Tonight's Game Summed Up Season

[VOLtaism]

Really hard to find words to describe this team. Over achieved and won games they shouldn't have, because let's face it, they weren't really elite talent.

Then lost to teams they really had no business losing to.

I've never seen a team play up to competition and down to competition. The one thing they did constantly all year was play up and down to level of their opponents.....

The reality is our last 1/3 of the season we were .500. No SEC championship competition no SEC tournament impact. A bunch of experienced players with no consistent scoring threat and good defense. Even with Zakai none of that changes, he was like a bandaid for the lack of offensive firepower. We are lucky we got as far as we did. We need to rebuild and change the offense to attack the rim or get fouled style of play.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Don’t discount that Vescovi has had a shoulder injury that he played with this year.

Also, when comparing Vescovi with Lofton, don’t forget that JaJuan Smith was on the court most of the time that CL was and defenses had to account for him as well. Vescovi drew a lot more attention on the perimeter as he rarely had a really good 3-point shooter playing beside him. Powell, Bailey, Key, JJJ, Phillips, ZZ, Keon, Springer, and even Chandler didn’t create too much fear for the opposition from distance.

 

[kell7517]

FAU is not a good team. They are okay. Kansas St will run them out of the gym. If the Vols wouldn't have stunk it up last night, they probably would've played up for and beaten Kansas St.

Again, up and down up and down.

What? 33-3 isn’t good. And the look who they’ve played bit is old. Coaches will tell
You, we beat who was put in front of us.

 

[lukeneyland]

I appreciate their effort. No one has a right to anything in Sport. I think we honestly overachieved given our lack of scorers. Please spare me the Barnes out crap. He is without a doubt the second best coach in our history

 

[SmokeyGrayCA]

This, straight up. Inconsistent.

 

[Post4Vols]

I think the issue is history too. In over a 100 years of Basketball, Tennessee has 0 Final Fours and 1 Elite 8. Compare that to Butler, a small private school in Indiana with an enrollment of less than 5k or Loyola in Chicago with a National Title and recent Final Four.

No reason an SEC program with one of the biggest arenas and tons of resources shouldn't have more success in March, especially with George Masons, VCUs, or other tiny schools having it.

I agree…but it is peculiar Alabama is in the exact same boat. Missouri, A&M, Vandy…some have more resources than others but some more bball schools than others. I think it just shows that basketball is a completely unpredictable sport. Tennessee has been to the tournament 25 times…and the 1-8 in the Sweet Sixteen is a brutal stat, but again I wonder how much is the nature of the sport against a historically bad run…I’m thinking it’s just bad luck for the time being, hoping for the best in the years to come.

 

[volbound1700]

I agree…but it is peculiar Alabama is in the exact same boat. Missouri, A&M, Vandy…some have more resources than others but some more bball schools than others. I think it just shows that basketball is a completely unpredictable sport. Tennessee has been to the tournament 25 times…and the 1-8 in the Sweet Sixteen is a brutal stat, but again I wonder how much is the nature of the sport against a historically bad run…I’m thinking it’s just bad luck for the time being, hoping for the best in the years to come.

Yeah I posted in other threads about it but SEC is pretty much dog sh*t in March historically with the exception of Kentucky, Billy Donovan Florida, and Nolan Richardson's Arkansas.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I agree…but it is peculiar Alabama is in the exact same boat. Missouri, A&M, Vandy…some have more resources than others but some more bball schools than others. I think it just shows that basketball is a completely unpredictable sport. Tennessee has been to the tournament 25 times…and the 1-8 in the Sweet Sixteen is a brutal stat, but again I wonder how much is the nature of the sport against a historically bad run…I’m thinking it’s just bad luck for the time being, hoping for the best in the years to come.

Texas A&M is 0-6 in the Sweet 16. BTW, Ole Miss is 0-1. Vandy is 1-5.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

They were a 9 seed and the smallest team in the Sweet 16 if not the entire tournament. We only lost because we were terrible.

How does ON score 27 against Duke and then, against a small team that should have given us lots of scoring opportunities, he's a complete no show--doesn't score his first basket until just over 5 minutes left in the game? Absurd--except that he's done this his whole career: 1 strong game followed by 9 in which he's a minor factor.

There is a reason why FAU only lost 3 games all year and is now tearing up the NCAA tourney DESPITE superficial attributes like their seeding and their size...advanced stats tell the story as to why they are a good team.

Agree re: ON but, sadly, it has been this way for his entire career at TN.