The Official “Regular Posters of the Basketball Forum” Thread

[OrangeInKy]

Yeah I agree 100%. For me, the only other celeb death that really moved me was Steve McNair. I was a kid in Nashville when the Titans moved there, and that's what got me into playing Pop Warner for a five seasons. Even though McNair had not been a Titan for a while, he was still very beloved in Nashville.

I totally get it. I cried when Norm MacDonald died and was upset when some others died, but as far as real tears, Kobe is the other one along with John Ward. Even though he was old and it wasnt a shock, I subbed when he died. I can't explain it but I'm sure you and others here are the same way. A huge part of my life and experience growing up with Tennessee sports.

Kobe's was just stunning. Watching him become a Dad and do so many things after basketball was so cool, knowing how invested he was in his kids and the game, and seeing him change over the years, it was all so much. When the report of Gianna being on the helicopter along with other kids was confirmed, it just made it so much worse. Just a horrific and sad time. It still is so hard to grasp that it actually happened.

 

[omghulkhands]

Winning this sh*t show game proves without a doubt we deserve that #1 ranking

 

[Purplehaze26]

Way too many threads being made now, all saying about the same thing

Great win Vols and excellent play By Gainey!

 

[omghulkhands]

Those refs were basketball terrorists.

Even Illinois fans are admitting it on Reddit.

Every year we get a game where (usually on the road or neutral site) the refs are terrible.

Well. This was one of those games, and we survived it. We are legit.

 

[cncchris33]

Way too many threads being made now, all saying about the same thing

Great win Vols and excellent play By Gainey!

It's the VolNation way when we win a close game or lose a close or get blown out in a game or the wind blows backwards or aliens invade or...

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Winning this sh*t show game proves without a doubt we deserve that #1 ranking

Yeah, I’m bought in. I had said I wasn’t quite sure how good this team was yet with our solid, but not that great, non-conference schedule. Only elite teams win that type of game. We deserve that ranking. Gutsy win done without our best players on the court.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Chaz kept us in it the first half & Gainey brought it home in the second half.

Obviously officiating was bad, but to only have 6 assists as a team was alarming. I was worried about this game because it was a true road game, their length as a team and Big 10 officiating. But to get out of there with a win after ZZ & Chaz fouled out is amazing. Showcases the growth of Shack & Gainey and also really shows that the team is bought in to winning by any means necessary. That’ll be a quad 1 win, and it was because of us playing our brand of elite defense.

 

[berryvol]

What a damn win boys!!!! We are GOOD.

 

[berryvol]

If Igor even plays decently we win this by 15+.

2 things that stuck out to me tonight:

1. For all the love ZZ and Chaz get (rightfully so, I might add), Shack is our most consistent player on both ends. We may have multiple losses right now if not for him. He is insane on D and has turned into a guy that can score from multiple levels on offense, as well as facilitate. If he doesn’t win DPOY, the award is a farce.

2. Igor was BAD tonight on offense. Missed tons of great looks. That said, he didn’t stop shooting. He kept stepping into his shot with confidence. Not only that, but he made, in my opinion, the biggest play of the game, by stealing the inbounds pass and slamming it home to give us the lead with a minute to play.

This team doesn’t care if their shots aren’t falling, they keep their heads down and play the damn game. That can’t be taught and is a character trait. We have an easy team to pull for and one that is capable of winning it all. Enjoy it.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Can’t wait till we get to conference play and can shut up all the Kentucky and Auburn fans that keep screaming “Tennessee ain’t played nobody Pawl!”

 

[walkenvol]

If Igor even plays decently we win this by 15+.

2 things that stuck out to me tonight:

1. For all the love ZZ and Chaz get (rightfully so, I might add), Shack is our most consistent player on both ends. We have may have multiple losses right now if not for him. He is insane on D and has turned into a guy that can score from multiple levels on offense, as well as facilitate. If he doesn’t win DPOY, the award is a farce.

2. Igor was BAD tonight on offense. Missed tons of great looks. That said, he didn’t stop shooting. He kept stepping into his shot with confidence. Not only that, but he made, in my opinion, the biggest play of the game, by stealing the inbounds pass and slamming it home to give us the lead with a minute to play.

This team doesn’t care if their shots aren’t falling, they keep their heads down and play the damn game. That can’t be taught and is a character trait. We have an easy team to pull for and one that is capable of winning it all. Enjoy it.

