1. Bobby Maze, Cam Tatum, Scotty Hopson, JP Prince, and Brian Williams are playing just about as well as you want your guys playing going into March Tournaments.
2. If you want one player having a bad week prior to tournament play, it's Wayne Chism because he is so capable of breaking out of the slump at any time. He doesn't have a fragile psyche like some other guys would.
3. The SEC Tourney is both wide-open and closed. It is wide-open because it wouldn't be a surprise if KY, UT, Vandy, or FL won it. It is closed because it would be a big surprise if anyone other than those 4 teams win it.
4. I like the Vols' bracket the first two games. LSU is pathetic. I hope Kenny Hall, McBee, Pearl, Woolridge, and Bone get lots of minutes in that game. We need to get up on that team by 20 within the first 10 minutes and sit Chism, Prince, Maze, Williams, Hopson, and Tatum for mucho minutes. Ole Miss is also a good draw for us. The last time we played them we did so without Tatum, Williams, and Goins. Chism had to play 41 minutes in that game. OM's weakness is low post play. With Williams not playing and Hall just getting his feet wet, we couldn't take as much advantage of that as we would like.
5. This tournament set-up is screwy. That OM gets a bye while the Vols play is ridiculous. But this might be a situation where it helps the Vols. We get extra shooting in the gym and get an opponent (LSU) that is terrible. Plus, we can play 12 guys in our rotation against LSU. There is no reason that Chism or Williams should play more than 20 minutes in that game.
6. Kentucky cannot like seeing Bama or USC heading their way. If there are historically 2 teams you don't want to face in the SEC tournament, it is those two. And USC plays KY well for some reason. Kentucky beat Bama and UT by 11 at home. In each game, KY needed serious help from the refs to get the win -- 31 to 10 FTs over Alabama and 30 to 13 against the Vols. They only shot 20 FTs to USC's 7 at Rupp. Of course, when they weren't able to play 8 on 5 in Columbia, USC dropped them. If the SEC loses its focus and doesn't give KY Doug Sirmons, John Cahill, or Tony Greene in one of those games, they could be in trouble. At least one of those guys was involved in all three of those games in Rupp. We need to get Valentine and Shows calling the KY game to have a chance -- they love themselves so much that they tend not to call the games for any one team. Having Mike Kitts as the third wouldn't hurt.
7. If the Vols win-out, I'm convinced we'll get a #2 seed. We will have 3 wins over top 5 teams and a 1 point loss in a 4th game (Purdue was top 3 before the injury to Hummel). The Vols last 10 at that point would be 9-1 with the 1 loss being at Florida. And the last 15 would be 12-3 with road losses losses to Vandy and Kentucky in addition to the one at Florida. And the RPI is going to be around top 10 if not in the top 10 at that point. Of course, being the only team to defeat two likely #1 seeds won't hurt either.
8. If the Vols lose to KY in the Seminfinals, I think we have a 4 seed with an outside shot at a 3 or dropping to a 5. If we beat KY and lose the SEC Championship game, I think we get a 3 seed with an outside shot at dropping to a 4. If we lose to Ole Miss, I think we get a 5 or 6 seed.
2. If you want one player having a bad week prior to tournament play, it's Wayne Chism because he is so capable of breaking out of the slump at any time. He doesn't have a fragile psyche like some other guys would.
3. The SEC Tourney is both wide-open and closed. It is wide-open because it wouldn't be a surprise if KY, UT, Vandy, or FL won it. It is closed because it would be a big surprise if anyone other than those 4 teams win it.
4. I like the Vols' bracket the first two games. LSU is pathetic. I hope Kenny Hall, McBee, Pearl, Woolridge, and Bone get lots of minutes in that game. We need to get up on that team by 20 within the first 10 minutes and sit Chism, Prince, Maze, Williams, Hopson, and Tatum for mucho minutes. Ole Miss is also a good draw for us. The last time we played them we did so without Tatum, Williams, and Goins. Chism had to play 41 minutes in that game. OM's weakness is low post play. With Williams not playing and Hall just getting his feet wet, we couldn't take as much advantage of that as we would like.
5. This tournament set-up is screwy. That OM gets a bye while the Vols play is ridiculous. But this might be a situation where it helps the Vols. We get extra shooting in the gym and get an opponent (LSU) that is terrible. Plus, we can play 12 guys in our rotation against LSU. There is no reason that Chism or Williams should play more than 20 minutes in that game.
6. Kentucky cannot like seeing Bama or USC heading their way. If there are historically 2 teams you don't want to face in the SEC tournament, it is those two. And USC plays KY well for some reason. Kentucky beat Bama and UT by 11 at home. In each game, KY needed serious help from the refs to get the win -- 31 to 10 FTs over Alabama and 30 to 13 against the Vols. They only shot 20 FTs to USC's 7 at Rupp. Of course, when they weren't able to play 8 on 5 in Columbia, USC dropped them. If the SEC loses its focus and doesn't give KY Doug Sirmons, John Cahill, or Tony Greene in one of those games, they could be in trouble. At least one of those guys was involved in all three of those games in Rupp. We need to get Valentine and Shows calling the KY game to have a chance -- they love themselves so much that they tend not to call the games for any one team. Having Mike Kitts as the third wouldn't hurt.
7. If the Vols win-out, I'm convinced we'll get a #2 seed. We will have 3 wins over top 5 teams and a 1 point loss in a 4th game (Purdue was top 3 before the injury to Hummel). The Vols last 10 at that point would be 9-1 with the 1 loss being at Florida. And the last 15 would be 12-3 with road losses losses to Vandy and Kentucky in addition to the one at Florida. And the RPI is going to be around top 10 if not in the top 10 at that point. Of course, being the only team to defeat two likely #1 seeds won't hurt either.
8. If the Vols lose to KY in the Seminfinals, I think we have a 4 seed with an outside shot at a 3 or dropping to a 5. If we beat KY and lose the SEC Championship game, I think we get a 3 seed with an outside shot at dropping to a 4. If we lose to Ole Miss, I think we get a 5 or 6 seed.
