Note: this is not an attack on Calipari, who most of you know I'm not too fond of. While I do think that there are very valid criticisms to be made of Calipari both as a game-day and ethical coach, right now isn't the time to bring up those criticisms (because Cal has had a very good record of late, and is in the middle of his most promising season to date at Kentucky). So this isn't an attack on him or his character, but rather an attack on the notion of creating shadows to support an illusion.

I regularly visit a few of our SB-Nation SEC sites, the very popular A Sea of Blue among them. Typically I avoid most of the opinion articles there -- frankly, about half of them are complaints about how everybody is out against them and that nobody gives Coach Cal an ounce of respect, or how tough it is to be a team sporting multiple #1 recruiting records and the winingest record historically. (Which, were I a Kentucky fan at all I wouldn't mind, but as a rival? It gets a bit old.)

So it doesn't come as a surprise to me to see this response to an article written by an NBA contributor for SB Nation, Jonathon Tjarks. But, uhm. Do you really want this guy to be as aSoB commentator jc25 quickly points out "one of my favorite basketball writers"? Really?

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[Bumped from the FanPosts. -Y2]

(But not really.)

So, I can understand the need to defend the counter-argument in a debate. To at least mention the other possibilities. But in his ESPN article all Rick Reilly really did was make the case for a non-LSU Alabama rematch in the worst possible way. While there's the real possibility that this was the end-goal, well... Let's just look at his argument, shall we?

But that's not why there should be no Dullapalooza II on Jan. 9 in the Superdome. There shouldn't be one because it makes the BCS honchos liars. This is their Twitter handle: @EveryGameCounts. But how can every game count if it doesn't matter who won the first one?

Whom would I rather see? Any team that hasn't already blown its chance.

I can understand the rational of not wanting to see a rematch in the national title game of a regular-season game. It almost happened a few years ago with Ohio State and Michigan, and we can all agree that choosing "no" to them was a good idea. What's to say that this year wouldn't be the same, with one of several teams that Reilly puts forwards beating LSU, and someone else drubbing Alabama. Heck, LSU could probably lose to Georgia on Saturday and still be in the National Title game. Is that a problem?

No. Because, as Rick Reilly mentions in his article, every other team has blown their chance.

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Our QB is Better than your Better.

Now, see, I've got to fill in some blanks to make this long enough to post. Defense has come up big on two 4th and shorts, but seriously why would you try running right up the middle when running out to the side has worked so well? Penalties have really affected this game so far. I will be seriously disappointed if Cincinnati does not win by 40 points.

According to the Bracket Matrix the SEC is looking at having the following teams selected:

#3 Florida, #4 Kentucky, #5 Vanderbilt, #9 Tennessee, #12 Georgia, and Alabama is the Last One Out. However, this doesn't take into account Kentucky's victory over Florida in the SEC Championship game, and as such I think Kentucky might have played their way into a 3 Seed along with Florida. We'll find out where the Vols go -- or get to ANGREE TYPE if by some astonishing revelation they don't find their way into the fold. For what it's worth, I think the Vols go as an 8 seed.

Stats ripped from here.

1. Florida: 21-5 (10-2) RPI: 13 SOS: 15
Last seven: 6-1 Remaining Games: UGA, @UK, Bama, @Vandy

vs RPI top 50: 8-1

Key Wins: Kentucky (RPI 16), Xavier (RPI 24), Vanderbilt (RPI 17)
Bad Losses: Jacksonville (RPI 117), South Carolina (RPI 119), Mississippi State (RPI 132), Arkansas (115)

Florida is obviously the #1 team in the SEC right now, but consider these margins of victory: 4 at Florida State, 4 at Xavier, Overtime at Tennessee, 5 at Auburn, Double OT at Georgia, OT home vs Vanderbilt, 2 vs Kentucky, 1 vs Tennessee, 7 at LSU. In what has been a familiar thing this year, an SEC East team plays a ton of close games. Unlike other SEC East teams, Florida has been consistently winning them. The only loss Florida has to a top-50 RPI team is to Ohio State in the second game of the season, and that ain't too shabby a loss now as it was then. They've lost to teams they shouldn't have, and at home no less (OT vs Jacksonville? Really Florida?) but it's making me want to vomit that the media-day projections are proving true and that Florida sits alone atop the SEC and look to be well on their way to finishing out with a regular-season crown. I wouldn't call them the champs quite yet, though, as they'll be playing three teams they beat by in double Overtime (Georgia), by 2 at home (Kentucky), and by 4 at home (Vanderbilt) along with SEC West leader Alabama as their last four games. Each of those is a game Florida can very likely lose, and to see them go 2-2 in that stretch would not be too surprising. Anything greater than an 0-4 finish would still likely be enough to keep them ahead of Vandy in the SEC East, though. Status: LOCK.

