Why we missed...

#126
#126
BoroVol86 said:
As a lifelong Vol fan and an mtsu student/fan, I see no problem with MTSU making it into the tourney. They were the regular season conference champions. Maybe, just maybe, that's why the selection committee gave them the nod. Besides, MTSU is not to blame for UT not making it in. They had several bad losses throughout the season. I wish the VOls could have gotten in, but I'm not upset about it beacuse they could have and should have played better throughout the entire season. I'm still proud of how the Vols kept fighting throughout the end of the season, though. Hopefully next season we will be better.
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EDIT: I take back what I said before, It was harsh. Doesn't change the fact that Winning the Sunbelt Regular Season Championship isn't much of a big deal...especially when you get dropped pretty hard in the tournament.
 
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#127
#127
BoroVol86 said:
As a lifelong Vol fan and an mtsu student/fan, I see no problem with MTSU making it into the tourney. They were the regular season conference champions. Maybe, just maybe, that's why the selection committee gave them the nod. Besides, MTSU is not to blame for UT not making it in. They had several bad losses throughout the season. I wish the VOls could have gotten in, but I'm not upset about it beacuse they could have and should have played better throughout the entire season. I'm still proud of how the Vols kept fighting throughout the end of the season, though. Hopefully next season we will be better.
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Same amount of RPI 100+ losses. Hell, the last game MTSU played was a bad loss.

I mean, congrats to MTSU and what not. But in no way are they more deserving of a bid than Tennessee.
 
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#128
#128
ITSGR82BATNVOL said:
He said it multiple times publicly, so of course the players bought into it. All you had to do was watch the game, to see they gave a half ass effort. Bama was the aggressor from start to finish, and made UT play their games the entire 40 minutes. I for one am sick of you people making excuses for Martin and this team's lack of effort in games that mean the most.
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Lack of effort? Have you ever played basketball? Do you understand what the word "effort" means? You make it sound like they were in the middle of the SEC tourney and said "ah, screw it...we good. Kinda sick of playing basketball anyways. This coach never motivated me or showed me any game plans anyway."

They didn't quit, they didn't show lack of effort, they didn't show lack of caring....they just freakin lost. At the end of the game, someone ends up with less points...this time it was us.
 
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#129
#129
Sports Illustrated reporter

Wes Rucker ‏@wesrucker247
Too late. Going to Xavier, Wichita, etc. RT @AndyGlockner: @wesrucker247 Cuonzo should go schedule six Sun Belt road games next season.

Then Wes said this, lol

Wes Rucker ‏@wesrucker247
FAU, FIU, UALR, South Alabama & ULM were already taken. RT @Rob_Huddleston: @wesrucker247 NCAA said we didn't play anyone down the stretch.

I'll let you guys guess who he was referring to.
 
#131
#131
BoroVol86 said:
As a lifelong Vol fan and an mtsu student/fan, I see no problem with MTSU making it into the tourney. They were the regular season conference champions. Maybe, just maybe, that's why the selection committee gave them the nod. Besides, MTSU is not to blame for UT not making it in. They had several bad losses throughout the season. I wish the VOls could have gotten in, but I'm not upset about it beacuse they could have and should have played better throughout the entire season. I'm still proud of how the Vols kept fighting throughout the end of the season, though. Hopefully next season we will be better.
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You are only one of several people I have seen reference all these alleged bad losses Tennessee suffered through. Tennessee had two bad losses; both UGA losses. That's it. Its ironic the committee chairman never even mentioned those when directly discussing Tennessee either.

MTSU...I'm happy for them and will likely cheer them on, but they didn't do anything worthy of being selected over Tennessee. They handled a cupcake conference slate, yet still couldn't even win their conference tourney. They beat Ole Miss OOC. And that's it.

I said it once already, but the message sent by the committee is this: We will give more credit to scheduling and LOSING to good teams OOC to teams who breeze through a cupcake conference schedule than we will to Power 6 Conference teams who schedule and BEAT good teams OOC, but take lumps playing better competition in their own respective conference.

