Derek Dooley might as well rename the sports complex Area 51

by Joel Hollingsworth on Feb 22, 2010 7:00 AM EST in Rocky Top Talking Points

Where's Derek Dooley? The guy's like an unidentified abominable sasquatch nessie-man. We hear stories that he's working diligently in his office, but no one's actually seen him. Bud Ford needs to issue a grainy black and white photograph just to hold us over until the Orange and White Game.
Garnet and Black Attack has its recap of Tennessee's 63-55 win over the Gamecocks on Saturday.
Bobby Maze is indeed puttin' on for Tennessee, especially against marquee SEC point guards. Maze had 14 points against South Carolina and held Devan Downey to 15 points (eight below his average) on 4 of 18 shooting. Oh, and that sweet baseline dunk? He called it:

"I said I was going to attack the baseline, and coach drew that play up during a time out. I told the guys on the bench that I was going to drive it and dunk it," Maze recalled with a smile. "They all looked at me like I was crazy, like 'no you're not.' So when I flushed it down the first thing I did was look over at our bench and say 'I told you so.'"

Brian Williams, ever the joker, says that this is like a new season for him, so he's feeling pretty good about being 2-0 (duplicate link).

J.P. Prince, aka Pajamas aka Alien, has yet another nickname: Termite, as in the guy you don't realize is doing real damage until after your largest asset has been reduced to wood crumbs. The same article refers to Pajamas in several places as being "sneaky." I guess when you think about it, he is a lot like Mr. Deeds' butler but without the foot fetish. At least I hope without the foot fetish. Oh, and poor Pajamas! Having to endure the humiliation of a picture showing a basketball hitting his head! The horror! The man will never be the same. By the way, that linked article gives me the opportunity to make a point: we here at RTT (and SBN and any other blog, really) are not journalists and therefore do not labor under any pretense of objectivity. So if you want non-objective stuff on the Vols, we're your guys! Of course, you'll have to put up with us posting the same picture as the newspaper folks, not because it objectively "captured a moment that reflected the game," but because we think it's hilarious.

Tennessee and Florida are tied for third in the SEC East at 8-4, meaning either team could bump the other down to fourth ($?) tomorrow night.

Mike Strange looks up at the standings and is surprised to find the Vols at 20-6. He's right. Two months ago, did we really think we'd have 20 wins with four regular season games left to play?

Jeff Cottam's draft stock is "all over the board," primarily due to the fact that he lost most of his receiving opportunities last year due to the emergence of Luke Stocker. It's not that Cottam can't catch; it's just that Stocker was even better.

The Vol Historian recounts a couple of the Vols' scariest injury moments, one of which lies directly at the feet of one Bob Knight.

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Cottam is a good blocking TE

by golfballs03 on Feb 22, 2010 8:11 AM EST reply actions

Rare Dooley sighting

at the Big Orange Tipoff Club this Wednesday, which I think still meets at Calhoun’s on the river.

Rocky Top Talk

by Will Shelton on Feb 22, 2010 8:59 AM EST reply actions

Thanks for the link, Joel.

Good luck with the rest of your season, guys.

Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.

by Gamecock Man on Feb 22, 2010 10:44 AM EST reply actions

In the pic

Which one’s the ball?

Lou Brock loves Lamp.

by birdjam on Feb 22, 2010 12:03 PM EST reply actions

termite....

makes a lot of sense, but the name termite is kind of creepy. how about a generalization and just call him the pest.

by golfballs03 on Feb 22, 2010 12:25 PM EST reply actions

JuJuan Smith was the pest

Official MCM Hater!

Fire Jeff Fisher.

by gramsey712 on Feb 22, 2010 12:26 PM EST up reply actions

yeah i know

but i don’t think it was universally accepted. is it ok to have a new pest?

by golfballs03 on Feb 22, 2010 1:02 PM EST up reply actions

Where's Waldo- New game Where's Dooley

volman

by volman1 on Feb 22, 2010 4:26 PM EST reply actions

Guys I don't get it

I was just checking the latest bracket projections around the internet, and everyone has us lower than last week. Lunardi has us a #6 seed, cbssports.com has us a #6, SI.com has us at a #7, and sbnation’s Blogging the Bracket has us at a #7 as well. We are ranked #17, have a RPI of 18, and we are the only team to have beaten Kansas in the country. I realize it is just projections, but a 7 SEED! I think this means that it could be very important for us to beat Kentucky on Saturday because without a win there we might not have another shot at a quality win.

It's simple Cubs in the spring and summer, Vols in the fall and winter.

by cubvol on Feb 22, 2010 4:37 PM EST reply actions

because Charlotte, Florida, and Memphis all fell out of the RPI top 50.

so Kansas is the only team in the Top 50 team we’ve beaten

by golfballs03 on Feb 22, 2010 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

ole miss too

by golfballs03 on Feb 22, 2010 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

Working on something for this tomorrow

but there are a couple bracket projections out there that have the Vols as a 3 seed, and several that have the Vols as a 4 (I_S pointed out this very handy link several weeks ago, a matrix of 58 different bracket projections that currently has the Vols as the highest 6 seed in the field). Tennessee has all the volatility of a mid-major team in projections right now…but also today, both Joe Lunardi and Chris Dobbertean (who runs SBN’s Bracketology) moved Tennessee into the “lock” category. We did all we could last week, and we’ve got an even bigger chance to help – or hurt – ourselves in the next two weeks.

Rocky Top Talk

by Will Shelton on Feb 22, 2010 5:00 PM EST up reply actions

True

if we win both games this week, we will jump a lot. The thing that confuses me though is that in Friday’s Bracketology, Lunardi has us at a #5 seed with are stock rising, but today we were a #6 with are stock falling.

It's simple Cubs in the spring and summer, Vols in the fall and winter.

by cubvol on Feb 22, 2010 5:10 PM EST reply actions

that up and down arrow just shows how a team moved from the last projection

but from what i understand, they moved us down because some “good” wins aren’t good anymore. Charlotte and Ole Miss used to be in the RPI Top 50 but have taken big tumbles. So that hurts our seeding. The win at Memphis isn’t impressive, and Florida isn’t a Top 50 team. We are 1-4 vs. the RPI top 25.

by golfballs03 on Feb 22, 2010 5:27 PM EST up reply actions