memphispete
Mar 15, 2009 May 31, 2012 40 2921
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Tennessee Volunteers
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Selection Sunday - Where do the Vols Go?
by memphispete on Mar 11, 2012 9:15 AM EDT
on Rocky Top Talk
It's a simple poll. Where do you think we deserve to go?
Not where you think the national media types will put us. Where do YOU think we DESERVE to go?
Does the SEC RPI of 16 and the hot finish justify the NCAA bid? Should an OT loss to another hot NCAA bubble team DQ us? Is that overall RPI meaningful as a body of work metric? Does the addition of Stokes in mid-year make this an exception for you?
UPDATED - SEC Coach of Year
by memphispete on Mar 6, 2012 9:10 AM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
Kentucky won out. With Davis as the overall top pick and the NBA Draft Express projecting another year with five NBA First Rounders, can UK finally live up to the hype and win a National Championship? Sure, the expectations are high with that much talent. They should be. Anything less than a Final Four trip should be a complete disappointment for those wearing blue. Question: If Cal meets those expectations, should he win Coach of the Year? (At your job, if you just Meet Expectations, do you get a promotion, award and a massive raise? Didn't think so.)
Last year was arguably the most disappointing year for a college coach in decades. Cal had an unprecedented amounted of talent (5 First Rounders) and didn't win a National Championship. Didn't even play for it. (What kind of coach is that? Coach of the Year? Hmph.)
Props to Coach Cal - He's repeatedly pimped for including the Vols in the NCAA tournament. Nicest thing he's done for us since losing to UT while he was at Memphis and letting us enjoy the first week at #1 in the history of the Tennessee program.
Shift over to the Vols. Picked 11th in the SEC. Most of us argued middle of the pack as a best case but really could understand the Cellar Dweller conversation, given the "State of the Program." Nothing but role players last year. Role players is a nice way to say misfits, scrubs and underperformers. One 5 star prospect who didn't even play his senior year, joins the team in January. New coach. New system. School recovering from a year of negativity in the spotlight.
Vols finished 2nd. RPI is also second best IN CONFERENCE at #16. Might be the hottest turnaround story in all of college basketball. Compared to preseason RPI of 195, no other team has flipped its fortunes so fast.
A Classic Story of Over-Achievers. A coach who has Exceeded Expectations.
So, which coach deserves the award? The guy who recruits like a machine and meets expectations or the guy who took over a program and outpaced the most ardent fans' expectations?
SEC Coach of the Year Poll
by memphispete on Feb 26, 2012 9:12 AM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
Let's assume Kentucky wins out. With Davis as the overall top pick and the NBA Draft Express projecting another year with five NBA First Rounders, can UK finally live up to the hype and win a National Championship? Sure, the expectations are high with that much talent. They should be. Anything less than winning the SEC and a Final Four trip should be a complete disappointment for those wearing blue. Question: If Cal meets expectations, should he win Coach of the Year? (At your job, if you just Meet Expectations, do you get a promotion, award and a massive raise? Didn't think so.)
Last year was arguably the most disappointing year for a college coach. Cal had the most talented team in decades (5 First Rounders) and didn't win a National Championship. Didn't even play for it. (What kind of coach is that? Coach of the Year? Hmph.)
Shift over to the Vols. Picked 11th in the SEC. Most of us argued middle of the pack as a best case but really could understand the Cellar Dweller conversation, given the "State of the Program." Nothing but role players last year. Role players is a nice way to say misfits, scrubs and underperformers. One 5 star prospect who didn't even play his senior year, joins the team in January. New coach. New system. School recovering from a year of negativity in the spotlight.
The Vols are currently 4th. Winners of 7 of our last 9 games. Already guaranteed to equal last year's SEC win total and a 500 season. If all goes exceptionally well - and the scenario is not insane - Gators lose to Vandy and Kentucky; Vols beat Vandy at TBA and LSU on the road - Tennessee could end up 2nd in the SEC.