That's a bad message. For year's we've heard the excuse that teams can't help that they play bad competition in their conferences. Now the tables have flipped, and the padded win totals from such, are being rewarded. I have no doubt that Tennessee, Maryland, Alabama could have run roughshod over the Sunbelt either.
 
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#132
#132
cncchris33 said:
I said it once already, but the message sent by the committee is this: We will give more credit to scheduling and LOSING to good teams OOC to teams who breeze through a cupcake conference schedule than we will to Power 6 Conference teams who schedule and BEAT good teams OOC, but take lumps playing better competition in their own respective conference.
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This.

Was saying this all day yesterday to people.
 
#133
#133
Put up or shut up next year for CCM. He'll have recruits and Maymon back so no one can whine about that.
 
#134
#134
VolunteerTitan3 said:
Well im not a huge Basketball fan but the defense was certainly tougher under Pearl.
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You play better Defense when you have quicker players! We must do a better job of recruiting quicker guards in order to play better defense. I do not think coach Martin thinks that is a priority and if that does not change we will not rise any higher than a bubble team.
Coach Pearls teams had quickness at the guard position and they were better defenders!!!
 
#135
#135
rcrrcr said:
You play better Defense when you have quicker players! We must do a better job of recruiting quicker guards in order to play better defense. I do not think coach Martin thinks that is a priority and if that does not change we will not rise any higher than a bubble team.
Coach Pearls teams had quickness at the guard position and they were better defenders!!!
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I think the biggest difference is in their defensive philosophy.

Pearl taught a defense that was predicated on creating TOs and using pressure. He relaxed the press and backcourt pressure later in his Tennessee tenure because he lacked the personnel to do it.

Martin teaches a defense that doesn't generate many TOs (we were last in the SEC in steals), but focuses more on limiting possessions and shots by being a very good defensive rebounding team.

This season, and last, we struggled mightily against teams with size inside or quickness outside. IMO, and I said this 10 games into his first season as coach, CCM needs to tweak his philosophy to generate more TOs, and thus, more easy baskets in transition due to our overall poor shooting outside. We struggle to work the ball into the paint, especially vs a zone defense. Generating more backcourt TOs would create more easy shots in transition vs running halfcourt sets with 4 guys outside the 3-point line. Part of this will require a turnover in personnel, as Trae Golden and Skylar McBee aren't the answer to a quicker defense.
 
#136
#136
We did not get in because we got beat by Georgia and Bama twice. Yes we had a small run and beat a couple of good teams but you have to win the games you should AT HOME. Georgia beating us at home should have NEVER HAPPENED. Had we won that and one of thre Bama games and this is a conversation we would not be having IMO. We are not a good enough basketball team to be there point blank. We get Maymon back and a true PG and we might be in good shape though.
 
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#137
#137
When I watched the consistent beginning-to-end caliber of play of the Memphis-Southern Miss game (watched the whole game) the day after I watched the sloppy, boring UT-Bama game, I pretty much decided not only would we not get in but we just weren't up to NCAA tournament quality.
 
#138
#138
LittleCat said:
This.

Was saying this all day yesterday to people.
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I think a lot of us were.

A mid major team goes 20-11 they has a hard fought year and came up on top and deserve at least a play in game.

A major conference team goes 20-11 and they didn't play anyone.
 
#139
#139
volatil said:
Good lord. Bruce is not coming back. Please give it up. Counzo is going to have to make the tourney soon, agreed. But for the love of God give up this Pearl is coming back thing.
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No he's not coming back but just because he isnt coming back doesnt mean people can't wish he was still here. Get over it.
 
#140
#140
UTCVol said:
Do you honestly think he told them that?

The public posturing wasn't needed, but really?
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Uhhhh....yes he did say that. He said before the Bama game that our work is done. We are and NCAA tourney team and our resume will speak for itself.
 
