Tennessee Volunteers vs. Belmont Bruins: Open Game Thread
by David Hooper on Dec 20, 2008 1:00 PM EST
in Tennessee Volunteer Basketball
Email
PrintBelmont Bruins at Tennessee Volunteers, Dec 20, 2008 3:00 PM EST
 |
December 20, 2008 |
 |
|
7-2
No. 16 (AP) No. 19 (USA Today) |
4-3
NR(AP) NR (USA Today) |
| Tennessee |
Ht.
|
Wt.
|
Yr.
|
PPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
|
| F | 4 Wayne Chism |
6-9
|
242
|
Jr.
|
11.8
|
7.4
|
1.2
|
| F | 1 Tyler Smith |
6-7
|
215
|
Jr.
|
17.0
|
5.6
|
4.3
|
| G | 32 Scotty Hopson |
6-7
|
185
|
Fr.
|
8.7
|
1.6
|
0.8
|
| G | 25 Josh Tabb |
6-4
|
196
|
Jr.
|
3.5
|
6.6
|
1.9
|
| G | 3 Bobby Maze |
6-2
|
185
|
Jr.
|
9.3
|
3.2
|
5.0
|
| Belmont |
Ht.
|
Wt.
|
Yr.
|
PPG
|
RPG
|
APG
|
|
| G-F | 13 Jon House |
6-6
|
210
|
So.
|
7.9 |
3.6
|
2.4
|
| F | 30 Matthew Dotson |
6-8
|
220
|
Sr.
|
12.6
|
3.4
|
1.3
|
| G-F | 2 Shane Dansby |
6-4
|
210
|
Sr.
|
10.2
|
2.7
|
1.2
|
| G | 12 Alex Renfroe |
6-2
|
165 |
Sr.
|
11.1
|
5.9
|
4.7
|
| G | 20 Andy Wick |
6-2
|
195
|
Sr.
|
14.0
|
1.6
|
3.0
|
|
Jackson the Mule says . . .
|
 |
|
. . . do they carry their AARP cards while playing?
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Leave your pre-, in-, and post-game thoughts below.
Go Vols! Hulk smash . . . seniors!
93 comments
|
0 recs |
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Comments
You sure this game's on ESPN?
I don’t see it (Temple / Kansas @ 2:30 is the closest thing I see to basketball on the Disney).
SportSouth, I think...
But it’s also on ESPN’s Full Court package, so it’s gotta be on somewhere
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 1:24 PM EST up reply actions
Well, there's the mostly-reliable online audio
But since I don’t have SportSouth (or Full Court), that may be all I get.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 1:38 PM EST up reply actions
My bad.
I thought I fixed all the fields; I missed that one.
by David Hooper on Dec 20, 2008 3:59 PM EST up reply actions
Duke looking very impressive today
Up 55-24 on Xavier at halftime. Huge day for hoops if you’re not interested in the lower tier of bowl games…UConn and Gonzaga at 4:00, Davidson and Purdue at 4:00, Syracuse and Memphis at 6:00.
What, Colorado St. and Fresno St. don't get your football blood boiling?
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 3:02 PM EST up reply actions
I tried with Wake and Navy
Really tried. I picked Navy. They lost. I’m over it all.
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 3:03 PM EST up reply actions
But Memphis plays at 4:30!
Football in the Trop isn’t exciting?!?!
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 3:05 PM EST up reply actions
Actually, the game's 14-10 FSU at the end of the 1st quarter.
Who knows, this could actually be exciting.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 3:17 PM EST up reply actions
I missed the first part of that game
They rolled out to an 18-1 lead and apparently haven’t looked back. Xavier can win the 2nd half by 20 and still get blown out – ouch. The doubly sad part about this is Xavier’s likely to get hammered in the polls, but they’ll give Duke all the credit for a very quality win (which they should get, to be honest0.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 3:04 PM EST up reply actions
Great ball movement
We’ve gotta be quicker to the ball on defense
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 3:13 PM EST up reply actions
Drive and dish out, or good passing?
Are we in man or zone? I’d guess we’re getting ripped on a 2-3, but they haven’t mentioned what defense we’re in.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 3:14 PM EST up reply actions
Playing man
Belmont’s playing zone that’s begging us to shoot threes (and we’re 1 of 7)
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 3:16 PM EST up reply actions
He's trying to keep the weight off.
He’s lost 550 pounds, you know.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 3:17 PM EST up reply actions
LA-Lafayette Game
Next Monday isn’t televised at all. Which I think is the only one all year that way.
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 3:29 PM EST up reply actions
I got ESPN 360, but
it’s not been a pretty game. Lots of bricks laid by the Vols and wide-open 3’s made by the Bruins.
All the SEC games featuring the Vols that aren’t on ESPN are picked up by Raycom (or whatever they’re called) this year…but the Louisiana-Lafayette game doesn’t even get the SportSouth treatment.
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 3:32 PM EST up reply actions
Chism and Tabb with 2 fouls early.
That’s probably not a good sign. On the “plus” side, if Hopson keeps being useless on half the court he may stick around for more than one season.
Chism
needs to quit fouling 30 feet from the basket
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 3:29 PM EST up reply actions
Chism
needs to stop thinking he can do stuff 30 feet from the basket period. I don’t care if you can hit the occasional three Wayne, stop it.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 3:30 PM EST up reply actions
I thought it was
where you leave someone down on the other end of the floor for a quick wide open layup after the other team scores/turns it over. But that’s not the context he used it in the first time.
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 3:39 PM EST up reply actions
Belmont: 3 TOs, 9 assists
I think that’s part – okay, most – of the reason the game’s as close as it is.
