Austin Peay 74 Tennessee 70 - Uh oh.
by Will Shelton on Dec 10, 2011 2:33 PM EST
in Tennessee Volunteer Basketball
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PrintTennessee has played well enough to give themselves a chance to beat Duke, Memphis, and Pittsburgh. Their only other loss was on the backside of Maui at an Oakland team that should again make the NCAA Tournament.
Today, Austin Peay returned center John Fraley to the lineup, who was back for the first time since the season opener when he went out with a concussion. That helped, but nothing changes the fact that Austin Peay was a 1-9 basketball team...and they just beat Tennessee in Thompson-Boling Arena.
Until last year, the list of non-conference foes that had beaten the Vols in Knoxville since the arrival of Bruce Pearl read like this: Gonzaga in overtime, Memphis by two points. Then last December, Tennessee fell to Oakland, USC, and Charleston (who we'll see on Wednesday night). Still, Oakland and USC made the NCAA Tournament, Charleston made the NIT.
This was 1-9 Austin Peay. A team that it truly felt like Tennessee was toying with, building a lead of a dozen, watching them work it back down around seven, then building it back to double digits again.
But the Vols never did enough to put them away. The Vols were up eleven with 6:27 to play. From there, Austin Peay closed on a 21-6 run that included five Tennessee turnovers and the Governors hitting their last seven shots. It was a slow meltdown, but a meltdown all the same.
Austin Peay made some tough shots, sure. You might get lucky and hit five of eight threes like they did today. But you don't call 59.1% from the floor luck. That's bad defense. And when you combine it with 1 of 9 from Trae Golden and 0 of 6 from Cameron Tatum? That's how 1-9 teams find a way to win in your building.
And now, everyone associated with Tennessee Basketball that just spent the last three weeks believing we were better than we thought must now face the possible reality that we're even worse than we originally feared.
There's no way to know which one is the more accurate picture yet, and there's more evidence for good than bad. But this was an atrocious loss to an atrocious team, one that there is simply no comparison for in the Pearl Era; you have to go back to Buzz Peterson's last year, when he lost games like this that made most turn their backs on the program. Cuonzo Martin is in no danger of losing his job, of course, but what was already dwindling fan support will take a huge hit with a loss like this, and no chance to rebuild momentum until January.
The Oakland loss was a growing pains, maturation issue. I was fine with that, and most were too. But you can't call this one anything but terrible. There was no excuse for the Vols to lose to Austin Peay.
Tennessee got 18-9 from Jeronne Maymon and 12-10 from Kenny Hall, but when the Govs went zone the Vols lost all offensive poise and failed to stay productive in the paint. Jordan McRae stepped up in the second half and finished with 14, but unless Skylar McBee was hitting a three, Tennessee had no other offense. Down the stretch, the Vols didn't even get their big fellas a look inside: according to ESPN's play-by-play, Kenny Hall's last shot attempt came at 18:59. Jeronne Maymon's came at 13:55.
An entire season can't be lost in one game, but it's without exaggeration that we say this is the worst loss since UT-Chattanooga beat the Vols in Knoxville in Peterson's final season. And even that may not be a fair comparison. UTC beat the Vols that day for the first time since 1925. Austin Peay had never beaten Tennessee until today.
The Vols go on the road to try and pick up the pieces, Wednesday night at what was supposed to be the most dangerous foe in this six game December mid-major run: Charleston is 7-1 and beat the Vols by 13 last year. But even though they lost a lot of points, the fact that Austin Peay was 1-9 and just beat Tennessee says very bad things about this program right now, so the Cougars are without question good enough to beat us.
Tennessee falls to 3-5, and its program took a huge hit today as well. Charleston is next. Tennessee needs to get it turned back the right way in a hurry, because all the good feelings we had about this basketball team went down in the loss today.
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The last 6-8 minutes were just bafflingly bad
Can’t lose a game like that.
