How well-positioned are the Vols for March Madness?
by Joel Hollingsworth on Mar 9, 2010 7:16 AM EST
in Rocky Top Talking Points
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PrintTalking Points for 3/9/10:
- On last night's podcast, all of our guests picked Kentucky to win this week's SEC Tournament, but Will and I both picked Vanderbilt. Inside Tennessee's Randy Moore agrees with Will and
Ime. Tennessee doesn't have the revenge factor the players love to leverage this week as they've won their most recent games against each of the five teams in their half of the bracket. - On the other hand, don't you just get the feeling that the Vols are well-positioned for a good run in the NCAA Tournament? Scotty Hopson has found consistency, both on offense and on defense; Bruce Pearl has found consistency in a lineup that's tall, athletic, and successful (6'10" Brian Williams, 6'9" Wayne Chism, 6'8" J.P. Prince, 6'7" Scotty Hopson, and 6'3" Bobby Maze); and the team has both solid guard play and senior leadership, the two elements most point to as vital to a deep post-season run. We'll see.
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Also in that Hopson article...
Bruce told him to be more like Eric Berry. Good advice.
by Getoffmyvols on Mar 9, 2010 8:02 AM EST via mobile reply actions
We are getting solid guard play - on both sides of the ball
i’d like to see our 3 point shooting improve.
Well, so much for my 'I can quit anytime I want' excuse.
Then again, so much for needing it! :-D
But seriously, the universe made me do it!
by David Hooper on Mar 9, 2010 10:58 AM EST up reply actions
You know, Paul Edwards actually has a serious essay on this
Claiming that if we really thought about it, we wouldn’t assign any moral responsibility for people’s bad actions, because they’re all products of their environment and other factors beyond their control. I call it the “If he’s raised like [Fulmerized], you must acquit” view. This is why it’s so much better to be a compatibilist. Also because compatibilism is right.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 9, 2010 11:08 AM EST up reply actions
I'd never heard the term 'compatibilism' before.
I am one (I Wiki’d it) but it’s not exactly a term that makes the rounds in engineering classes. ;-)
But the opposite provides a very fascinating death spiral argument. If there is no more responsibility, then all laws are moot and irrelevant. But the absence of law would be more harmful to society (and people at an individual level) than the presence of such an foundationless construct. It literally becomes a worthless paper tiger with great value.
And yet, our choice to have law or to not have law would technically be irrelevant in itself, as we never had the choice in the first place.
Ah, sports blogs. Nothing like a discussion of the philosphies of existence on a fine Spring Break morning. :-)
by David Hooper on Mar 9, 2010 11:22 AM EST up reply actions
You are right about the fascinating death spiral
And the joys of discussing philosophy on a fine spring (it’s supposed to get up to 48 today!) morning. Although I don’t get the break part for two and a half more weeks. We get passover break instead of spring break.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 9, 2010 11:29 AM EST up reply actions
I had also never heard the term "compatibilism" before (I also Wiki'd it)
I reserve the right to change my mind upon further reflection, but I don’t think I am one. Why? Because I don’t believe the Laplace Demon could pick perfectly against-the-spread. In fact, I’m sure he couldn’t.
A big part of the reason that Mr. Laplace Demon — omniscient though he may be — would still lose a number of bets at the sportsbook on any given saturday or sunday is because the QB can always call an audible. Omniscience is nice, but it can’t predict the audible, and the audible is free will.
So I think this makes me an incompatibilist. Very interesting topic.
...just apologize for not thanking me.
I should say, read some Daniel Dennet
hes pretty much at the forefront and most read author in philosophy of mind, and is incredibly interesting.
RIP Steve McNair (1973 - 2009) Retire #9!
by Pride of the Southland on Mar 9, 2010 1:28 PM EST up reply actions
Agreed
I’m a big fan of Dennett’s article “I Could Not Have Done Otherwise—So What?” And this is high praise, because I think that most of what Dennett writes is pretty much trash (his high fame aside).
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 9, 2010 7:38 PM EST up reply actions
You picked Vandy?
Will the SEC be using Vandy’s ridiculous bench set-up for the tournament this year?
Lou Brock loves Lamp.