Halftime Stats of Note
Tennessee leads 44-40
Tyler Smith 16 points on 5 of 7 shooting
Tenn shooting 56% to Belmont’s 43%
Belmont 5 of 10 from 3
Tennessee 6 of 15 from 3
If Belmont gets hot like they were in the first five minutes, this close margin makes me nervous.
If Belmont holds onto the ball like they did in the first half, I'm concerned.
I don’t think we can hold onto 56% shooting for the entire game.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:01 PM EST up reply actions
For those not watching,
Kiffin just called Urban Meyer a sexual deviant and said Nick Saban believes man has caused global warming. Paraphrasing here, but I think that’s what he said.
He said "Monte" will be here 2 days after his season is over. Then he'll be on the road recruiting.
With the AARP special discount at Super 8.
That was my interpretation too
Interesting though, really, when he said he didn’t know if the recruiting class we had committed before Fulmer’s announcement was truly a “great class”.
by Will Shelton on Dec 20, 2008 4:02 PM EST up reply actions
I can understand what he means.
Our 2005 class was supposedly pretty good, and you see what that got us this year. No one knows how these kids will actually perform.
But what does he think about Mark Richt?
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:02 PM EST up reply actions
Right down to the highly-ranked recruiting classes that result in absolutely nothing of note?
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:06 PM EST up reply actions
He didn't elaborate, but that's how I took it.
Something about not winning your conference, but still think you should play for a National Championship, too.
And the excellent performance in showcase rivalry games at neutral sites.
Which reminds me, I think Urban Meyer just called timeout again.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:10 PM EST up reply actions
All this was in an interview with Kiffin?
Seriously? If so, the SEC’s gonna get really fun really quick.
by David Hooper on Dec 20, 2008 4:10 PM EST up reply actions
If anybody finds a link for all that, post it somewhere around here pronto.
That kind of stuff would be absolute gold to listen through.
by David Hooper on Dec 20, 2008 4:14 PM EST up reply actions
Am I the only peson who finds it hilarious
That the football halftime discussion subthread has as many posts as the game thread?
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:16 PM EST up reply actions
Face it, we're football junkies first.
It’s not that we don’t like the roundy ball, it’s that we’re all hardwired to the football gossip like moths to a flame.
That, and bball doesn’t heat up until SEC/tourney time.
by David Hooper on Dec 20, 2008 4:23 PM EST up reply actions
I know.
But for all the talk about the culture that Pearl has instilled about Tennessee basketball, we’re over here talking about Kiffin like it’s going out of style.
Then again, before Pearly there might not even be a gamethread for this.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:26 PM EST up reply actions
Hoop.
I made that up. He basically just said what you’d think a coach would say. I “wish” he’d start talking some trash, but he didn’t. Except for the part about Nick Saban believing man caused global warming. — Dang it, he didn’t say that either.
No, that'd be Charlie Weis.
The decided schematic advantage against the environmentalist movement.
Wait, that would mean that global warming would already be fixed, wouldn’t it?
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:17 PM EST up reply actions
Awwwww....
I figured you probably were, but I was really really hoping. One thing I’ve noticed about Kiffin is that he’s a pretty straightforward talker. I figure that’s it’s more a matter of when he says some juicy bulletin board material, not if.
by David Hooper on Dec 20, 2008 4:21 PM EST up reply actions
Renfroe is this Saturday's Dionte Christmas
and the Marquette dude, I can’t remember his name, who scored 30.
Woolridge is the first player on either team to three fouls.
Normally Tennessee can exploit a height advantage over a perimeter team and get the team in foul trouble early (in both halves), but that’s clearly not the case tonight. Another source of points lost.
Whoops, I missed that earlier.
But the point I was trying to make – namely, Belmont hasn’t fouled a ton – is still mostly true.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:25 PM EST up reply actions
Your original point is valid.
Just wanted to point out that while they don’t have anyone with 3 fouls, they do have a guy with 4.
Well, Dotson just picked up his 3rd.
3 really doesn’t matter a ton.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:29 PM EST up reply actions
I take that back.
We’re not too far under 12 minutes, so three is still kind of a concern.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:30 PM EST up reply actions
What has happened is the Vols have been "stuck" outside by the zone defense.
They haven’t really tried to pound it inside much.
That's not a good sign, unless we show some improvement against it.
I think the Vols have been stuck by it before, but still.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
By the way, I totally blame Orange Nation for the dead crowd.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:32 PM EST up reply actions
Short story: I can't stand 'em
Of course, I was at Tennessee when they introduced Orange Nation – the idea being that you pay to get better tickets to all the sporting games. Well, what ended up happening was they paid to get good tickets to the football games, showed up halfway into the first quarter, and started leaving at halftime. Meanwhile, the peons who had been there an hour before kickoff lost out on even getting a chance to sit in the best seats.
Their crowning moment was when they held “Orange Nation Appreciation Day” at Thompson-Bolling before a UT men’s game (pre-Pearl) and they came, ate the food, and left.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:35 PM EST up reply actions
Aah... the Great Orange Nation Appreciation Day, also known by its acronym
…uh, never mind. ;-)
by David Hooper on Dec 20, 2008 4:36 PM EST up reply actions
Pretty much appropriate
Near as I could tell, most of the people in Orange Nation didn’t actually deserve to be in Orange Nation, but they had the cash to do so.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:38 PM EST up reply actions
He's got an outside chance at a double-double, even with that.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:39 PM EST up reply actions
A double-double should be automatic for him.
10 points and 10 rebounds should be his starting point.
I think he's kind of a 13/8 type as a baseline.
But it’s not hard to get a double-double from there.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 20, 2008 4:47 PM EST up reply actions
Well, I gotta head to a Christmas get-together.
Take care, everybody. Joel’s traveling today, so wish him well. I’ll be traveling on Monday so things might be a little light around here for a little while.
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