In 2012 games, someone figured out the RPI was Top 35 or so for those games. That's a massive turnaround compared to losing against teams with RPIs well over 100 in pre-SEC play.
Regardless of how the season turns out, this should already be classified as a massive success story for the Vols. A Classic Story of Over-Achievers. A coach who has Exceeded Expectations.
So, which coach deserves the award? The guy who recruits like a machine and meets expectations or the guy who took over a program and outpaced the most ardent fans' expectations?
Tennessee might just be the best 10-11 team in the nation.
Fact Check:
Pretty close to trueOnly Nova at 10-12 is ranked higher in the Kenpom top 100
ESPN2 Game Announcers
Can we replace the awful football standings and schedule with the basketball standings and schedule on the front page?
Also, if someone will please tell me who those guys were in Tennessee Orange on Saturday morning, I would appreciate it. They looked like some Hawaiian import - a team that played Duke close and went to double OT with Memphis in Maui - rather than what had been on the court in December.
If the Vols play like they did against Florida, then middle of the pack in the SEC will be the conversation rather than arguing about whether we are worst in the SEC.
Welcome, Mr. Stokes.
memphispete expects Vanderbilt to be a double digit favorite over the Vols, beating UT to secure bowl eligibility. Vandy will win its sixth game over UT for the first time since WWII (in twelve tries).
Water and Bamboo - Dooley on the Vols' Improvement
About the 10 minute mark, we have a priceless Dooleyism. It's a sad post-game interview but these 30 sec made me laugh. Thanks, Coach. I needed to laugh.
(And, it was in response to another stupid media question...)
Ridiculously Early - Pick each game
by memphispete on Apr 17, 2011 3:56 PM EDT
on Rocky Top Talk
The poll following the Orange and White game is full of .... hope.
Optimism blooms every spring - just like the flowers on The Hill. The average guess of 8-4 is optimistic. Spring is the time for that. 7-5 is more realistic. A case can be made for a performance equal to (or worse than) last year's record, starting with Bray's 5-30 numbers.
So pick 'em. Man up (or woman up, if you are of the fairer gender). Feel free to add commentary as to why. I am lazy (Spring Fever, and all that), so I leave it to you.
I say 7-5. With a Win over UNC in the Referee Rematch Bowl to make us 8-5 - just because Dooley deserves it.
Solid Wins - Montana, Buffalo MTSU, Vandy, Kentucky
Probable Wins - LSU (just because the Mad Hatter shouldn't be that lucky again), Cincinnati
Probable Losses - Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas
Blowout Losses - Alabama, Florida
Vols Don't Deserve NCAA Bid... at the moment
by memphispete on Feb 20, 2011 9:28 AM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
Meanwhile, Tennessee falls to 16-11, 6-6 in the SEC. The Vols would have to win out to avoid having the most regular season losses of any of Pearl's teams here. Tennessee's RPI and SOS will still be very high...but the Vols are also just 9-11 since the win at Pittsburgh, and just 1-3 since Bruce Pearl returned to the bench.
The Vols play at Vanderbilt on short rest at 9PM on Tuesday. That gives very little time to find the answer to "how are we going to find offense without using the name Hopson?" Little known fact: Vanderbilt's gym was actually the end product of a once-failed architectural student who ended up as a successful businessman and large donor (You want my money, build MY arena). But the gimmick worked and it's a hard place to coach at a time when UT needs active bench coaching. UT LOSS.
Mississippi State comes to TBA next. Nothing in MSU's performance suggests that the Vols should lose to the Bullpuppies, except MSU recently beat Florida - something we should have done twice and didn't manage to pull off on either occasion. UT WIN
Then comes the gift of South Carolina, but the game is on the road. We should beat the Gamecocks again because the talent differential lets us play average ball or in spurts and still win. UT WIN.
Then the season-ending loss to Kentucky in our own gym (despite Coach Cal handicapping UK) heading into the SEC Tournament and a first round game on Thursday.
