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Is Tennessee's Improvement Too Late for this Season?

  • We've discovered defense. Is it too late? Prior to league play, the Vols were letting opponents score 84.7 points per game. Since the SEC schedule kicked in? 61 PPG. 40.6% from the field and 32.6% from the arc. This is defense. This is what Coach Cuonzo wants. This is what Coach Cuonzo will have. And this is why Coach Cuonzo thinks that, right now, Tennessee is one of the 65 to 68 best teams in the nation and therefore NCAA worthy. Martin knows, of course, that we spent much of the early season digging an Austin-Peay-shaped hole, and whether it's too deep and there's too few grains of sand in the hourglass, we don't know. But we do know that the team has discovered defense, and the team is now better than its season resume suggests.
  • No more gifts. Now that the defensive identity has taken hold, the focus turns to turnovers, which have directly led to some of those warts on the CV.
  • Make it right. Cuonzo not happy with tint of blue in Thompson-Boling lower bowl. Cuonzo say what's done is done, but what has not yet been done remains to do. Plain English: he wants you to return the favor in Lexington.
  • Regarding that Jarnell guy. The staff and the team seem to be working hard to make sure that the sudden introduction of a bona fide star into the rotation doesn't result in the rubble that chemistry gone bad sometimes produces. Kenny Hall is doing his part, giving Stokes the nickname "Big Future." Kenny, love ya man, but that's no Honey Badger. I throw it open to you, RTTers, to come up with something better.