My thought process
is that I just can’t see Kentucky or Tennessee surviving that game on Saturday and then turning around and beating Vanderbilt 24 hours later. I think the Dores have the easiest road to the finals of any team, they’ve undressed us twice and can play with Kentucky…I think Kentucky is too immature and Tennessee too inconsistent to play the type of game it would take to beat the other on Saturday, then follow it up with an equal or better game on Sunday against another great team.
by Will Shelton on Mar 9, 2010 12:03 PM EST up reply actions
Agree to disagree
I personally think Vandy isn’t that great away from their novelty gym.
Lou Brock loves Lamp.
i think they are still a decent team away from their gym
they have wins at Florida, at Ole Miss, and of course at Tennessee. They also won a road game at St Mary’s – who is a tournament team. The game that I like to look at though, is the only time they played in the Sommet Center this year – a loss to Western Kentucky.
I agree that they are still decent
There is some real talent on that team, moreso than most years for them. I just don’t think they are extremely strong. I don’t see them beating Kentucky at Sommet (or us for the third time.)
Lou Brock loves Lamp.
yeah, you might be right.
but the circumstances in a UT-Vandy rematch wouldn’t be quite even. They have a relatively easy jog to the finals, while Tennessee has to play one extra game and then the winner of the UK/UT game could be limping to the finish line. Under normal conditions I think you are right, though. I think Tennessee and Kentucky would both be able to beat them.
Under other 'really bad decisions'
My decision to not invest my $10.32 in my piggy bank in this “Microsoft” venture back when I was eight.
Where are you now, JuJu Beans?!?
By the way, on tourney positioning:
The consensus at Bracket Matrix dropped us a spot today. We were the last four seed, now we’re the top 5 seed. We have been passed by Baylor (who is getting some push for a three seed, raising their average). Despite, you know, them not even playing last night. The current last four seed that we need to jump is Vanderbilt.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 9, 2010 11:04 AM EST reply actions
i saw that
i don’t like how the matrix uses any joe blow’s bracket and some of them don’t even follow “the rules”
Although that said
Jerry Palm from CBSSports is one of the guys with UT at 5 and Baylor at 3, as of today. So the movement isn’t necessarily the fault of Joe Blow.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 9, 2010 12:30 PM EST up reply actions
yeah I'm not saying we shouldn't be a 5
i’m just saying, in general, I don’t like how they average in the brackets of random people. like if i made a bracket they would put me on there. having said that, you would think Rivals would be legit, and they have us as a 7 seed. That’s ludicrous
It's both a blessing and a curse
Because the more brackets you include, the more chances you have of crazy picks. However, the more brackets you include, the more those crazy picks will be marginalized by the average. I do like how they give each team’s seed in each bracket, so you can easily check all the brackets that are trustworthy. On that note, they also track the historical accuracy of each bracket. Bracketology 101 is the winner over the last three years.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 9, 2010 7:41 PM EST up reply actions
oh, i found the ranking
good deal.
so of the 12 that they have tracked for each of the last 4 years, Joe Lunardi’s ranks 10th. Ha!
What if they assigned a weight to the current seeding of each bracket based upon the past performance of that bracket. So B101 would get weighted highest and then descend from there. Of course, that only works if you think past performance is a indication of future results.
That would be cool to do a weighted average
At least for the ones with success that’s been tracked over multiple years.
by Incipient_Senescence on Mar 9, 2010 9:17 PM EST up reply actions
This is why...
I say it’s all impossible to predict. Win an away game in a hostile environment? Okay, we’ll drop you a spot….
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
it's not so much that they dropped us
moreso than they bumped up Baylor for laying the wood to Texas. I think people are giving them more credit than they deserve. The Texas team they beat isn’t the same Texas team that was ranked #1, and they were playing a home game – senior night for them – kind of the opposite situation as going to Starkville and blowing out MSU on their senior night in a game that would have put them in the tournament. If Baylor wins one game in the Big 12 tournament and we win 2 in ours, I would be kind of surprised to see them seeded higher than us on Sunday. But we will see. I think that they will play Texas again on Thursday, and even though Texas isn’t playing great, it’s still hard to beat a team 3 times in a year. Texas still has talent. It could be a close game.
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