Tennessee's first and second round match-ups

#1
Anti-shunshinepumper

Anti-shunshinepumper

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#1
(I'm not sure if there is already a thread designated for this, but I didn't see one.
If there is, sincerest apologies, and mods please and kindly merge )

Ok, so we are looking at Wofford, Utah State/UCLA in the first 2 rounds.

How do we match up with each in your opinion?
Strengths/weaknesses of these teams and is there anything we need to be looking out for?
Any key players to keep an eye on?
 
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#4
#4
ABtheVolsfan92 said:
Utah St is just run and gun but they don't have elite size we would blow them away IMO. Wofford should be an easy win we beat them by 30 last year. UCLA plays slow like us they are essentially a less talented version of us
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Yeah, UCLA only one I am a little familiar with.
I agree, we match up very well with them. Not very athletic from what I seen.
I did watch some of Utah State when they beat San Diego State when I was holding out hope SDSU's win over Houston would become a QUAD 2 loss ( which it did). Albeit I haven't seen much of either, they actually looked better to me than UCLA.
Like you also said tho, quick but they small. We should be able to impose our will on both.

Here's a little bit of highlights from both:



 
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#8
#8
OrangeInKy said:
I don't see them getting there
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Tejas beat them recently and I could see them doing it again. Two tough games for the Longjorns to get to the second round game, tho.
Illnoise is really wishy-washy anymore, but if the same team that played us back in December shows up here in March, I believe they could get to and beat the Wild Skats.
 
#9
#9
Anti-shunshinepumper said:
Tejas beat them recently and I could see them doing it again. Two tough games for the Longjorns to get to the second round game, tho.
Illnoise is really wishy-washy anymore, but if the same team that played us back in December shows up here in March, I believe they could get to and beat the Wild Skats
You do realize they are injured right?
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#10
#10
^ Yesh, I know both Illinois and Kentucky both are dealing with injuries/missing players.
So are we, tho. Would love to have JP and Carr about right now. Maybe even another scholarship player would be nice.
 
#11
#11
Wofford is a slower tempo and low possession team that will push the ball occasionally. Similar to us on tempo but they are not a rough and grind it out team or defensive minded team. They are outside the Top-200 in defensive efficiency on KenPom. They are 67th in offensive efficiency. Nearly 50% of their shot attempts on the season are from the 3-pt line.

They are a smaller team. Most of their guards are between 6’0” and 6’3” and then they have a 6’9” Center that doesn’t have much athleticism at all. Reminds me of a smaller and worse Cameron Krutwig (Loyola Chicago). They have 4 players that have made 50+ 3-pointers but that’s partially due to their high volume 3-pt attempts. As a team they shoot about the same percentage as us behind the arc.

We should have no issue scoring the ball and if we do, we have bigger problems. Their guards will not be able to defend ours. We should kill them in the lane and in the paint. Most of our guys should be able to produce but this is a game where Milicic and Okpara should be able to feast.
 
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#12
#12
BallerVolFan said:
Wofford is a slower tempo and low possession team that will push the ball occasionally. Similar to us on tempo but they are not a rough and grind it out team or defensive minded team. They are outside the Top-200 in defensive efficiency on KenPom. They are 67th in offensive efficiency. Nearly 50% of their shot attempts on the season are from the 3-pt line.

They are a smaller team. Most of their guards are between 6’0” and 6’3” and then they have a 6’9” Center that doesn’t have much athleticism at all. Reminds me of a smaller and worse Cameron Krutwig (Loyola Chicago). They have 4 players that have made 50+ 3-pointers but that’s partially due to their high volume 3-pt attempts. As a team they shoot about the same percentage as us behind the arc.

We should have no issue scoring the ball and if we do, we have bigger problems. Their guards will not be able to defend ours. We should kill them in the lane and in the paint. Most of our guys should be able to produce but this is a game where Milicic and Okpara should be able to feast.
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Thanks for the detail 👍
 
#13
#13
I'm not in the know with these other teams but feels Tenn has a favorable path? Surely UK can't beat them a 3rd time...
 