That said, we’ve seen uglier, and pretty recently. Just thought this year was going to be the scrappy, untalented team that actually ran an offense and made us want to cheer for them. And it looks like last year’s unscrappy team with no offense and less talent. Okay, so the offense isn’t near as ugly as last year. But when the talent level’s gone down this much, it doesn’t have to be.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 2:40 PM EST reply actions
It's Cuonzo's job to keep getting the ball to the post guys who are getting it done
and if he’s doing his part there, then it’s on Golden. You can’t just stop going to your two best guys for the entire second half. Which is to say, they have an offense when they get the ball to their most productive players. Rocket science, I know.
by Will Shelton on Dec 10, 2011 2:43 PM EST up reply actions
we kept trying to go inside and getting entry passes denied
and then we tried to drive inside and got layups blocked (including one by Tatum that would’ve given us a lead with under a minute to play). I’m not sure who that’s on.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 2:51 PM EST up reply actions
Glad I missed this.
Not really sure how to put it other than that; if we’re losing to the likes of Peay, that’s not a good sign at all.
Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.
I made comparisons to last year's Oakland game in the game thread. My reasoning
line against Oakland: -11.5
line against Peay: -12.5
score at the under 16 against Oakland: 61-48 (Vols by 13)
score at the under 16 against Peay: 47-38 (Vols by 9)
score at 7:00 against Oakland: 76-68 (Vols by 8)
score at 6:30 against Peay: 64-53 (Vols by 11)
last seven minutes against Oakland: 21-6 Oakland
last 6:30 against Peay: 21-6 Peay
Tobias Harris points in the first 22 minutes against Oakland: 13
Jeronne Maymon points in the first 22 minutes against Peay: 16
Tobias Harris points in the last 18 minutes against Oakland: 3
Jeronne Maymon points in the last 18 minutes against Peay: 2
Wow, I felt the comparison was there before I dug deeper, but the stats make it look plain like a re-run of the same game
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 3:29 PM EST reply actions
the relativism argument...
is pretty irrelevant.
Bruce Pearl had earned the trust of the UT fanbase, and the national perception was that we’d just gotten upset by a mediocre team because we inexplicably went on the road to play them.
Martin doesn’t have the trust, and it occurred at home… to a team that might have returned a good center for the first time all year, but still has no business even keeping it close against any SEC team. These guys lost a home game to MTSU by 20 two weeks ago and needed a score with time running out to send a home game vs. Arkansas State to OT and avoid being winless. How bad would the perception have been if Austin Peay was 0-10 coming in?
In terms of disappointment, this is 10 times worse to me than the Charlotte loss… because I have serious doubts that we’re going to recover, and am extremely concerned about UT basketball returning to what it was during the Peterson and Houston years.
reply fail?
I just developed the point that this game looked like a re-run of the same terrible movie we saw against Oakland last year, and you’re making an argument about a comparison to Charlotte
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 3:44 PM EST up reply actions
doh...
Yeah, it was the same game as Oakland last year.
Have been juggling a half dozen academic things, and Christmas stuff along with basketball… so my head is sorta in the clouds.
it's cool, I am too
not that the focus on academic things is going well right now.
to speak to your point about Charlotte:
*Bruce Pearl had built up more trust. Perception of the team was better. Both of those things are absolutely true. And so people were naturally going to believe that Bruce could bring us back, whereas we don’t know if Cuonzo will.
*That said, as I compared the schedules of this year’s Peay team and last year’s Charlotte team, I came to a surprising conclusion: Charlotte might’ve actually been worse. It is certainly true that Charlotte’s worst loss prior to the UT game was worse than Peay’s worst loss. And Charlotte had played all those games with their leading scorer, who was kicked off right before they played us. Peay had been playing without their top big man, who came back for the game against us.
*In terms of disappointment, the Charlotte loss was worse for me, because it proved beyond a doubt in my mind that our final four hopes were gone. The Peay loss just confirmed suspicions that we already had about this team being able to lose to anybody on any given day.
