Here's where we make the distinction between "biggest game of the year" - a title reserved for the likes of Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida, or Memphis - and "most important game of the year", a title which fits the next three games quite nicely.

Florida won in Tuscaloosa last night, securing their grip on second place in the league and knocking Alabama back to 5-6. But then those lovable Bulldogs of Mississippi State lost their second straight overtime game, falling in Baton Rouge by a deuce. That means the winner of tonight's game between Tennessee and Arkansas will move into a tie for fourth place in the SEC at 6-5. The notion that the Vols could earn a first round bye in the SEC Tournament isn't misplaced optimism - Tennessee will be right there if they win tonight.

Witness the beauty of UT's schedule: there was a four-way tie for fifth place in the league at 5-5 before Alabama lost last night. The Vols' next three opponents are the other three teams in that tie. At this point, if would be disappointing if Tennessee doesn't go at least 2-1 against Arkansas, Alabama, and Ole Miss, especially with two of the three in Knoxville. And if you want to indulge the NCAA fantasy, the Vols need to go 3-0. Do that, and not only would Tennessee be 8-5 in the SEC (with a trip to 1-9 South Carolina to follow) and have the inside track to a first round bye in New Orleans, but their RPI would increase drastically. It currently sits at 112, but the next three opponents are at 62, 38, and 52. Opportunity is now here.

But to continue the fantasy and the great feeling that's been around this program since the win at Florida, the Vols have to win those games. All of that starts tonight against Arkansas.

Continue reading this post »

Note: this is not an attack on Calipari, who most of you know I'm not too fond of. While I do think that there are very valid criticisms to be made of Calipari both as a game-day and ethical coach, right now isn't the time to bring up those criticisms (because Cal has had a very good record of late, and is in the middle of his most promising season to date at Kentucky). So this isn't an attack on him or his character, but rather an attack on the notion of creating shadows to support an illusion.

I regularly visit a few of our SB-Nation SEC sites, the very popular A Sea of Blue among them. Typically I avoid most of the opinion articles there -- frankly, about half of them are complaints about how everybody is out against them and that nobody gives Coach Cal an ounce of respect, or how tough it is to be a team sporting multiple #1 recruiting records and the winingest record historically. (Which, were I a Kentucky fan at all I wouldn't mind, but as a rival? It gets a bit old.)

So it doesn't come as a surprise to me to see this response to an article written by an NBA contributor for SB Nation, Jonathon Tjarks. But, uhm. Do you really want this guy to be as aSoB commentator jc25 quickly points out "one of my favorite basketball writers"? Really?

Continue reading this post »

We're not talking Final Four. We promised. Now that that's out of the way, this was the most complete Lady Vol performance since Georgia, and against a team as good as the Miami team which got run off the court by the Lady Vols in the second half. The difference between this game and that Miami game?

Miami kept it close for 20 minutes. Kentucky kept it close for 120 seconds.

If anything, this was less the 2011 Lady Vols team that's been driving us up a wall and more a throwback to one of the many squads that have banners and jerseys hanging from the rafters. Again, this was one night, and we're not talking Final Four, let alone anything after that. This game, though? This was as much fun as you'd expect.

We have Meighan Simmons and Shekinna Stricklen to thank for the enjoyment. Stricklen came out motivated and did what she's capable of - not only be the best player on the court, but act like it. Simmons hit a couple of crucial early threes to put the game out of reach at 10-2 2 minutes in - and while that sounds weird to say, Kentucky's not a good enough shooting team to come back from a 15-point deficit without forcing a bunch of turnovers. Neither of those were happening tonight.

From there, this game started to get a little lopsided. Then it got a lot lopsided. Then it got ridiculous. If the last three weeks were the buildup of pressure, this was the valve releasing. The Lady Vols played smooth, they played relaxed, and they played composed. Against a Kentucky squad that thrives on chaos, they never stood a chance.

Breadsticks could easily go to Simmons, who had 25 points on the night - on 17 shots, no less. The pieces are coming together for her; again, we've seen this with her before, but it feels different somehow; it's not a blip, but a change in approach. If this is legitimate and this keeps up, watch out.

That being said, Stricklen would rip the breadsticks out of Simmons' hands and leave them lying on the floor next to Kentucky's heart. This game was the imposition of will game we've been waiting on, with the stats to show: 8-12 from the floor, 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 18 points in 25 minutes of action. More of that, please.

And yes, there's a reason I haven't talked about Glory Johnson before now. Answers and more notes below the fold.

Continue reading this post »

	February 3, 2012 Knoxville, TN 7:00 PM EST TV: ESPN2 / ESPN3 Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats: GameTracker
21-3 (10-1 SEC) #7 (AP) #7 (USA Today) RPI: 9		17-7 (7-3 SEC) #11 (AP) #11 (USA Today) RPI: 5

The SEC regular season race is all but sewn up. Even with a loss to LSU and a loss tonight, Kentucky still needs to drop one of their last four games to bring the Lady Vols into a tie for the crown. That's not likely, to put it mildly; Kentucky's other road games are in Tuscaloosa and Starkville (combined conference records of Alabama and Mississippi State: 4-18), and while their home tilts against Vanderbilt and South Carolina are tricky, they're surmountable. (Yeah, this paragraph hurt to type. Let's move on.)