So, we end the regular season at 18-13 (8-8) and 11-13 since Pitt. More importantly, we have no momentum going into the tournament and the NCAA is a lot about momentum. It may take two or three wins (20 or 21 wins) in the SEC tourney to get us solidly into the NCAA tournament.
Glass half full? Probably, but the RPI and record have to be balanced against the lack of momentum and the fact that the Tennessee BasketVols just aren't that good right now.
SEC East - Making Sense of the Muddle
by memphispete on Jan 29, 2011 11:24 PM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
How do we make sense of the SEC East? Florida looked hot but has fallen back to 5-2. Tennessee's bipolarity has us positively charging back with 4 straight conference wins after an 0-2 start. Kentucky looks mortal and beatable with the same 4-2 record in conference.
After six or seven conference games, we need to bring some order to the debate. One sportswriter opined that the home court was such a strong advantage that the home team should generally win and the road team should count on a loss when picking W's at the beginning of the 16-game regular season. This same sportswriter said road wins were twice as good as home wins. Similarly, home losses hurt twice as much. So, he rightly assigned +2 points for a road win and -2 points for a home loss to come up with a projected plus-minus record vs. an 8-8 split of home and road games. It works pretty well. I thought we'd test it here.
Stop... No longer dizzy. It now hurts. Hoops Rankings.
by memphispete on Dec 19, 2010 4:09 PM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
What a difference a week makes. The rankings look a lot different - and rightfully so. Weaknesses exposed on offense against Charlotte (the one with the losing record) and weaknesses exposed on defense against Oakland (the one that's not in California).
This is sort of reminiscent of beating #1 Memphis in Memphis to become #1 - only to lose to Vandy in the gym with the oughta-be-illegal, cheap, gimmicky bench configuration. The difference is that Vandy was good and we knew it was coming. This just hurts.
Stop...I am dizzy from the new Hoops Ratings
by memphispete on Dec 12, 2010 10:21 PM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
Bruce Pearl, Tony Jones, Steve Forbes and the rest of the staff put together a phenomenal scout and game plan to enable the Tennessee Volunteers to destroy the Pittsburgh Panthers in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Unless they start saying "y'all" in downtown Pittsburgh (a few miles from Pitt's campus), it was effectively a home game for Pitt. There certainly wasn't anything neutral about it.
Most of the media reside in the cities around the Big East. Therefore, they pay too much attention to the BEast and wrongly view it as the basketball capitol of the civilized world. We upset their little (Big) Apple cart when we beat Nova at the MSG. Most rationalized it as a regional fluke, a tournament thing or a bad game by the Nova boys (happens to the best of us, right?). So, sure, the Nova win bumped us a few notches in the polls but let's not go crazy over one game.
But the Pitt stomping? Whew! That apparently has everyone's attention. After thoroughly whipping Pitt and beating Villinova soundly at MSG, the Vols own the Top 2 teams in the Big East. We now are officially worthy of a little buzz as the hottest thing in College Hoops.
And, in case anyone thinks I am just making fun of the Yankee media, let's go ahead and mention again that the Vols are destined to make the SEC Basketball Writers look thoroughly silly for picking them fourth in the SEC EAST.
Sorta begs the question though - Where should our beloved Vols be ranked? Still early days in a long season. Things are encouraging but the Pearl suspension looms for 8 SEC games. The Contrarian View still has a place in the discussion (welcome ASOB).
A few reference points linked for games thru last night and a poll after the jump. In your comments, please justify your ranking (who's better, currently vs. year end, etc).
Phil Fulmer to Coach Florida Gators
by memphispete on Dec 9, 2010 9:38 AM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
Fulmer is quoted as saying:
I really didn't hate Florida. It was Steve Superior that I couldn't stand. All that spelling of Citrus and UT when we know that Spurrier ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
With all those recruits in Florida, and our team of coaches workin' like heck, we could win a National Championship at two different schools. While I love Tennessee, it sure would be fun to beat them after the way they ran me off.