*As far as worries about the future, I’m not sure what to think. Last year, we had the NCAA cloud hanging over our head and the likelihood of losing 7 of our top 8 players. This year, we’re much younger, but we have a coach with a limited track record.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 4:26 PM EST up reply actions
We need to beat Charleston very badly
they don’t have Goudelock anymore, they’re good but we should still be better. We win that one and get back to business against these teams we should beat, we can take a deep breath. But we lose that one, we’re in danger of the wheels falling off
by Will Shelton on Dec 10, 2011 3:46 PM EST up reply actions
absolutely
that game just got more important than it had any right to be
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 3:49 PM EST up reply actions
The flow is almost identical
but the talent of the opponent is unfortunately not
by Will Shelton on Dec 10, 2011 3:44 PM EST up reply actions
neither is the talent of Tennessee
the relative talents of the two teams are almost identical though.
The whole game just felt like a re-run of last year. And it scares me to death knowing how last year ended. We went on the road and lost to an abysmal Charlotte team, and then we came back home and lost to College of Charleston and Southern Cal.
If we keep the re-run theme going through Wednesday. . . I don’t even want to think about it. (although as far as relative talent gaps go, Charleston is probably in the Southern Cal role, and the Charlotte role goes to the Citadel or UNC-Asheville
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
Rocky Top Talk
by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 3:48 PM EST up reply actions
Speaking of talent
I was watching this game with a friend who stated that UT’s starting 5 were all top-100 players coming out of high school. I said no way. Does anyone know if this is the case? That would mean Swipa would have been a top-100 player, no?
Bummed about the loss. I’ve been a UT basketball fan since I was in school there when Wade Houston was the coach. Much like Dooley stated when he was hired, Cuonzo said this team would play hard even when they might be outmatched in terms of talent. I didn’t see the effort today (or during many of the football games in the 2nd half of the year).
The common theme I’m picking up on from the UT fans on this site is that losing is going to happen, but as long as the team is busting their tails and playing with discipline it can be stomached with more ease. I feel the same way.
by pound the rock on Dec 10, 2011 6:41 PM EST up reply actions
Swipa did not play
but he, Trae, Jordan, Kenny, and Jeronne were all top 100. No one else on the team was
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 6:42 PM EST up reply actions
Crazy
I’m hoping the pitiful shooting today from 3-point range was an anomaly and the guys can maintain a percentage in the low 40s for the year. Unless Maymon can dominate consistent double teams and zone D, they’ve got to get better at shooting teams out of their zone D.
by pound the rock on Dec 10, 2011 6:57 PM EST up reply actions
yep
McBee was the only player who hit more than one three today. And he’s still so much of a liability in almost every other area of his game
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 7:03 PM EST up reply actions
Completely unacceptable
Had no idea we were playing today. Now, I’m glad I didn’t.
Holdin' it down on enemy grounds.
Anti-Snail on offense; Give me a slobberknocker, or give me death!
Austin Peay
was perhaps the best governor in the history of the state of Tennessee.
That said, Golden just never got started today. I wondered if he was sick or something. Both he and Tatum can’t continue pulling these disappearing acts for entire halves if UT is going to have a chance to make it to the NCAA tourney. Yes, I am still holding out hope.
by pound the rock on Dec 10, 2011 6:43 PM EST up reply actions
Golden and Tatum, as far as I'm concerned, were the reasons for the loss
our two most experienced players in the backcourt can’t combine for 1/15 and let the opposing team hit lots of threes. It just can’t happen. Also, the point guards have responsibility for getting the ball into the post, which we stopped doing
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 6:46 PM EST up reply actions
One more comparison
remember how Vol football fans have been scared of backups ever since 2001 LSU? Look at the last three Decembers for the basketball team.
December 2009
*opponent: Southern Cal, 4-4 with losses to a mid-tier WCC team and a Nebraska team that would go 2-14 in the Big 12
*Southern Cal’s Mike Gerrity plays his first game since transferring from Wake Forest.