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#141
#141
OrangeBalls said:
The fact that he used the Ole Miss sweep and the no huge wins as their criteria just proves to me that the committee is nothing but a bunch of utter buffoons. They would be better served pulling teams out of a hat than trying to pick who they think should be in the tournament.
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MTSU and St Mary's weren't the teams that have us watching. Those were the 2 predicted annual brain farts of the traditional flawed system.
We were edged out by Boise and LaSalle. One of those actually had a losing road record but had a top 25 win on the road. The other had a winning road record that included a top 25 win.
It wasn't bad losses or good wins this season because everyone had them. It was the ROAD.
 
#142
#142
JACK8254 said:
Without Bruce, we would have never, ever been a player in the top 20 teams. We had never been #1 in the nation before Bruce came here ad we will never get back there unless he comes back. Its not like he had a DUI or killed someone. He had a recruit at his home for a BBQ and kept him there a few hours over the limit. I think Bruce is great and we would be lucky to get him back.
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For the love of Pete, he did WAY more than a BBQ. He was a perpetual liar who kept skirting the rules, even after his tearful come-clean speech. I love the guy and appreciate all that he did for the program, but his mistakes also set us back.

On topic, the "no big wins" comment floored me. Just say we needed 1-2 more wins and be done with it.
 
#143
#143
PureVol said:
Lack of effort? Have you ever played basketball? Do you understand what the word "effort" means? You make it sound like they were in the middle of the SEC tourney and said "ah, screw it...we good. Kinda sick of playing basketball anyways. This coach never motivated me or showed me any game plans anyway."

They didn't quit, they didn't show lack of effort, they didn't show lack of caring....they just freakin lost. At the end of the game, someone ends up with less points...this time it was us.
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Good post.

I just want to add that although the SEC is still classified a power 6 conf., this year we were the 8th toughest conf. So IMO, this caused the committee to find our wins more compareable to a mid-major. Because with the exception of FL and maybe Mizz., we were in a mid-major conf.

Just hope we can get 10k or more in TBA for the NIT. Go Vols!!!
 
#144
#144
calban said:
MTSU and St Mary's weren't the teams that have us watching. Those were the 2 predicted annual brain farts of the traditional flawed system.
We were edged out by Boise and LaSalle. One of those actually had a losing road record but had a top 25 win on the road. The other had a winning road record that included a top 25 win.
It wasn't bad losses or good wins this season because everyone had them. It was the ROAD.
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Either of those 4 could've kept UT out. They allowed all 4 mid-majors into the tourney.

And I'd say it was combination of the SEC getting very little respect and no good road wins. The league as a whole was garbage. Getting swept by UGA hurt us worse than getting beat by Bama or Ole Miss. However, Fla had zero good road wins too. Hell, UT had the best OOC win of the year for the SEC against Wichita St.
 
#145
#145
I think they should do away with conference tournaments because as we've seen in past seasons and this season, a team with a terrible regular season record can win their conference tourney and get into the big dance. It's really not fair to the teams who won their conferences outright in the regular season. This is why I'm ok with MTSU being in. The regular season means nothing if they don't get in. Teams like Liberty (who went 15-20) are rewarded based on just 3 or 4 games from their respective conference tourneys rather than punished for being outright terrible in the regular season. Don't blame MTSU, blame the system and blame UT for lack of consistency throughout the entire season. I will still cheer for the Vols in the NIT, cause hey, at least it's better than nothing(even if it does seem like a hand-me-down tournament) Go Vols! (and go Blue Raiders!)
 
#149
#149
Would you feel the same if UT played the whole year like they did the first half and lucked there way to an SEC tourney Championship?
BoroVol86 said:
I think they should do away with conference tournaments because as we've seen in past seasons and this season, a team with a terrible regular season record can win their conference tourney and get into the big dance. It's really not fair to the teams who won their conferences outright in the regular season. This is why I'm ok with MTSU being in. The regular season means nothing if they don't get in. Teams like Liberty (who went 15-20) are rewarded based on just 3 or 4 games from their respective conference tourneys rather than punished for being outright terrible in the regular season. Don't blame MTSU, blame the system and blame UT for lack of consistency throughout the entire season. I will still cheer for the Vols in the NIT, cause hey, at least it's better than nothing(even if it does seem like a hand-me-down tournament) Go Vols! (and go Blue Raiders!)
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