Scandal erupts on Final RTT Pick 'em - Top Three Declared Ineligible
by memphispete on Dec 5, 2010 2:08 PM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
The NCAA and SB Nation today announced that the top three point getters in the season-long RTT Pick'em pool had been declared ineligible. The scandal quickly spread from Grayhound's alleged involvement with professional sports agents in Las Vegas to additional allegations against wedflatrock and GMU Vol.
Consequently, the winner of the Final RTT Pick'em Poll is memphispete.
Grayhound Banned from Final Week of Picks
The NCAA is investigating allegations of impropriety in the number one picker's selections. Some have claimed that a friend of Grayhound shopped his/her services with unsavory elements in Las Vegas among the picking services. These entanglements with professional agents have tainted the integrity of the amateur picks process. Therefore, Grayhound will endure a one week suspension while the NCAA investigates the matter, according to material posted on Rocky Top Talk this morning.
There is some question whether Grayhoud will be permitted to participate in a much-anticipated basketball pool hosted by the premier site on SB Nation, Rocky Top Talk.
Grayhound indicated that basketball is a different sport and should not be affected by a potential ban in football. Others on the RTT board, such as memphispete, claim that "a professional picker is a professional in all sports and that professional should be banned, so as not to sully the purity of amateurism."
So, enjoy your week off, Grayhound, while the rest of us try to catch up.
Lovin' Pearl, Big Baby and UT Hoops
Big Baby has seen what it takes to get into the NBA. So, he's decided to work this offseason. I mean, really work. For a change. Personal trainer, lots of shots, the whole meal deal.
For a young man who used to have a couch glued to his very wide behind and a sack of fast food stacked on his gut, Big Baby's transformation into physical awesomeness should be coming this year. (Or at least not sucking wind after 5 minutes of play). Brian Williams can be a rip down the rim dunking and rebounding machine - if he gets strong enough physically and intense enough attitudinally. He's working on the physical. Maybe the meanness is coming as well?
Chism's talent alone couldn't quite get him there because he's a 3-4 tweener in the NBA (body of a 3, played an NBA-equivalent 4, way too small for a 5). JP's talent and relations didn't work either. Maybe close but no cigar woke Big Baby up?
I love that Bruce Pearl has the connections to get him what he needs to give Big Baby the best shot at being a very good college player with a shot at the NBA as a role player.
John Fields: Boards and Blocks - Transfer Enrolled
Fields should give us some height on the inside as he rebounded well, blocks shots nicely and scored in the paint for UNC-Wilmington. He's 6-9 and 230. Fields can't fully replace Chism but the blocks and boards are something Williams doesn't like to do. He can also give Hall a breather. He understands and looks forward to his role, which is nice.
Only shot 50.4% from the line so someone needs to coach him up. Pearl says perimeter (ball screens) and interior defense (hand-to-hand combat) need improvement.
Should be a quality fill-in until we recruit an awesome big man. Bruce and Steve Forbes have their eyes on a couple of fantastic big 'uns for the next class.
UNCW stats on this link. http://www.uncwsports.com/fls/19800/stats/mbk/2009-10/teamcume.htm#TEAM.LDR
Preseason #47 And Darn Proud of it
Bleacher Report ranks all 120 teams and we roll in at #47.
Heck, this year, I'm just glad to be in the "Others Receiving Votes" category.
Accountability - Bruuuce Coaches 'em up
by memphispete on Feb 6, 2010 11:23 PM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
Gotta take my medicine. Immediately after the guns and marijuana fall-out about a month ago, I projected that our beloved Vols would enter the SEC tourney 19-9 (8-8 in SEC play) and that the personnel losses would cost us as much as 35 places in the kenpom ratings (poll proxy).
Boy, was I wrong. Mea culpa on the games I thought we'd lose.