*Gerrity records a double-double, with 12 points and 10 assists
*Vols lose 75-55
December 2010
*opponent: Charlotte, 4-6 with losses to a mid-tier CUSA team and the 2nd worst team in the Big South
*Charlotte leading scorer kicked off the team three days prior
*Vols lose 49-48
December 2011
*opponent: Austin Peay, 1-9 with losses to a mid-tier Horizon team and a mid-tier MAC team
*Peay inside man John Fraley playing his first game since being injured in the season opener
*Fraley has 12 points, 5 boards, and 2 blocks
*Vols lose 74-70
How have we gotten this inability to play any team who’s recently undergone a major shakeup? We had no business losing any of those three games, and yet we’ve done it three years in a row. What. The. [Fulmerized].
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 4:01 PM EST reply actions
The Mythbusters message boards rule...
how did I never know about these?
Savage and Hyneman both post there, very cool.
I've been talking about this in vague terms, but I looked up a few concrete details
and have a serious question. Before we start talking about whether this is the worst loss since Buzz or since O’Neil or since Wade Houston, can we ask whether it’s the worst loss in the last 12 months?
2010-11 Charlotte
*Would finish 10-20 (2-14 in A-10 play)
*Record when playing Tennessee: 4-6
*Best wins when playing Tennessee: mid-tier CUSA team, mid-tier Big South team
*Worst losses when playing Tennessee: mid-tier CUSA team, bottom-tier Big South team
*Misc: First game without best player. Playing at home.
2011-12 Austin Peay
*Finish unknown. Tied for 2nd in the OVC last year, went to the CBI, among the preseason conference favorites.
*Record when playing Tennessee: 1-9
*Best wins when playing Tennessee: top-tier Sun Belt team
*Worst losses when playing Tennessee: mid-tier Horizon team, mid-tier MAC team
*Misc: First game after getting best post back from injury. Playing on the road.
No one’s denying that this game was awful, embarrassing, and inexcusable. I just want to talk about how short (or selective) our memories are in making comparisons to previous coaching staffs.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 5:53 PM EST reply actions
just a point...
Arkansas State lost its top 4 scores from last season.
and the perception is going to be a lot worse just because Austin Peay is…
1. An in-state opponent
2. a team with a 1-9 record
3. a team that just beat us in Knoxville
The Charlotte loss was very bad and completely indefensible, but losing to a 1-9 OVC team in Knoxville is worse and any attempt at denying this feels forced.
agree that perception is worse for the reasons mentioned
Charlotte’s record was better, and their wins were better (especially with your point on Arkansas State, which I don’t realize). But their schedule was MUCH easier, their losses were worse, and they lost those games with their best player who did not play against Tennessee. Whereas Peay lost those games without their best inside player who did play against Tennessee.
Both are indefensible. Both are inexcusable. And I know all about perception. But I’m trying to get beyond perception to the actual truth of the matter. And I think the truth of the matter is that this year’s Austin Peay team is better than last year’s Charlotte team. Performance relative to schedule is actually fairly even, but I think the personnel changes tip the balance in favor of the Govs.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 6:09 PM EST up reply actions
Part of it is
UNC-Charlotte plays in a much stronger conference and has been to 11 NCAA Tournaments, while Peay has been only thrice. There’s an assumption with Charlotte that, like Oakland and Charleston, at least you got beat by someone who had been there before, so to speak, even though last year’s 49ers were really bad.
I think that perception makes this one feel much worse. There may have been a greater talent differential between last year’s Vols & Charlotte compared to this year’s Vols & Austin Peay, but this still feels so much worse because it was at home and that team is 1-9. Maybe it’ll look better at the end of the year, but right now I think this one is worse with room to spare.