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We knew this was a good team, Oakland. Playing Michigan State close, playing a tough schedule, Pre-Season Mid-Major player of the year in Kieth Benson. But Tennessee is better. This Tennessee team is mature, they are poised, they are scrappy. They're clutch, they're tough. And they were.

For 32 minutes and 43 seconds.

The first half was tense for the first 13, with the score tied at 31 with 6:50 left. Kieth Benson for Oakland put on an absolute clinic, scoring 20 points in the first half and hitting 2 three pointers. He had 18 of those 31 points when the game was tied, and with Scotty Hopson struggling to do anything at the rim that was good (he would finish with a season low 7 points on just 1 of 7 shooting) Tennessee had to turn to their other players for a source.

And they got it. Tennessee finished the first half on a 19-8 run that had Oakland's ridiculous 70% FG shooting fall to 50%. The guards were playing amazing, Tobias showed up, and Williams was doing work. Tennessee came out of the second half well enough, and with 14:40 to go Tennessee led 61-48 and everything looked good. Even though Scottie only had 2 points up to that point, Mel Goins, Cameron Tatum, Tobias Harris, and Brian Williams all were in double figures. Then the wheels came off.

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If there's ever a time to lose a basketball game, with regard to identifying problems and needing them to get fixed, a game that doesn't count is undoubtedly best. The optimist in us will cite the loss as a team coming out flat to an opponent they didn't care for and rotations the likes of which we'll never see beyond the darkness of tonight, while the pessimists (see also: opposing fans) will point to a team that lacks mental discipline, a coach who can't concentrate through off-season troubles, and woefully horribly shooting performance bolstered by a lack of offensive intensity or technique.


So let's deal with the facts, first, and draw conclusions of the playing from there. In most losses there are one or two stats that jump out at you, and in Tennessee's case, tonight there were three:

So, why do I think Tennessee lost by 15 points to a team that shouldn't have been within 15 of the Vols? Stop me if you've heard this before, after the jump:

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A few weeks ago I threw up a link to Jemele Hill's article that called for an immediate suspension of Bruce Pearl from coaching -- before, it should be noted, the full investigation of the UT violations was made. The thought that the ruling body of anything should give a punishment before they're finished with an investigation is absurd -- imagine if that logic was applied to the United State's Justice system, where people would go to jail before they are proven innocent.

In that, at the least, the conclusion was a fair one in wanting Pearl to be suspended from coaching for lying to the NCAA. You think that? Alright, use the facts of him lying to the NCAA, which don't need much spin on them, to back up your opinion: using bad logic jumps such as the one mentioned above, as well as not mentioning things to subtract from your argument -- that Bruce Pearl turned himself in for lying -- or by attempting to delude the numbers by comparing them without statistical evidence makes your argument carry far less validity.

But the most recent article out of ESPN is even worse. Dana O'Niel bashes not Pearl for his actions, but the University of Tennessee for doing something about it. It starts off humorous:

But the fact an athletic director penned a rather eye-popping Notice of Termination of Employment Agreement that isn't in fact terminal, may have raised the bar for bewildering behavior by a university athletic department.

Is Dana O'Niel aware of this thing called "Contracts"? Tennessee wasn't firing Bruce Pearl when they sent him that, they were terminating the contract they had with him based on his actions that went against that contract. In most cases, yes, this equates to firing but the University Administration felt like Pearl should still be allowed to coach here, though with many fewer benefits and leniency. Terminating a contract is necessary to sign a new one before that one runs out. A 9th grader who thinks that business "is kinda sorta cool, yo" understands this but in her attacks against Tennessee Dana O'Neil doesn't seem to.