- We beat Kansas. That's looking more and more impressive as the season unfolds.
- The Donovan Domination continued thanks to a last second fadeaway jump shot by Hops.
- And, the Rebs pushed us to OT but we pulled it out.
- We also held serve and beat the teams we should have. Props for no let downs.
- Kenpom has us at #29 - down 15 spots - despite losing 40% of the offense for multiple games and a late NBA first rounder for the season.
The only negative? We dogged it against Georgia. But even the highflying Commodores proved that isn't a unique experience.
I thought we'd be 5-3 in the SEC, so 6-2 isn't that far off. But, I can't spin it - we are playing better than I thought possible. Even if we fade back to "my level", we'd still be 21-9 and 9-7 heading into the SEC tourney. That's enough to get us in.
The old prediction had us:
- Going 3-5 down the stretch (beating SC, GA and Ark)
Even under adverse circumstances, Bruuuce can flat out coach and most of our guys have heart.
BP for Coach of the Year!
Post-Police Blotter Hoops: What do we look like?
by memphispete on Jan 2, 2010 1:13 PM EST
on Rocky Top Talk
Bruce is doing the right thing by indefinitely suspending all 4 players. No waffling or delays. Bam. I love him for that.
The Kansas game goes from being a potentially-competitive upset to a painfully-outmatched blowout. And, it may be even more painful to watch the losses pile up against lesser teams. But Bruce has my full support - now more than ever.
Post - Wayne Chism (10.9/5.8/21min) and Kenny Hall (3.0/2.2/8min) have to pick up the slack created by Brian Williams absence. Can we replace his 5.9/5.4/17 min? If Wayne can be persuaded to stay under the basket and get a double-double every night while staying out of foul trouble and if Kenny Hall matures sooner rather than later. Since that will happen less frequently than it needs to, the answer is 'probably not'.
Point Guard - Bobby Maze has to keep his 2.7 A/TO ratio in tact as he logs IronMan-style minutes and the competition steps up. Can Josh Bone be a PG/SG combo? Now we really wish Hubert hadn't blown out his knee. Losing Melvin's 22 minutes is as big as his 6 ppg.
Shooting Guard - Scotty has to man up to replace Cam Tatum and become tougher. We lose 8.7/2.4 and an important 20 min with Cam's absence. Can Orlando make good decisions, play decent defense, get a couple more rebounds and hit key shots? Probably not, but he'll have to. Scotty has the talent. Does he have the mental toughness? He's the one guy who could start to replace...
The Glue Guy - Tyler Smith is worth a whole lot more than his 11.7/4.7/27. His A/TO is among the best in the nation at 2.8. He is a leader and the guy who can create his shot (except in the USC game). He's irreplaceable. Yet someone has to step up.
Recruiting class impact. Will all the guys still come? Will others sniff opportunity if some of the dismissals are permanent (and surely a couple will be)?
SEC East - This definitely puts us behind Kentucky and Florida and Vandy. We look a lot more like South Carolina and Georgia now.
NCAA - Could we still make the NCAA's? Highly improbable, but if Pearl pulls it off then it would be his best coaching job yet. Even if he doesn't pull it off, he still has my full support. To everyone still left on the team - Go Vols.
BJ Coleman Doing OK with the Mocs
With Crompton having a great day against UGA, I idly wondered how the QB-Who-THrew-A-Tantrum-And-Abandoned-UT is doing.
Turns out D2 is the perfect place for him. 9 TD's and 1 INT on a team that is 4-1.
My preseason idiot picks aren't so stupid after Georgia
by memphispete on Oct 11, 2009 5:52 PM EDT
on Rocky Top Talk
As we approach our open date before the dread Tide roll in, now is a good time to reflect on our preseason prognostications to see how we are doing.
