Vols 4 seed vs Louisiana - Thursday 9:40 ET CBS

#177
#177
tdd said:
I don’t think anyone is scared of Lousiana. I just think we have watched the last 6 weeks of bad basketball….game after game. This team’s confidence is down the drain with this season.
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I just think our bottom feeders are too tied up in trend analysis as we played through multiple injuries and the late loss off ZZ. If you really buy into the "you are what your record says you are" school of thought, our fan base, at least in this forum, far out distances our team in lack of character and resolve. For sure the range of execution by most members of this team has been baffling. Wider and more sporadic than any team I can remember. Maybe across the board.

We seem to have fewer of those "you know what you are going to get" guys than I can ever remember. Hard to gameplan and coach around that.
 
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#178
#178
BACKDOC said:
It's exciting to think we might play Duke; I can never remember playing them. At least we have a veteran team that hopefully will act like the moment isn't too big for them.
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The only time that I can remember playing Duke was in the Maui Classic in November of 2011. That was Cuonzo Martin's 1st season. We played pretty well, as I recall, but still lost by 10 points or so.
 
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#179
#179
BowlBrother85 said:
The only time that I can remember playing Duke was in the Maui Classic in November of 2011. That was Cuonzo Martin's 1st season. We played pretty well, as I recall, but still lost by 10 points or so.
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I think we beat them bad around 1979/80. Back when it looked like Don DeVoe would be the second coming of Bobby Knight.
 
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#180
#180
BowlBrother85 said:
The only time that I can remember playing Duke was in the Maui Classic in November of 2011. That was Cuonzo Martin's 1st season. We played pretty well, as I recall, but still lost by 10 points or so.
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Ernie and Bernie went 1-1 against them in 1975-1976. Win at Cameron. Lost at Stokely. Mike Gminski, Gene Banks, Jim Spanarkel. They were young and a .500 team those years, but that roster of Duke players went to NCAA finals in 1978.
 
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#182
#182
BigOrangeFanatic said:
Our team is not built for the tournament. We have no PG and outside Vescovi (whose been streaky at times) we have no 3 point shooters. We simply cannot score the basketball enough.
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Key can make 3’s…. Olivier can knock down multiple 3’s a game…. We are averaging 70 a game even “without a point guard” even against tougher competition than the Cajuns…. I’m not worried about being able to score points…. Defense just has to button down. Our length alone should slow down Louisiana. I see them winning only by knocking down 12+ threes against us
 
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#184
#184
JMSqb11 said:
Key can make 3’s…. Olivier can knock down multiple 3’s a game…. We are averaging 70 a game even “without a point guard” even against tougher competition than the Cajuns…. I’m not worried about being able to score points…. Defense just has to button down. Our length alone should slow down Louisiana. I see them winning only by knocking down 12+ threes against us
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Key has a good game about once every 5-7 games and is not reliable.

And can't belive you been mention ON. He's been terrible outside a handful of games this year. Can't for the life of me understand why he can't become more consistent.

We shall see soon enough. This team has been spiraling out of control for some time now, and I just dont have much confidence they make it past the first weekend.
 
#185
#185
VolArmy74 said:
I don't blame anyone for picking us to get upset. We've been very bad away from home for weeks.
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I wouldn't say VERY bad have we looked bad at times yes but to emphasize it with very is a bridge too far. All our games have been close and we are playing in what IMO is best from top to bottom conference. Add to that superior coaching from top to bottom and teams in SEC know and scheme & game plan for each team to the point they know your plays better than theirs. So IMO will be great to get out of conference for a while and put this smothering D on unsuspecting teams.
 
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#186
#186
BigOrangeFanatic said:
Key has a good game about once every 5-7 games and is not reliable.

And can't belive you been mention ON. He's been terrible outside a handful of games this year. Can't for the life of me understand why he can't become more consistent.

We shall see soon enough. This team has been spiraling out of control for some time now, and I just dont have much confidence they make it past the first weekend.
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This team’s tourney success depends on Olivier to put up big numbers…. If he can get 18-20 per game, that will be huge. He clearly is capable of scoring that clip. Just a matter of him being consistent. It’s simple.
 