I can imagine O'Niel, by her tone in the article, upon hearing the news that Pearl's contract had been terminated -- something that most anybody would have seen coming when the paycut was announced -- grabbed her hair in her hands, her mouth contorted into fury, and spat out, "OH MAH GAWD THEY FIRED HIM BUT THEY DIDNT FIRE HIM HOW CAN YOU YOU CANT DO THAT RAGE HATE!!!!"

Again, this is a position when you don't need to make un-based and silly attacks in order to put what happened in a negative light, but to think that Tennessee should fire Bruce Pearl over these matters is a bit goofy. He lied to the NCAA, that's bad, definitely, but he also went back and corrected his lie as best he could after-the-fact, something that is once again omitted from an article calling for heads to roll. He hosted players who had already committed to him at his house. It's a violation, definitely, and both he and Tennessee should be punished for it, but it wasn't like he was doing this in order to bring the players to the university.

And then comes the Kelvin Sampson reference:

He's taken Sampson's excessive calls -- the Tennessee staff has been accused of making 96 extra calls, including 34 by Pearl himself -- and raised them two years' worth of deceit.

No matter the little detail that Kelvin Sampson had over five hundred and fifty impermissible calls: saying that Bruce Pearl did something less than one-fifth as bad as the example you use makes your call for Tennessee to stick with their "decision" that you're trying to act like they made to fire him look somewhat silly, doesn't it? Not to mention that Indiana kept Sampson around for three more weeks after the violations were announced: five major ones -- though most agree the reason for this was that Indiana couldn't just straight-out fire Sampson for what he did. Something tells me if Pearl screws up again, he won't face this problem.

If you want to attack Tennessee over this, do us all a favor: get your facts straight. Present your facts -- you have plenty to choose from -- in an honest manner. Concede the things that Tennessee and Pearl have done to tackle the situation.

(This is an extension of some research done by Hooper.)

I'll pull a Joel and go ahead and put my impressions here first, in case you just want to skip the data: I don't fault Jim Chaney's 3rd-down playcalling or Matt Simm's 3rd down decision-making for our woes. Heck, I don't even fault the O-Line or the Wide Receivers, though both played a larger roll. Rather I blame our complete ineptitude to put ourselves in 3rd down and less than 10. Look at it: 4, 3, 15, 6, 12, 18, 15, 12, 15, 6, 1, 10, 6, 19, 6. That's an average of 9.2 yards to go on 3rd down, and quite frankly you're just not going to convert a lot of those. As it was we only converted 2 late, to give us a 13% third down conversion, though if we factor in "3rd downs we had a good shot of making (3rd and 6 or less) we were 2/7. It seemed to me like we had playcalls to attempt to convert most of those 3rd downs, but a mixture of good downfield coverage (I guess), a tenativeness for Simms to not attempt to make a pass into too much coverage when we were ahead (I hope), and the failures either of being just a yard or two short, our receivers dropping the ball, or our O-Line getting beat for pressure to Simms.

12:00 1st Quarter, 3rd down and 4, UAB 18, 0-0.

How we got there: Tauren Poole rushes for loss of 2 on 2nd down.

Play Call: Pass, Shotgun w/ 2 wide, 2 TE set. Looked like a combo curl/flats route, Simms found Rivera quickly for a gain of 3. UAB rushed 3 with a delayed LB coming late. Simms might have had a longer route develop, but it looks like a bad play call to beat a 7-man zone. Matt Simms QB sneaks next play to convert 4th and 1.

5:00 1st Quarter, 3rd down and 3, UT 37, 7-0.

How we got there: Tauren Poole rushes for gaines of 4 & 3 on 1st and Second down.

Play Call: Pass, Shotgun with 3 wide, 1 TE set. Simms throws towards Hunter on an out-route past the sticks, had plenty of time but good coverage. Pass was high and wide, where Hunter could almost make a play on it, but again very good coverage. Looked like we ran a slant with the solo receiver, a wheel with the RB, and the TE blocked. Punt on 4th down.

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Last week the computer went 11 - 4 with a confidence rating of 79% (based on my own magical formula!) and really dropped the ball with Washington vs BYU, whom the Computer said would never ever beat ever at all! This week featured several entertaining games between Oregon and Tennessee but fairly mellow stuff overall, though it should be noted that my XBox really likes Auburn over Mississippi State tonight, with the Bulldog's lone win an 18-15 Overtime Victory.

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