The Official #18 Tennessee @ Texas Game Thread, 8:00 PM ET, ESPN

[VolGee4]

Officials:Gerry Pollard, Tony Padilla, Kelly Self

They must be Big 12. I didn’t recognize them, and I saw a couple of our “favorites” in the Bama-Baylor game.

 

[Voltime123]

Human polls in basketball are as meaningful as male nipples.

Exactly

 

[SGMVols]

I'm not against KC. I really like his game when he shows up. He is fun to watch when he is engaged. But who gets more out of their ability? KC or ZZ?

Chandler may make more money playing basketball, but Zeigler will be more beloved by this fanbase when all is said and done. Z is going to be an awesome 4 year player.

 

[gainesvol82]

The lack of basketball knowledge many posters have is astounding. Bashing Barnes, Vescovi, Chandler, saying we aren't a tournament team and criticizing JJJ's play tonight is absolute stupidity.

We are frustrating on offense at times but Barnes has put our program on the map after Cuonzo and Tyndall brought it down. He has brought in more top flight talent in the last few years than the previous 40 years combined....had us at #1 with Grant/Admiral for much longer than Pearl ever did and was a horrible call against Purdue from having us in the Elite 8. He has objectively accomplished every bit as much as Pearl ever did for us and has done it in a much classier way while getting more kids drafted.

Some of y'all are either dumb or just way overreact to each loss. Pearl is a very good coach but is a proven cheater(and hypocritical snitch) that is despised within the coaching community. How do you think our recent athletics investigation would have impacted basketball if he was still our coach? Barnes isn't perfect but we have never been more respected or consistent as a program than under him.

 

[BisonVol]

If they win games they should then this will put them with 19 or 20 wins. They could easily lose to A&M and then they will be on the bubble. These guys are just not that good. I could see them losing one or two to weak teams.

Dude...a loss to A&M isn't going to take them from 5 seed, which is probably what they'll be projected at after today, to on the bubble. A&M is sneaky good, but playing in Knoxville I think we come out on top.

I'm not saying things couldn't go south, but to this point every one of this team's losses are to good Q1 teams. It's not like we're dropping games to average/mediocre teams.

 

[VolPack22]

If you’re going to make this argument then at least level the field and compare turnovers per minute played instead of games played as KC has played more minutes

KC has 5.1 TOs per 100 possessions. ZZ has 4.2. KC has 3.5 TOs per 40 minutes. ZZ has 2.9. Whichever way you look at it, KC turns it over more. I’ll take the guy that can hit his free throws, gets more steals and takes better care of the basketball.

 

[VolGee4]

Dude...a loss to A&M isn't going to take them from 5 seed, which is probably what they'll be projected at after today, to on the bubble. A&M is sneaky good, but playing in Knoxville I think we come out on top.

I'm not saying things couldn't go south, but to this point every one of this team's losses are to good Q1 teams. It's not like we're dropping games to average/mediocre teams.

It’s crazy how our fans don’t understand.

 

[BreatheUT]

I'm so used to this program losing these types of games that it doesn't take me long to get over it.

 

[BisonVol]

It’s crazy how our fans don’t understand.

This fanbase, as great as it is in so many ways, ain't always the sharpest when it comes to basketball.

 

[VolPack22]

Say that in your first post then otherwise it just seems like you are penalizing a freshman for making freshman mistakes

Maybe read closer and you wouldn’t get confused. I literally said that ZZ has had a single game with 3 TOs all season. KC has 10 such games now.

 

[I4Vols]

The lack of basketball knowledge many posters have is astounding. Bashing Barnes, Vescovi, Chandler, saying we aren't a tournament team and criticizing JJJ's play tonight is absolute stupidity.

We are frustrating on offense at times but Barnes has put our program on the map after Cuonzo and Tyndall brought it down. He has brought in more top flight talent in the last few years than the previous 40 years combined....had us at #1 with Grant/Admiral for much longer than Pearl ever did and was a horrible call against Purdue from having us in the Elite 8. He has objectively accomplished every bit as much as Pearl ever did for us and has done it in a much classier way while getting more kids drafted.

Some of y'all are either dumb or just way overreact to each loss. Pearl is a very good coach but is a proven cheater(and hypocritical snitch) that is despised within the coaching community. How do you think our recent athletics investigation would have impacted basketball if he was still our coach? Barnes isn't perfect but we have never been more respected or consistent as a program than under him.

Nominated for Best Vol BBall Post of the Year, category "Intelligent Posting"

You will win, as no other nominations in this category.
It's a dog fight in the category "Couch Coaches Posting"

 

[Other_Guy]

This is exactly like that. Everyone keeps saying we should rely on our defense but you still gotta score.

Their offense is so bad, just about every team they play with a decent defense, the opponents defense looks better than UTs.