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#187
#187
Lukusw said:
We have a decent draw IMO. We *should* handle LA. They do not have the typical tools that trip us up. Duke would not be my 2nd round choice but they are not the ironclad giant some are portraying.

If you want to find a team that the Committee screwed with their draw, look (again) at Texas A & M. Got a 7 seed, should have been a 6 (maybe even last 5). Matched against upset potential Penn St who has won 8 of last 10, 6 of those against tourney teams, and both losses (including today to Purdue) by a total of 5 pts. Then, if they win that game, they have to face Texas, the strongest #2 IMO, who is playing a well as any team in the country right now. Oof.
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Long time lurker, first-time poster...

I agree that we "should" handle LA as well as long as we play to our standard of defense. In their losses, it looks as if at least two of their top scorers (Lewis, Fulks) struggle to put points on the board. It also looks as if their top scorer Jordan Brown avgs 3.4 fouls / game. If we can get him in foul trouble early on & stifle them on defense, that would be the perfect recipe for a win.
 
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#188
#188
Hulavol said:
Just reading all of this, and kinda shocked at the fear of louisana and Duke - I don’t think we could’ve gotten an easier draw. I think we beat both of their brains in. Just my .02, but I’m not kidding - UT has a first class ticket to the third round with this draw.
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Because we can beat anyone and just as easily lay an egg vs any opponent. Just depends on how many of our magicians show up to play and how many decide to pull their patented disappearing act.
 
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#189
#189
SmokeyLives said:
We were last 4 in, beat Iowa in O/T in Dayton, OH, we were there to see it. I believe it was Josh Richardson who put the team on his back to pull it out. We went on to the elite 8.
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Sweet 16. Lost to Michigan. That was the Richardson, McCrae, Stokes, Maymon, etc. group. The Elite 8 team was Pearl’s team with Prince, Lofton, etc.
 
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#191
#191
Hulavol said:
Just reading all of this, and kinda shocked at the fear of louisana and Duke - I don’t think we could’ve gotten an easier draw. I think we beat both of their brains in. Just my .02, but I’m not kidding - UT has a first class ticket to the third round with this draw.
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Tell me more. Have you watched Duke a lot? I haven’t, but they’ve won something like 11 in a row and beat a good Miami and UVA team. Why do you feel so good about beating them?
 
#195
#195
VolunteerCeltic said:
Louisiana hits almost 38% from 3, I feel TN will lose this game. They do not have the scoring to keep up with the Cajuns and TNs defense has gotten worse over the last 3rd of the season. Don't like this matchup at all
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I feel like you had this copied and pasted, ready to go with a blank (team) and blank (3pt FG%)…it doesn’t matter who Tennessee plays, some people will always doom and gloom.
 
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#197
#197
JMSqb11 said:
Sadly! 07-08 team was prolly Bruce's best.... Such a letdown vs Louisville in the tourney.
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That Louisville team was a terrible matchup. I felt bad about it going in. They had really big guards. Our 6-2 guards had trouble with them. LSU was the SEC team that gave us the most trouble back then for the same reason. Louisville was honestly the worst matchup that team could’ve gotten in the tournament. If we were in any other bracket, that’s a Final 4 team.
 
#198
#198
BigOrangeFanatic said:
Key has a good game about once every 5-7 games and is not reliable.

And can't belive you been mention ON. He's been terrible outside a handful of games this year. Can't for the life of me understand why he can't become more consistent.

We shall see soon enough. This team has been spiraling out of control for some time now, and I just dont have much confidence they make it past the first weekend.
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ON has scored 10 or more in 16 out of 33 games. And 5 or more rebounds in 17 out of 33. Honestly he’s only had a handful of “terrible” games.
 
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#200
#200
TennVols12 said:
I feel like you had this copied and pasted, ready to go with a blank (team) and blank (3pt FG%)…it doesn’t matter who Tennessee plays, some people will always doom and gloom.
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What genuinely concerns me about ULL is they have a former 5 Star Big man and a lot of length all throughout their starting five; They seem legit, not like a team I'd normally expect from the Sun Belt, they look more like an AAC team, to me.
 
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