A win for the Lady Vols tonight doesn't really do anything other than sew up the #2 seed come tournament time, which doesn't count for a ton. A loss puts Tennessee in a five-team tie at 8-4 heading into the home stretch including, a two-legged domination of Georgia, and Arkansas coming to Knoxville. (That isn't counting Vandy on the road against LSU and Kentucky, and South Carolina still has to face Georgia, Arkansas, and Kentucky.) In other words, even with a loss it's likely that Tennessee still ends up with the #2 seed.

Oddly, the fact there's so little riding on the game should be for the Lady Vols' benefit. It's a good opportunity for the Lady Vols to get out of their own head a bit. Matter of fact, Rocky Top Talk will make you a deal: play loose tonight and beat Kentucky and we won't start up Final Four talk afterward. Does that sound fair? Good.

Continue reading this post »

With three weeks to go, we have a pair of really interesting storylines: can Kentucky go 16-0, and which teams will emerge from the total gridlock behind them? Since conference play began, the assumption has been that this was a five bid league. But right now I could see as few as four or as many as six making the dance, and nine teams have to still be entertaining being among that group in the front or the back of their minds. With an amazing seven teams between 7-3 and 5-5, this is an especially difficult ballot, so as always your comments are appreciated. Read on and watch me stunningly resist the temptation to rank the Vols ahead of Florida.

1. Kentucky - 25-1 (11-0) - RPI 3 - KenPom 2 - BPI 1

Here's the thing with this bunch: they don't feel like it because Calipari's first UK team had so much flash with John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, who were both more unique than anyone on this current team, and that 2010 team had all the Year One newness and hype...but this is Cal's best Kentucky team, and it may not be close. The last UK team to go 16-0 in 2003, with Bogans and Fitch? This team would embarrass them. Anthony Davis is a destroyer of worlds in the paint, but you can't say, "Well, we'll just shoot threes", because they're so long with Kidd-Gilchrist and Terrence Jones they block those too. How you get consistently unaffected shots against this team is beyond me. Semi-serious question: at what point does Cal decide to throw a game because he's worried his guys got bored? I could see them losing a second round tournament game because they weren't focused (like Princeton in the first round last year), but otherwise this should absolutely be a Final Four team at worst.

Continue reading this post »

Yeah, cage fighting. It's later. But first:

Hoops. The rest of the world may have been surprised that the Tennessee team that had not yet won a road game beat a top 10 team riding a 19-game home winning streak, but Cuonzo Martin wasn't surprised, and in fact, he told the team before the game that Saturday was "the first time we're really ready to win a road game." The players just had that certain something that they'd been missing up until then:

When players walk with a certain type of swagger, a level of confidence — not cockiness, not arrogance — they can play, and they can compete.

Martin also said that the win was the first that the team had won on both ends. It also had some side benefits, the best of which was that it impressed Vol signee Derek Reese and the least of which is that it allowed Mike Strange to finish his work before he got off the plane just by apparently transcribing his taped conversations with fans in the airport. Another bonus is that it elicited this gem from Jarnell Stokes about his flagrant foul:

Basketball is a competitive game, and I wasn't going to let him score. But he's a big guy, and I'm surprised he fell like that.

Heh. Yet Life with Cuonzo means the celebration is short-lived (if not non-existent), and the team is already focusing on building the momentum Wednesday.

Here are the postgame quotes, notes, and YouTube playlist:

Continue reading this post »

To get you caught up in case you missed it, here's a link to Friday's offensive breakdown.

The Cliff's: UT has 70 scholarship players on its roster now with 14 signed high school players yet to make it into town. There's the possibility that the Vols could add one more player, but that's still up in the air. With only 13 scholarship players set to graduate after this upcoming season, that means UT can only bring in 14 kids in next year's class.

There will be attrition [check the rules listed in Part I of this two-part series on listing potential defections]. And we're going to operate under the thought that Derek Dooley will not be able to sign a full class of 25 but that the Vols will make it to 23-24 signees for the 2013 class.

NOTE: UT has a lot of defensive backs who can play cornerback or safety. So, we'll do a little projecting below. Again, there could certainly be differences in where I see a player fitting or moving to and where the coaching staff does. Again, as we mentioned Friday on the offensive side, some players may be listed twice.

So, without delaying any longer, let's break down the defensive side of the football.

INTERIOR DEFENSIVE LINEMEN [TACKLES/NOSE GUARDS]

Returning players: Sr. Maurice Couch, Sr. Daniel Hood, Sr. Daniel McCullers, Jr. Alan Carson, Jr. Greg Clark, So. Danny O'Brien, So. Trevarris Saulsberry, So. Trent Taylor.

Possible defections/roster questions: I don't see any way that Clark gets any playing time, so he's a possibility to go elsewhere or not be on the team by this time next year. Taylor is already 270, so there's a legitimate possibility that he packs on another 30 or more pounds and stays in the middle. He is going to be another one of those hybrid types, and it'll be interesting to see with Saulsberry's size where he winds up -- inside or out.

Recruiting targets: 2-3. I see the Vols wanting AT LEAST five defensive linemen overall in next year's class. How they sort that out remains to be seen, but with UT graduating three interior linemen -- and likely the three who will get the most playing time, finding help on the inside will be essential. My early guess is the Vols seek two big-body, 300-plus pound types to anchor the 3-4. This is a specialized position that would be best-suited to be filled with a huge player who can still move around some inside. I'll go with two, but that number could swell to three if the opportunity arises.

Continue reading this post »