 

[Other_Guy]

The only thing worse than that garbage offensive performance is the fact they flirted with us by actually tying the game and lthen lose by 1.

 

[Voltime123]

Maybe read closer and you wouldn’t get confused. I literally said that ZZ has had a single game with 3 TOs all season. KC has 10 such games now.

Read closer? Did you bring up minutes once in your first post…are ppl suppose to read your mind?

 

[RockyTopTexas]

Not enough clock

7 seconds is plenty of time bro

 

[Frozevol]

Great teams find a way to win games like the Texas Tech and Texas games. Vols lack the offensive firepower to be a great team. They are a good, well coached team with a lot of heart that plays extremely hard and never quits. I respect that. Buckle up for the rest of the season- it could be a wild ride.

It’s going to be a ride, but I wouldn’t call it wild.

 

[VolPack22]

Read closer? Did you bring up minutes once in your first post…are ppl suppose to read your mind?

Not my fault you didn’t read the entire thing. I SAID ZZ TURNS THE BALL OVER LESS. I don’t think I can get any more clear than that.

 

[RockyTopTexas]

Ziegler is

Not my fault you didn’t read the entire thing. I SAID ZZ TURNS THE BALL OVER LESS. I don’t think I can get any more clear than that.

Ziegler is the heart and soul of this team.. make sure you understand that

 

[minorvol]

The lack of basketball knowledge many posters have is astounding. Bashing Barnes, Vescovi, Chandler, saying we aren't a tournament team and criticizing JJJ's play tonight is absolute stupidity.

We are frustrating on offense at times but Barnes has put our program on the map after Cuonzo and Tyndall brought it down. He has brought in more top flight talent in the last few years than the previous 40 years combined....had us at #1 with Grant/Admiral for much longer than Pearl ever did and was a horrible call against Purdue from having us in the Elite 8. He has objectively accomplished every bit as much as Pearl ever did for us and has done it in a much classier way while getting more kids drafted.

Some of y'all are either dumb or just way overreact to each loss. Pearl is a very good coach but is a proven cheater(and hypocritical snitch) that is despised within the coaching community. How do you think our recent athletics investigation would have impacted basketball if he was still our coach? Barnes isn't perfect but we have never been more respected or consistent as a program than under him.

As mad as I am about losing to this bad Texas team you bring up very, very valid points. UT will continue to bring in good talent under Barnes and go to the tourney. Hopefully one of those teams will get hot at the right time and go to a final 4 or further. As far as this game, there were a lot of well drawn up plays where shots were missed including several right at the rim. Make those and just 75% of your free throws and we win by double digits.

 

[VolPack22]

As mad as I am about losing to this bad Texas team you bring up very, very valid points. UT will continue to bring in good talent under Barnes and go to the tourney. Hopefully one of those teams will get hot at the right time and go to a final 4 or further. As far as this game, there were a lot of well drawn up plays where shots were missed including several right at the rim. Make those and just 75% of your free throws and we win by double digits.

Just make 63% FTs and we win tonight lol. It’s amazing that we shot 36% from the floor and still was tied under 10 seconds left.

 

[turdherder11]

Hate the last shot was a 3 from James, who is a lower 20% 3pt shooter. This team is always taking low % shots. However, I thought Bailey had a good game and the put back is something this team needs more of. Not enough offensive rebounding for sure but im hoping this team is unlike most of CRB's team in the past, they actually put things together on offense before March.

 

[gainesvol82]

As mad as I am about losing to this bad Texas team you bring up very, very valid points. UT will continue to bring in good talent under Barnes and go to the tourney. Hopefully one of those teams will get hot at the right time and go to a final 4 or further. As far as this game, there were a lot of well drawn up plays where shots were missed including several right at the rim. Make those and just 75% of your free throws and we win by double digits.

Agreed with everything except Texas being bad. They don't really have much of a PG but they are big and athletic, play great defense and have a very solid record (better than ours) while playing in the second best conference. They are a tournament team and borderline Top 25.

 

[beamerman]

Just make 63% FTs and we win tonight lol. It’s amazing that we shot 36% from the floor and still was tied under 10 seconds left.

People were complaining early on this team wasn’t drawing fouls. Now they are and they miss free throws. Sometimes it is not the coach, but in the players. I lost track of how many of the close shots we missed around the basket. Coming back to tie and get a chance to win says a lot about the character of this team with Z out there. Chandler seems to be going through the motions of playing. Z comes to play.

 

[RockyTopTexas]

Agreed with everything except Texas being bad. They don't really have much of a PG but they are big and athletic, play great defense and have a very solid record (better than ours) while playing in the second best conference. They are a tournament team and borderline Top 25.

Texas is not a good basketball team.. they are stout defensively.. offense struggled like ours.. Ramey doesn’t do that **** every night

 

[mr.checkerboards]