#14
#14
Anti-shunshinepumper said:
(I'm not sure if there is already a thread designated for this, but I didn't see one.
If there is, sincerest apologies, and mods please and kindly merge )

Ok, so we are looking at Wofford, Utah State/UCLA in the first 2 rounds.

How do we match up with each in your opinion?
Strengths/weaknesses of these teams and is there anything we need to be looking out for?
Any key players to keep an eye on?
Click to expand...
With NIL, transfer portal there will be less and less upsets in the first two rounds of tournament from here on out. The billionaires that now officially own College Sports, desire only big name teams to go forward. The drama of "is North Carolina going to get in", was nothing but made for TV reality show. They were not in danger. TV ratings for North Carolina exceed TV ratings for Boise State basketball. The mid majors and lower are going to lose their best players every year to Transfer Portal. And NIL means best HS players will almost never go to a mid-major. College Sports is now headed into the dumpster, just like the Pro game.
 
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#15
#15
I would prefer to avoid KY to. Pains me to say that but KY seems to have Vols # this season. Vols loss at home convinced me of that. TV experts saying St. Johns will be the potential team to block Vols from advancing.
 
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#16
#16
OrangeBeachVol said:
I would prefer to avoid KY to. Pains me to say that but KY seems to have Vols # this season. Vols lose at home convinced me of that. TV experts saying St. Johns will be the potential team to block Vols from advancing.
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St John’s is on the other side of the bracket. We could only meet them in the finals.
 
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#18
#18
Trying to figure out when we play the second game. I live in Lexington. Been all over looking. Have they released the time of the second game yet? Want to buy tickets.
 
#19
#19
Wofford is probably the easiest draw I think we could have gotten. 19-15 and their longest win streak was 3. I think they can shoot some 3's though. I expect Tennessee to win 92-67

Second round game against UCLA or Utah state also doesn't worry me. UCLA did some things in the big 10 but wasn't a world beater. Utah state, don't really know much about them which usually is a good thing.

Tennessee beats UCLA 76-54
Tennessee beats Utah State 79-51

As for the sweet 16, most of us think it's going to be UK, but that's up for debate. They aren't healthy right now
 
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#20
#20
Well, from that video its quite obvious they can shoot the "uncontested" three. Don't see them stopping our bigs, if we choose to go that route. We should get open shots too if they play defense like that video.
 
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#21
#21
BearBryant said:
With NIL, transfer portal there will be less and less upsets in the first two rounds of tournament from here on out. The billionaires that now officially own College Sports, desire only big name teams to go forward. The drama of "is North Carolina going to get in", was nothing but made for TV reality show. They were not in danger. TV ratings for North Carolina exceed TV ratings for Boise State basketball. The mid majors and lower are going to lose their best players every year to Transfer Portal. And NIL means best HS players will almost never go to a mid-major. College Sports is now headed into the dumpster, just like the Pro game.
Click to expand...
I respect what you are saying, but I tend to disagree. I think you are going to see even more upsets now. While it's true bigger schools are now going to have super team type stuff, not everyone who goes into the transfer portal is going to find a team. Remember Tyrese Hunter? Big name in the portal not too long ago. Ultimately, went to Texas over us. Isn't he playing at Memphis now? I think it gives mid majors a chance at getting better players they wouldn't typically get because of the portal overload
 
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#23
#23
johnboyhunter said:
Trying to figure out when we play the second game. I live in Lexington. Been all over looking. Have they released the time of the second game yet? Want to buy tickets.
Click to expand...

I don’t think that will be determined until after the Thursday results. I just bought my tickets knowing I’d be there for either start time on Saturday
 
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#25
#25
We really need UK to lose early.

Unfortunately, them and Florida is a bad match up for us.

Luckily Florida is on the other side of the bracket.

If they get sent home early, our chances of making the Final Four becomes easier.
 
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