4. You gotta give Lane Kiffin some credit: Tennessee went into The Swamp and had a great game plan. They stuck with running the ball in order to shorten the game and limit Florida’s possessions. Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin used formations that literally forced quarterback Tebow to run. So Tebow ran the ball 24 times. Tennessee played hard and physical and never backed down from the No. 1 team in the nation. If I’m a Tennessee fan I’m optimistic about what this team will do in the long term. But I am also pessimistic in the short term because Jonathan Crompton is simply not the answer at quarterback, especially in big games. The senior had a couple of really bad throws that turned into interceptions at crunch time. If Crompton just makes a play or two, the Gators might have been sweating at the end.
http://blogs.ajc.com/barnhart-college-football/2009/09/21/whos-no-1-i-have-no-idea/
Tony Barnhart is another guy who was not a big fan of Lane Kiffin or the Vols. (For the doubters, go back through his blog. Yikes!)
Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin: We rarely give out helmet stickers to somebody on the losing end. But Kiffin had his Vols ready to play in some of the toughest circumstances imaginable at the Swamp, and they outplayed Florida for much of the game. If the Vols play with that kind of pride and that kind of toughness the rest of the way, they will win a lot of games this season.
SEC HELMET STICKERS Week 3 By Chris Low
This from the same guy who could not have had a lower opinion of Tennessee coming into the season....
Kiffin Runs His Mouth - Simplified for National Media
by memphispete on Sep 17, 2009 10:47 AM EDT
on Rocky Top Talk
KIFFIN STORY SIX MONTHS AGO: Fresh, hot from the oven. Tasty (to some) when it was actually happening.
"Surrounded by the intoxicating aroma of baked bread and mountains of hot fresh bagels"
TODAY: As you pull the same story off LexisNexis to fill space for your Tennessee-Florida column
A Big old stack of moldy bagels. You can eat it if you want to but, um, we're full.
(photo via www.istockphoto.com)
Message from Tennessee fans to the National Media.
Give it a rest, willya! It's old news....
Holly's Gonna Hate This: Negative Football IQ Girls Review UT
Clay Nation gives me another reason to be grateful that I married the daughter of a great football coach. Thanks again, sir, for teaching her what "an all-out blitz" is...
(It's perfectly clean folks.)
Vol Fan Makes Good
by memphispete on Sep 12, 2009 8:00 PM EDT
on Bruins Nation
Congratulations. It was a bloody, hard fought & ugly game but you pulled it out.
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Lane Kiffin and Tennessee had a remarkable first class in what is normally a transition year. The Vols lose 3-Star wide receiver James Green, but managed to bring in the No. 1 running back in the nation, Brown, and tied USC with 13 five star and four star players.
Vols #7 in the nation - 2009 Recruiting Class - per Scout at this link http://tennessee.scout.com/a.z?s=7&p=2&c=894160
ESPN's Chris LOW-down on the Vols
by memphispete on Aug 25, 2009 6:34 PM EDT
on Rocky Top Talk
Bumped from the FanPosts . . . an excellent synthesis of what ESPN blogger Chris Low has said about the Vols this summer from memphispete.
-- Joel
Reading back through the Chris Low's last bazillion blog entries for his thoughts on the Vols I put together a little Low-down summary on the Vols from ESPN's perspective.
Overall Power Ranking #9 - Just behind Vandy (yes, that Vandy), South Carolina and Arkansas. The only schools we were ahead of? Auburn, Mississippi State and Kentucky. Ouch! In fairness, he did say that we "probably deserve to be higher" based on our new talent, but lack of depth at DT, concerns about pass protection and our QB performance offset the gains from the new energy, new system and new coaches. He's right about one thing: we "deserve to be higher".
Bowl Selection - Liberty Bowl - At least, I won't have to drive more than 10 minutes and tickets won't be a problem. But it implies a 6-6 season. It can't be any better than that if we have a #9 Power Ranking. Chris hasn't had the courage to give us a win-loss projection, unless I missed it. I'd say at least 8-4 & a better bowl (without any more key injuries).
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