The Rearview 12-1

The Rearview  12-1, part I

OK, this week I have a lot to say, so I think I have to split it all up in to two parts.

First, let’s get the stuff closest to home out of the way………

Bruce Pearl and the Basket Vols spent the holiday partaking in a pre season tourney that had a good, and deep, field.  They beat one team like they probably should have looking back on it. But I was most interested to see how they would do against a team like Georgetown, since Big East teams, especially Georgetown, are known to be very physical type teams.    I think what we learned in that game was that our depth can overcome a lot:  lots of wasted opportunities, some pretty sloppy ball handling at times, and yet to finish on 35-15 run (thank you Cameron Tatum by the way), I thought validated this teams’ tenacious reputation.  Georgetown isn’t as talented as they were last year, but they’ll be pretty good come Feb/March.  And they’ll get battle tested in the Big East, no doubt.

Obviously, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  However, as for last night, I think that game may wind up helping TN going forward.  They didn’t play well, there was more sloppy ball handling, they couldn’t buy a bucket, had basically zero outside shooting, Gonzaga couldn’t miss and no one stepped forward to “be the man” down the stretch.  I think we’ve got some very good players, but much like early on last year, they still play a bit out of control, haven’t developed chemistry as a team and we don’t have a real answer underneath.  Though, I think the progress Brian Williams is making is visible from last year to this year, he’s still a bit of a project. I thought Bruce Pearl’s comments about Wayne Chism were dead on……can he be that Al Horford type of player that can get in down low and bang around, and still be a guy that can handle the ball, run the floor and have an outside shot?  I think for TN be real successful this year, he’s going to have to get closer to that.  He got man handled last night.  In the end, we lost to a top 10 team on a neutral court, there’s no sin in that.

All told, good experience for this team going forward, the G’twon and Gonzaga games had the feel of a Sweet 16 and Elite 8 as far as intensity level and talent on the floor.  And we’ll see what kind of learning capabilities this team has when they face off with the Zags on Jan 7 in the friendly confines of TBA.

As for the football game and all the hoopla surrounding Coach Fulmer, all I can say is I’m glad they sent him off with a big win.  Never losing to Kentucky is, well, not enough to overcome never beating Urban Meyer, but “the Streak” lives on.    I’ve said many times that the change for the head coach for me was never about Phil Fulmer, the man.  I stand by that.  I know there are people out there that simply do not like him, and that’s fine.  But I for one enjoyed the nostalgia of the evening, and the next morning on the Phil Fulmer Show.  Phil Fulmer was and always will be an important part of Tennessee Football legacy.  Years from now (hell, tomorrow) Tennessee coaches and players will have a standard to uphold and Phil Fulmer will be one of the primary reasons why that standard exists.  But now, while we salute the past, it’s now also time to welcome the future as Lane Kiffin gets ready to take the reigns.

For me, I have no problem with the hire.  I do believe he will be a much better college coach than he ever will be an NFL coach.  I think he will be bringing together a very good staff, and almost certainly will be able to bring recruits to Knoxville.  I think his hiring is a definite shot across the bow to anyone that wants “comfort” for this program.  This is not a comfortable hire for Hamilton.

The bad PR has already started as most talking heads have basically asked “WTF?”  Including one Spencer Tillman; that basically accused Tennessee of being racist by not hiring Charlie Strong.  You can add Mark May to the list, as well as several other top prognosticators at the World Wide Leader.

So, for those of you that think this hire stinks, and are pointing to all of this as why, please remember what you used to tell us all who wanted change……..support your coach.  He has yet to coach a game or recruit a player.   Judging from the press conference though, it would seem that he has his priorities in order and at least has the good sense to acknowledge and address basically every criticism that’s come about so far.  I do know this, all he has to do is win, and none of that will matter.

What about expectations?  Contrary to Kffin’s quip about beating Florida next year, expectations should be tempered as an entirely new staff is put together and they try to find out what they have from a player standpoint.   Remember, there’s a difference in expectations for the program, and expectations for a single year.  For 2009, I’ll say a bowl game would be a giant step forward in year one.  But there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t be encouraged by this hire, long term.  I think once his staff is completed, we’ll all know why.

There’s little doubt Hamilton is taking a calculated risk, that this young man…….younger than me…….wow…….has a very bright future.  I have to trust that Hamilton went thru the process, evaluated all the information available to him and made the decision that he felt gave Tennessee the best chance to accomplish its goals.  Equally, I have to believe that Kiffin knows what he’s getting himself in to, and that he has the confidence to succeed…..remember this is the conference with the big bad bullies as coaches.  The thin skinned need not apply.

Either you trust that or you don’t, but either way, if Coach Kiffin turns out to be Ron Zook instead of Mark Richt, I don’t think we’ll have to wait 17 years for that problem to rectify itself.  Remember, Jeremy Foley hired Ron Zook before he hired Urban Meyer….and no, that’s not a prediction, just a reminder that one hire doesn’t sink a program.

