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.

I'm sorry, but their shooting has gotten worse by the year. Not dissing them, just stating facts. I've seen you guys mention it here.  Tell me you haven't seen the bricks they launch at times.

Part I of "Since You Asked".

You say that you are "just stating facts". Okay.  Where are the facts?  The only proof you offer is "I've seen you guys mention it.".

You can't just state "facts", you have to show them.  (I should not have to explain this to you, but that's par for the course with you.)

Feel free to post your "facts". (Not holding my breath).

but get knocked out of the tourney early. It's what they do. They got to prove that dolt wrong.

I hear that a lot, but this team is different. When is the last time a Barnes team had this type of reliable scoring ability (hint:  the correct answer is never...at least at the Real UT.  The Fake UT did have Durant).

I heard a guy on local Huntsville alabammer talk radio on my drive in this morning just ranting about the Vols, who also said we should be no.1, and when the very obvious thing about Barnes came up from another talking head, he pushed back and said "it looks different this year".

Translation...this team is good enough to overcome the "Barnes flop".  I agree with the talking heads, FTR.

And side point...constructive criticism.  You excel at making...really, really, really REALLY...obvious points.

You should start a thread on how we lost the last 15/16 to bammer in football, or how the sky is blue, the sun always rises, taxes, death, etc.

I just love hearing about things that EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS!   

Did they mention why their play has gotten worse each year? We all want to know.

W.T.  fizzle

is wrong with you?   

Seriously...are you on anti-depressants?  Should you be?  How do you manage to keep living?

 

Tony White could light it up, but I'm too lazy to check stats.

Agree, and I am pretty sure he is ahead of Ellis.  But with Ellis the team did better (made the tourney and advanced) and had more success in the NBA and just was more of a force out there IMO.

But I could see White being in over Ellis.

Hopefully no one is injured is how I see it.

I don't think fatigue is a factor, they have four days to recover.  Still, they could start prepping for the tourney a bit earlier I suppose.

With UF?s thrashing of bammer the other night, our win over them is now Quad 1. We?re now 8-5 in Q1 games, with at least one more to play win to come.

FIFY 

Per the tweet, the refs were letting them play, for sure.  But it was consistent on both ends.  That's one of the most physical games I've seen.  Maybe THE most physical.

I dunno. John Fulkerson was a FORCE throughout the 60?s.

 

?Conference tourney doesn?t matter? is the conventional wisdom this time of year, but we?ve seen time after time when it DID matter. Now I think it means more to bubble teams than teams like us. But we don?t want to lose to someone like UGA in our first game. That could potentially cost us a whole seed line. If we have to lose, just make sure it?s to someone good.

I've seen zero times when it matters, at least not for Vols

I could see a bad loss in our first game hurting us, but that seems unlikely

 

BDV, forget the first game of the SECT...the committee never considers tournies at all, its too late for them to impact anything

I think we have a shot at a no. 1, but if we don't get it, no. 2 is fine. 

We will %&%^%^ destroy UA, if they even make it that far.

We have had good success against "UAs" so far this year.   

Knecht is inconsistent. He will score 39 one game and 15 the next. King was money about every night.

Good point.  One reason I have King no. 1

So...if we play Arizona, it means we are in the Elite Eight.

In which case, I will take my chances.   

I suggested last week that they were overated, but I didn't know at the time their record was 12-4. I am wary of this game.

But if we could beat bama in Tuscalooser, we can beat Junior in Columbia.  Just so long as we show up with the same effort.

I greatly enjoyed the game Saturday. I watched the first half with my father in his retirement home in N Knoxville, but he fell asleep at half time, so I stopped at a bar called Peyton's Place to watch the second half.

It was so nice being around a bunch of passionate Vol fans.  I don't get that much in bammer.   

Play of the game!