I had accepted we were a no. 2 seed after we lost to UK.  I am mildly surprised anyone was still discussing it.   

I just hope lil brother (assuming he is younger) is nowhere near as good as ZZ

Awaka was a walking turnover. 

Not unusual for him, unfortunately

Actually, unless you need to win the conference tournament to get into the NCAA's, the conference tournament means practically nothing.

As I've said before, do away with it.

I agree, but the troll was talking about the regular season championship.  That absolutely means something, particularly when its not a tie.

100%...they were not motivated

It looks more and more like first round Rick is gonna rear his head. If you mean he has us winning regular season SEC championships that don't mean anything really, then yep, we are flying high.

Your statement that "wiinning SEC Champions"....don't "mean anything" really doesn't require any response.  Its beyond idiotic.  SMH....

I was only partially watching on my phone at  a restaurant, so did not have the greatest view, but one of the bigger factors is we seemed to just let them drive and lay it in.

I am not really saying it was deliberate, but Barnes is on record as not liking the SECT.  I am going to stick to that being a factor.

Let's see how they do the tourney that matters. 

I'm writing this one off as "Barnes and the team don't care about the SECT".  ICBW, but I hope not.

We will find out.

For the record, I only watched on my phone as a restaurant, groggy from a certain medical procedure I had this morning that requires fasting and the massive ingestion of a certain foul tasting liquid the day before. 

Didn't we go out early last year?  Isn't Barnes on record as saying he doesn't care for the SEC Tourney?  Wasn't there a perception last year that we did better in the NCAA Tourney last year?

Did we lose on purpose?  Or at any rate, was Barnes just unmotivated? 

Honestly its a bit silly to compare women's and men's games anyway, but I get why they do it, and don't have a problem with it.

But my willingness to debate whether her accomplishment is greater than Pete's is almost zero because the talent levels are completely different.

I suspect they will be exposed regardless of whether its true or not. 

[cheating]

a hypocrite, liar, narcissist, etc.

There are things about the new college athletics that I don?t like, but his holier-than-thou schtick is disgusting.

There is likely less cheating going on in the current system than there has been in many decades. About the only way to cheat now is to tamper with potential transfers, I guess.

He shouldn?t be allowed anywhere near a discussion about the future of college athletics.

100%

agree!

Yep I saw it...I think ESPN announcers were FOS. They said LSU would only have 5 players for the 1st game of the NCAA tournament....Pretty sure the ones that came off the bench and weren't fighting or involved in fighting are only ejected for that current game...Not the next game.

They corrected themselves right before the end of the game, and stated only the USC player was ineligible for the next game.

 

Winning the SECT won't do a dam bit of good.  It will be too late to be considered by the committee.

Anyone watch the SECCT woman's final?  Huge bench clearing brawl with a bit over two minutes left.  Would make baseball or hockey proud. 

I tuned in about 30 seconds beforehand, just to see the end, and got the fight as a bonus.  There was a flagrant foul by LSU, but then multiple retalations by USC, then several players came off the bench.  The LSU player was ejected for a Flagrant I, and then a USC player was ejected for starting the fight after that.  The USC player will be ineligible for the first round of NCAA.  Frankly the USC player was a thug, she had pushed down the LSU player on a play right before the fight and got away with it.  A fan entered the floor also and was escorted away.

Fun times! 

Let me add another side to this...which is that it's unrealistic to expect anyone to just step in for Pat and not miss a beat.  UCLA has never had another Wooden.  Lord knows we have not had another Neyland (Fulmer won one, but that's not Neyland level success.  Bama is the rare animal that had another Bear, but it took about 26 years or so.

Looking back, Holley was better than Kelly.  Maybe Kelly can at least match Holley, maybe even this year, but maybe routinely making the Sweet 16 with an occasional Elite 8 is not so bad.  Kelly has been nowhere near that.

Amen. But half these dolts on here don't want to here that. They will keep her around and all of a sudden expect titles. 

Your usual strawman.  No one is happy that at this point in time, UT is barely qualifying for the NCAA tourney.  That is not where we should be as a program.  We have never failed to qualify for the tourney. I am on record as saying if that ever happens, whoever is the coach should be fired on the spot.

As for whatever else you say about Kelly, we did come within an eyelash of beating the cocks, and by your own admission should have. USC is hands down, by far, the no. 1 program in the country.

