Thank you, Mr. Golden. Those clutch free throws from Trae Golden? Thank his father, who wouldn't let 4-year-old Trae come inside until after he'd hit 10 in a row. Golden's now hit 31 of his past 32 attempts, including the last 17. Still, I say we make him stay out there for a little while longer, whattayasay?
Really, coach, the Crunch Bar is really just gravy. Eww. Maybe a cherry. Hmm. The frosting? Coach Cuonzo Martin lured fans to Thompson-Boling with Nestle Crunch Bars, and it paid off with a top five finish in average home attendance for the seventh year in a row. Take a look at the elbows we're rubbing here: Kentucky, Syracuse, Louisville, and North Carolina. Now look at our football program and their football programs. We've got it pretty good, you know?
Jarnell Stokes is your SEC Player of the Week. Congrats to Size 20, who wins the SEC POW! this week. Coach Martin called Stokes a "double-double guy even on a bad night." Somebody give that guy a fever Thursday.
Love me some humility. Be sure to check out this fantastic feature on senior Cameron Tatum. I have no idea why some people make fun of these kinds of features. For me, they're a huge part of what makes me a fan.
We know it's a team game, yet we often forget. Love this quote from Cuonzo on when and how his team started making progress:
"I saw it in some of the early losses, the four-game home stretch we had during the preseason before we went to Memphis. I saw the guys making progress, but maybe it was one or two guys and then another guy would step up in another game. One guy made progress defensively; the other guys might not have played as well. One guy made a pretty good move off the dribble - we'd been working three weeks on that and he finally showed it in a game. And then once the Florida game (happened), we got better as a team. From that point, guys individually got better and we got better as a team defending, trusting each other and believing in each other more than anything. There are still a lot of breakdowns in games, but when we make mistakes guys cover them up quickly on the next rotations defensively. Or when a guy breaks down off the dribble and makes a play, somebody is moving on the backside - whereas at the beginning of the season, we wouldn't rotate offensively to get the next play. Guys are doing that now."
Etceteras. Kenny Hall's suspension has been extended through at least the SEC Tournament. . . . John Adams says that the Lady Vols' run in the SEC Tournament was great, but the NCAA Tournament is going to be a bigger challenge. . . . Tennessee gets headline act status (of course that's what the last day is for, right?) for SEC Media Days. . . . Arian Foster gets a $43.5M deal with the Texans. . . . John Calipari thinks he's going to outlast the NCAA. . . . Swiperboy's latest: Vol So Hard.