't win are losers. It just means that everyone can't win the ultimate prize every year. Take heart and pride in what UT has had in the past and of what inevitably they will have in the future.

I agree with most of what your saying and I’m on board with what your saying. My only caveat would be about the 50 percent win and 50 percent lose thing. I get what your saying but if you look at Alabama or Florida or Ohio state or a few others records over the years I’d imagine it’s a tad better than 50/50 I understand about the cyclical thing though, I just entered my fandom at the very beginning of the down slide for the teams I root for. Not only UT in all sports but apparently my titans used to be pretty good to, since I’ve been a fan they’ve basically sucked. Life’s good and all just when talking specifically sports fandom it’s been a hard road so far I just want to know what it feels like for one of my teams to win the whole enchilada!!! I think I’d be content forever as far as sports go.

 

[cardvolfan]

I agree with most of what your saying and I’m on board with what your saying. My only caveat would be about the 50 percent win and 50 percent lose thing. I get what your saying but if you look at Alabama or Florida or Ohio state or a few others records over the years I’d imagine it’s a tad better than 50/50 I understand about the cyclical thing though, I just entered my fandom at the very beginning of the down slide for the teams I root for. Not only UT in all sports but apparently my titans used to be pretty good to, since I’ve been a fan they’ve basically sucked. Life’s good and all just when talking specifically sports fandom it’s been a hard road so far I just want to know what it feels like for one of my teams to win the whole enchilada!!! I think I’d be content forever as far as sports go.

It will happen for the long suffering fans. Yes, Alabama and Ohio State in the last 12 years have been great. But, prior to that, the Alabama fans were going through something similar to what we're going through. They were despondent, irrational, and depressed. We will get our mojo back at some point. Hang in there!

 

[VolGee4]

? What you just said is literally what I’ve been saying.

Not exactly. You said you couldn’t control it but clearly are unhappy about watching UT sports. I was just giving perspective, which some lose on occasion. Last year was literally an exception and not the standard with UT basketball. It was fun.

Nonetheless, I don’t take anything personally. Just because I use perspective doesn’t mean I don’t like winning. “Accepting mediocrity” is something that is thrown around too much. For everyone’s sake, I hope our players get better, and we win more games.

 

[Alex10]

It will happen for the long suffering fans. Yes, Alabama and Ohio State in the last 12 years have been great. But, prior to that, the Alabama fans were going through something similar to what we're going through. They were despondent, irrational, and depressed. We will get our mojo back at some point. Hang in there!

Oh I’ll be a vol fan my whole life, there won’t ever be any question, whether they lose every game from here until I die it won’t change that. Just wish the ride would be a little more enjoyable. Sports is about enjoyment and entertainment, it’s been more unenjoyable than enjoyable thus far, irregardless I’ll be there rooting them on.

 

[Alex10]

Not exactly. You said you couldn’t control it but clearly are unhappy about watching UT sports. I was just giving perspective, which some lose on occasion. Last year was literally an exception and not the standard with UT basketball. It was fun.

Nonetheless, I don’t take anything personally. Just because I use perspective doesn’t mean I don’t like winning. “Accepting mediocrity” is something that is thrown around too much. For everyone’s sake, I hope our players get better, and we win more games.

I’m not unhappy about watching UT sports but I do get the feeling UT just doesn’t have that w”championship mentality around the sports programs as a whole. But yeah your right, I enjoy the perspective you provide.

 

[VolGee4]

I agree with most of what your saying and I’m on board with what your saying. My only caveat would be about the 50 percent win and 50 percent lose thing. I get what your saying but if you look at Alabama or Florida or Ohio state or a few others records over the years I’d imagine it’s a tad better than 50/50 I understand about the cyclical thing though, I just entered my fandom at the very beginning of the down slide for the teams I root for. Not only UT in all sports but apparently my titans used to be pretty good to, since I’ve been a fan they’ve basically sucked. Life’s good and all just when talking specifically sports fandom it’s been a hard road so far I just want to know what it feels like for one of my teams to win the whole enchilada!!! I think I’d be content forever as far as sports go.

There it is. I do know what it feels like, and I was personally there. So, I’m trying to bring a different perspective.

 

[VolGee4]

I’m not unhappy about watching UT sports but I do get the feeling UT just doesn’t have that w”championship mentality around the sports programs as a whole. But yeah your right, I enjoy the perspective you provide.

It’s complicated. The athletic department has been a mess for a while, but I think that’s changing.

Then, I watch the Aaron Hernandez documentary (haven’t seen the 3rd hour yet), and ask myself- is this what high level college athletics has come to? UF won titles with players like that. I don’t want that winning mentality.

 

[USAFgolferVol]

A&M beat TN on the offensive boards 21-4.

Next practice might be extra tough