Does that excuse the horrible way we lost?  No.  (although I didn't see it, and am only going off what I read).

Does that mean we throw up our hands and give up on the rest of the season?  Not just no, but HELL no. 

Kelly could well use the frustration over the loss to spring this team deep into the tourney. 

My attitude is what it always is, "wait and see".  Then make an assessment after the season. No sense in the constant whining or the loser mentality you show, constantly harping on every negative thing you can.

Finally...I think you misinterpret Pirate. I am pretty sure he is saying "forget it, the administration is not going to make a move this year".  I can't speak for Pirate, but I can tell you that is a broad consensus among UT fans.

But anyway...has the team shown improvement this year?  We have played Junior three times.  The first was an ass kicking.  The second was a close game.  The third, by your own admission, we SHOULD HAVE WON.

That is progress whether you like it or not.

If we make the Elite Eight or even Final Four, then Kelly can redeem the season.  Honestly that's all that matters, is The Show.

Most everyone knows that, but you as usual seem uninformed (or ignorant if you prefer). 

And we barely lose to a probable 5 seed on a hot streak....quite the contrast. 

I think UK got away with a few fouls inside also.  For the second consecutive game, they were letting them play.

I was happy to see the team storm back, hate that they came up short.

like

[FG 3 pt FG 3 pt]

Part II of "Since You Asked".

Since I doubt you will post any facts (and in fact don't have any). I will post them for you.

             JJ                      Santi   
   FG            3 pt             FG            3 pt
2024   40.50   32.70   39.30   35.00
2023   37.20   31.30   39.60   37.00
2022   38.80   32.40   41.30   40.30
2021   38.80   30.40   38.80   37.30
2020   37.00   36.70   37.30   36.00

Here is a FACT.  JJ has his highest FG percentage of his career.

Here is a FACT.  JJ's 3 pt percentage is better than it was last year, and in the middle of the five years he has played.

Here is a FACT.  Santi's FG percentage is pretty much his career average.

Here is a FACT.  Santi does have his lowest 3 pt percentage of his career, but still above the national average of 34.1%.

So of the four stats I present above, one is worse, two are at their career averages, and one is better.

In other words, when you look at the ACTUAL FACTS, they are shooting about how they have their entire careers.

Thus you are reduced to saying "why haven't they improved", but they are DEMONSTRABLY not worse.

Please get your head out of your ass.

Actually on closer inspection, JJ's 3 point percentage is the highest of his career since his freshman year.  So I think that's a positive, in which case his combined stats are arguably the best of his career.

(drops mike)

Other considerations....

With Knecht shooting more, Santi and JJ shoot less, and so have less opportunity to get in rhythm.

Since Knecht is always the first option, Santi and JJ likely shoot later in the shot clock cycle, and so more often heave up desperation shots as the clock expires.

Since Knecht is always the first option, less screens are set for Santi and JJ, and they typically shoot lower percentage shots.

Now...the above is speculation, I don't have stats to back them up, and I don't feel like hunting for them. I suspect "time into shot clock" is probably out there somewhere, and maybe even shot location.  The first is purely subjective.

But I would be willing to bet, that if I did bother to find the last two categories above, they would support my opinion compared to previous seasons.

[FG 3 pt FG 3 pt]

Part II of "Since You Asked".

Since I doubt you will post any facts (and in fact don't have any). I will post them for you.

             JJ                      Santi   
   FG            3 pt             FG            3 pt
2024   40.50   32.70   39.30   35.00
2023   37.20   31.30   39.60   37.00
2022   38.80   32.40   41.30   40.30
2021   38.80   30.40   38.80   37.30
2020   37.00   36.70   37.30   36.00

Here is a FACT.  JJ has his highest FG percentage of his career.

Here is a FACT.  JJ's 3 pt percentage is better than it was last year, and in the middle of the five years he has played.

Here is a FACT.  Santi's FG percentage is pretty much his career average.

Here is a FACT.  Santi does have his lowest 3 pt percentage of his career, but still above the national average of 34.1%.

So of the four stats I present above, one is worse, two are at their career averages, and one is better.

In other words, when you look at the ACTUAL FACTS, they are shooting about how they have their entire careers.

Thus you are reduced to saying "why haven't they improved", but they are DEMONSTRABLY not worse.

Please get your head out of your ass.