If Mashack doesn’t win DPOY it may be due to his propensity to foul 3 point shooters

 

[omghulkhands]

It's the VolNation way when we win a close game or lose a close or get blown out in a game or the wind blows backwards or aliens invade or...

Speaking of aliens invading…

 

[berryvol]

If Mashack doesn’t win DPOY it may be due to his propensity to foul 3 point shooters

I’ve never seen as many 3 point fouls as tonight. Cannot believe we won with the way we played.

 

[berryvol]

Can’t wait till we get to conference play and can shut up all the Kentucky and Auburn fans that keep screaming “Tennessee ain’t played nobody Pawl!”

I know tons are saying it, but they’re full of sh*t. 2 top 15 KP wins and 3 Q1 wins. Only behind Auburn and Oregon in Q1 wins. This team has played a solid schedule and all of the tough games have been away from home.

 

[Buddy’s Bandit]

Don’t think we win that game last year.

 

[ColinS]

How about Bishop Boswell giving us some big minutes? Three rebounds and forced a big turnover.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

We showed real toughness last night...I wanted no part of O/T with our foul situation and the refs. Gainey turned in a legendary performance in the 2nd half, Milicic never stopped playing hard despite his shooting woes and had the play of the game until Gainey's game winner, and Shack put his fingerprints all over this game.

The big question coming in was how our post play would be so it's most worrisome that Okpara was benched in the 2nd half but thanks to Milicic for picking up and the slack on reb and rim protection.

 

[Col_Cathcart]

Chaz kept us in it the first half & Gainey brought it home in the second half.

Obviously officiating was bad, but to only have 6 assists as a team was alarming. I was worried about this game because it was a true road game, their length as a team and Big 10 officiating. But to get out of there with a win after ZZ & Chaz fouled out is amazing. Showcases the growth of Shack & Gainey and also really shows that the team is bought in to winning by any means necessary. That’ll be a quad 1 win, and it was because of us playing our brand of elite defense.

ZZ only playing 25 minutes and the massive number of FTs are probably related to the low assist numbers. FWIW, Il only had 6 assists as well.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

If Igor even plays decently we win this by 15+.

2 things that stuck out to me tonight:

1. For all the love ZZ and Chaz get (rightfully so, I might add), Shack is our most consistent player on both ends. We may have multiple losses right now if not for him. He is insane on D and has turned into a guy that can score from multiple levels on offense, as well as facilitate. If he doesn’t win DPOY, the award is a farce.

2. Igor was BAD tonight on offense. Missed tons of great looks. That said, he didn’t stop shooting. He kept stepping into his shot with confidence. Not only that, but he made, in my opinion, the biggest play of the game, by stealing the inbounds pass and slamming it home to give us the lead with a minute to play.

This team doesn’t care if their shots aren’t falling, they keep their heads down and play the damn game. That can’t be taught and is a character trait. We have an easy team to pull for and one that is capable of winning it all. Enjoy it.

If he shoots decently. Otherwise Igor was big on the boards and defense

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Sounds like Brad Underwood isn’t that good at scouting if you ask me.

 

[ColinS]

Sounds like Brad Underwood isn’t that good at scouting if you ask me.

Funny thing is I agreed with him at the time he said it but that's changing and the rest of this game proves it. Gainey is getting more and more comfortable with the ball in his hands.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Sounds like Brad Underwood isn’t that good at scouting if you ask me.

I caught that in game, I told my buddy “he ain’t got a clue what Gainey can do!”

So fitting Gainey’s ball handling lead to the W

Also Dubar needed to play good and he stepped up, we’re gonna need him to keep carving out minutes. Felix will benefit long term from these tough games, but I hope he gets some confidence going in these next 3 games against teams he should dominate

 

[chuckiepoo]

I wanted no part of O/T with our foul situation and the refs.

Nope. Nope, nope, nope.

 

[ndubvols]

Sounds like Brad Underwood isn’t that good at scouting if you ask me.

I was a bit surprised they didn’t try and pressure gainey more tbh, he’s struggled against that at times but they didn’t really throw much at him defensively. He was obviously great the entire second half, under control throughout.

 

[cncchris33]

Funny thing is I agreed with him at the time he said it but that's changing and the rest of this game proves it. Gainey is getting more and more comfortable with the ball in his hands.

Yeah, he isn't wrong. Gainey is fine going in a straight line like he did in the final seconds. The issue he has is handling the ball in the halfcourt, whi h is what Underwood was referencing in that moment.