by Will Shelton on Dec 10, 2011 6:10 PM EST up reply actions
right, right, I got that
I’m trying to get beyond perception and feeling here. Charlotte has a far better basketball tradition than Austin Peay, and their record was better. What I’m asking is whether the team was actually better. Not even talking talent difference anymore. Just was the Charlotte team better than the Peay team. And the evidence we have says it’s at least close enough to be asking the question (which is my main point—that this isn’t a loss that we’d never have dreamed of under Pearl). And I don’t think it’s irrational for me to actually lean towards this year’s Peay being better than last year’s Charlotte.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 6:15 PM EST up reply actions
The other part is
it took Pearl until his sixth year to lose a game like this. It took Cuonzo eight games.
by Will Shelton on Dec 10, 2011 6:18 PM EST up reply actions
also true, also not speaking to the question I was asking
although I will say that a loss like that is much more excusable in your first eight games than six years into your tenure. You still have both the “new system” and the “cupboard left bare” excuses. It’s not excusable in either case, but you kinda expect a WTF loss early on from any coach walking into a massive rebuilding job. Not from a sixth-year coach with a top ten team and coming off an Elite Eight
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 6:22 PM EST up reply actions
(actually, the quality of the A-10 is what got me asking this question in the first place)
those bad teams that APSU has lost to have wins over:
*George Washington (A-10)
*Temple (A-10)
*UCLA (on the road, by 20) (Pac-12)
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 6:19 PM EST up reply actions
UCLA is horrendous
I assume you speak of MTSU beating them? MTSU also lost to dogtrash UAB.
GW isn’t any good this year.
You can try and try to wrap up a loss to 1-9 Austin Peay in as much pretty packaging as you like. But then you just got a nicely wrapped piece of poop. Which still smells like poop.
No homer.
by kidbourbon on Dec 11, 2011 6:09 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
yeah, I know it's terrible
I’m questioning whether it’s historically terrible or the kind of terrible that most coaches experience about once in their careers and better not experience much more often.
I imagine the way the season plays out will probably give us the answer. If Peay ends up in the top three in the OVC, this goes down along similar lines as Buzz’s UTC loss and as a hair better than a couple performances last year.
If Peay ends up towards the bottom of their conference, we ask whether this is the worst team that’s ever beaten us (or at least that’s beaten us since I was about 7)
Kinda expecting the former though (which, I repeat, so as to dispel any possible misunderstandings, is still terrible and inexcusable). They did finish 2nd in the OVC last year and took Oakland and Memphis to overtime. Now that they got their center back, there’s no reason for that kind of plunge.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
Rocky Top Talk
by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 11, 2011 6:36 PM EST up reply actions
I do think, FWIW
that perception is where this game hurts the most. If we pull an upset over Memphis, Florida, Kentucky, UConn, etc while after starting 10-4 with a few excusable losses, they wonder what Cuonzo is building in Knoxville. It goes under the “win to brag about” column for Tennessee.
Now if we pull that kind of upset, it goes in the “loss to hide from” category for the other team. And of course we’ve already been over the likely hit attendance will take. And who knows about recruiting. Trust me, I can depress myself plenty about this game.
But I do want to start early to head off any “this means Cuonzo will be another [insert Buzz, Wade Houston, or any other terrible coach in Vol history]” arguments at the start, and I think an honest assessment of the actual quality of APSU vs Charlotte (a team that beat one of the best coaches in UT history and didn’t prove a thing about him being another Buzz) is a good place to start
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
Rocky Top Talk
by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 6:32 PM EST up reply actions
I have a counseling professor who says, "If perception is real, it's real in it's consequences"
and the greatest consequence will be attendance. I think we’ll get over this as soon as we beat Charleston. But butts in seats will suffer until they win a big one.
by Will Shelton on Dec 10, 2011 8:05 PM EST up reply actions
yep
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 8:06 PM EST up reply actions
OT: want to talk long rebuilding project that might be paying off?
Indiana leads Kentucky in the 2nd half
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 6:48 PM EST reply actions
And boom goes the dynamite
Indiana wins with the 3 as time expires. After almost blowing the game with 5 seconds left.
by VolfanatETSU on Dec 10, 2011 7:28 PM EST up reply actions
I switched to hockey
but good to hear
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
Rocky Top Talk
by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 10, 2011 7:29 PM EST up reply actions
Yep, it was a great finish...