So, that’s basically it.  That’s as rational as I can make it sound.  Either he’ll be a success or he won’t.  Time will tell.  How insightful, right?

Welcome to the Tennessee family Coach Kiffin, and thank you, Coach Fulmer, for the memories.

Good luck to you both……especially you Coach Kiffin. J

Go Vols.

The Rearview 12-1, Part II

Now that the BCS has spoken as we head in to the final weekend of games, primarily championship games, I couldn’t help but get mad.

Mad at whom?  Mad at what, you ask?

The Big 12 is my answer.

That conference is now in my cross hairs.  The mess that ensued yesterday is not the fault of the BCS or the BCS system.  It’s the conference that decided to make the BCS a black and white part of how it determines division champions as a tiebreaker.

Now, I don’t like Texas, and I’m indifferent on Oklahoma and Texas Tech.  But I know this, if I were a Texas fan today, I’d be so mad I don’t think I could function.  And if I were an Oklahoma fan, I’d feel like I stole something and got away with it.

And if I’m a Texas Tech fan……..well, who cares how they feel right?

Here’s the irony of the entire situation…….Texas beat both Missouri and Oklahoma, has a better record than Missouri and the same record as Oklahoma.

More ironic is that this title game is supposedly “settling it on the field”.

Where did this all go wrong?  Ask the geniuses that wrote the rules for the Big 12 two division system.

More irony……..Missouri beats Oklahoma…….Texas likely gets the nod to go to Miami to play for the National Title.  Vindication!!!!!!!   Or is it an indication?  A precedent has been set for this.  In 2001 Nebraska played Miami for the National Title.  Nebraska finished 3^rd in its own conference and didn’t participate in the title game.  In 2003 Oklahoma played LSU after Oklahoma lost the Big 12 title game.  Leaving out an equally qualified……..wait, excuse me, that’s right, USC DID win its conference that year…….never mind.

I’ve gone on record against a playoff.  I still am.  And what happened in the Big 12 here is exactly why…….it devalued the regular season.  This Big 12 flop is a prime example of why a playoff for the national title would be a farce as well.

See, it’s not the system, it’s the subjectivity.   What you have seen happen in the Big 12 South is an eyeglass in to the future of what an 8 or 16 team playoff would be if based solely on BCS rankings.  Inevitably there will always be a #9 or #17 on the outside looking in that can make a case.  And given what kind of case Texas can make over Oklahoma, it can be pretty cut and dry, as in, I have a scoreboard that proves I’m better than you.

In the Big 12, that didn’t matter.  How exactly is this settled on the field again?

The regular season has to count for something.  It’s a sad commentary that a game like the Red River Rivalry’s outcome has zero impact on who would win that division given that both teams wound up with the SAME RECORD.

Imagine Tennessee beats Florida way back in September, and we both wind up with the same record in the SEC East at season’s end.  And by virtue of Florida having beaten the ‘Ol ball coach and beating a nationally ranked FSU team on the road on national TV, while we beat up on Wyoming, Vandy and KY on PPV or regional broadcasts, goes to Atlanta over us because on the last day of the season they jumped us in the BCS?

Fair?  Not in the least.  And as for Bob Stoops’ politicking the last two weeks stating they’re “better…now”………I wonder how much that would matter had the shoe been on the other foot?  He’d be on every media outlet he could find holding up the score of the game.  Forget prop plan banner flyover, that would have been plastered on bill boards in major cities, it would have been the banner message on all Goodyear blimps, he’d of been on the phone with commentators of every primetime game he could find reminding people of the score.  And he knows it.  He just played the system…..to his credit mind you.

Hell, the timing of the games mattered.  Texas played on Black Friday during the day.  Oklahoma played Primetime Saturday night.

And none of this really matters, in merit, to who really should go to that game.  Texas won.  Really, they did.  45-35.  Look it up.

Now the most ironic part of this entire rant.  Ask me who I think is the better team…..Oklahoma or Texas?

Oklahoma.  I know, I know…….subjectivity is a funny thing isn’t it?  But I do honestly believe that Oklahoma is the better team.  I think an Oklahoma/Florida National Title game would be great.  Not fair, but great.  I think Florida or Bama would wipe the floor with Texas.  But that shouldn’t matter.  After all, it’s only what I think.  You can draw from that that I think an Oklahoma/Bama game wouldn’t be as good.  But does that now mean that regardless of what happens in the SEC Title game, Florida should still go to Miami?  According to the Big 12, it might.  And that’s just dumb.

For those of you still wondering about Texas Tech……..I did see one thing on ESPN last night that at least gave me some evidence that sanity still exists in this sport……..of all the conferences that have championship games, all of them have 3 way tie breaking scenarios that ultimately would put Texas in the championship game.  All of them, except the Big 12 that is.

That sound you hear is a collective “oops, my bad” coming from the Big 12 offices in Kansas City or wherever the heck they’re located.

Go Tigers.