I really though Indiana blew it though when they turned the ball over, but they got lucky with some more horrible Calipari FT shooting.
by VolfanatETSU on Dec 10, 2011 7:31 PM EST up reply actions
Remember when people (not me) were saying that we were Final Four bound after beating Pitt last year and that fall from grace?
This is almost like that.
What disturbed me is the lack of energy, poise and effort. When A-P out-hustles you for an entire half, that is NOT GOOD.
I hope our guys now realize that we can’t just show up and beat somebody. If we don’t bring the very best effort, we will lose to the #181 ranked team in the country on our home floor.
We're watching when you are not. Protecting against another 9-11.
So I googled OVC preseason predictions
Austin Peay really was the preseason favorite. Not among the favorites, #1 in every preseason poll or prediction I saw. Last year’s champion lost a lot and Peay returned 4 starters from a team who finished #2 last year and took both Oakland and Memphis to overtime.
There’s no way they can make me feel good about this loss, but if this year were their turn to make the second round of the NCAA tournament (the OVC champ has pulled a #13 over a #4 upset two years in a row), we’d at least have company in misery.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 11, 2011 9:07 AM EST reply actions
The 2005 Vols were ranked #3 preseason
Preseason predictions are dumb.
Peay actually probably is the second best team in the conference. But it’s a bad conference. A real bad conference.
No homer.
by kidbourbon on Dec 11, 2011 6:18 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
agree that they're dumb
but we don’t have a lot more to go on right now, since they’ve played exactly one game with their full team, and we have no idea what to expect from ours
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 11, 2011 6:37 PM EST up reply actions
and pretty much all I know about the OVC is:
be on upset alert whenever you play Morehead or Murray. And UT-Martin is terrible
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 11, 2011 6:44 PM EST up reply actions
well, I think my statement is confirmed
Memphis upset by Murray
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 11, 2011 8:02 PM EST up reply actions
And Peay may be better than Charlotte last year
But not appreciably. Not enough to cancel out the TBA part.
This loss is worse.
No homer.
by kidbourbon on Dec 11, 2011 6:26 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
this seems fair to me
but I do think they’re comparable. Which is all I was trying to get across. The appropriate level of panic is “we just lost a game that’s comparable to our worst loss in the Pearl era.” Not “we just lost a game so bad that nobody except Wade Houston could’ve lost a game that bad.”
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
Rocky Top Talk
by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 11, 2011 6:40 PM EST up reply actions
And maybe...
they just had a really bad day. I’m fairly certain they are a better team than what we saw Saturday. In all likelihood they aren’t as good as everybody seemed to want to believe after the Memphis game.
I love how everybody was all set to put them in the tourney, now everyone is saying they are terrible, awful, worst team ever bad.
If people didn’t let their expectations fly all over creation, instead of just taking it one game at a time, they wouldn’t get so out of sorts.
Go Vols.
"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
I tend to agree with this
this is a terrible loss, but didn’t we expect to lose a game that we had no business losing at some point this year? Perhaps not this one, but one of them, at some point?
Also, it looks like Memphis just isn’t that good. Although we still hung with Pitt, and they’re in the top 15.
This might be one of those teams that plays close games with everybody, good teams and bad. If they learn to finish, that might be okay.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
Rocky Top Talk
by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 12, 2011 12:07 PM EST up reply actions
I got news for everybody
Pitt ain’t that good.
No homer.
by kidbourbon on Dec 12, 2011 3:09 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I was afraid of that
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
Rocky Top Talk
by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 12, 2011 4:04 PM EST up reply actions
Also....
God just didn’t want us to win. Obviously.
"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
To ASOLOL with you, lady.
Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.
by Chris Pendley on Dec 12, 2011 4:57 PM EST up reply actions
That story after they lost to IU cracked me up.
…given Calapari’s past “will of God” comments. I’ll admit it. I LOLed.
"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
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