Want some cheap entertainment?
Go over to Rupp Rafters and read the game thread
Clueless, entitled wannabes there

Yes.  I always visit The Rafters and the on3 KSR page after UK losses.

It is always pure gold.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T9NmgDNO0ChB42nzHPmgcdOixXZFgn3p/view?usp=drivesdk

First of all, it was a great evening. Tennessee won. Kentucky lost. Tennessee is responsible for both!

The team that played tonight is a team that can make a run in March. Other players have to contribute offensively. Tonight was a great step forward.

This appears to be a coordinated response by UT and its proxies. Immediately after the leak on Tuesday, we got Donde?s response. Yesterday, we got the lawsuit. And today, DW?s statement. I would expect more news tomorrow. Maybe more states joining in the lawsuit?

I agree. They knew this was coming, I think. The draft of Donde?s letter has probably been written for a while. I believe that the Tennessee/Virginia response was planned well before the Forde and NYT leaks yesterday.

17-3 actually and they obviously should be rted. You forgot to mention they beat UT and UK....AT HOME.

Whatever Barnes inconsistency is, Calipari's is worse, and in baseketball, in case you have not been paying attention, it happens literally to EVERYONE.  They has not been an undefeated NCAA champ since Indiana in 1975.

My take...USC IS good, but is also playing out of their mind, and I don't think they can sustain it. 

USC was good enough to win, but I think that this team did a lot to gift them this W.
?. only 9 made FGs in the second half (I was wrong in my post above - DK made all but 2 of the Tennessee FGs after the 17:40 mark of the second half, even though he didn?t have a FG until 2:56 left in the game)
?. 12/20 FTs
?. at least 10 missed shots inside 4 feet
?. 5/21 from the 3 point arc
?. two 7+ minute droughts without a FG in the second half
?. some questionable coaching moves imo (not having a big in the game when Shack was called for 2 fouls and SV not playing the last 4+ minutes of the game are 2 examples)

Give USC credit, they won. Tennessee did a lot to help them, though.

https://x.com/thefieldof68/status/1752865941614911689?s=46&t=nz6CBvyAtXmX_stjSCEfAA

https://x.com/channel_tn_/status/1752850480823177271?s=46&t=nz6CBvyAtXmX_stjSCEfAA

In the second half, Tennessee had a total of 2 FGs from someone not named Dalton Knecht! 

https://www.on3.com/news/did-the-ncaa-pick-a-fight-with-tennessee-that-it-cant-win/
That is a good read if you have access.

https://x.com/latekickjosh/status/1752518350754750511?s=46&t=nz6CBvyAtXmX_stjSCEfAA

They did an amazing job of creating and exploiting mismatches and moving the ball to find open looks. Not many of their 3 point shots in the second half were really contested.

This Tennessee team plays physical D, but didn?t react well to the physicality of USC. It cost the team rebounds. At least some of the missed shots were because of physical D from USC imo. I?m not saying that they play dirty, they just played stronger.

Missed FTs were huge also. USC knocked them down and Tennessee didn?t.

I?ve said it before, but other players are going to have to step up offensively for this team to be a factor in the SEC race and in March. DK cannot carry the team offensively all by himself.

They are very effectively using ball screens to put Tennessee in mismatches. That has obvious offensive advantages but is also helping them on the offensive glass.

Offensively, the team missed a bunch of easy shots and still needs someone other than DK to step up.

Just my $0.02 worth.

The New York Times is supposedly reporting that at least one of the issues involved Nico being flown from California to Knoxville by a booster (aboard a private plane).

Chancellor Plowman responds:







Me thinks she is a bit upset with the NCAA's lack of CLARITY and multiple rule changes in the NIL landscape

"factually untrue"
"Intellectually dishonest"

Seems to be more than a bit. Good for her!

The NCAA keeps CHANGING the rules, AFTER the fact and then investigation OLD actions to the NEW rules - that is what the did with FSU and to the UNC receiver last year

No argument from me, because I don?t have that information.

I do find it odd that FSU didn?t fight the issue, though.

According to Hubbs, the NCAA has been on campus for 6 months interviewing athletes.

As a comparison, FSU recently negotiated and agreed to a set of sanctions with the NCAA relating to an NIL violation where an assistant coach provided a portal recruit with transportation to an off-campus meeting with an NIL representative (booster). The sanctions were: 2 years of probation, a 2 year show cause for the assistant coach (he was not relieved of his duties, as I understand it), 3 year disassociation from the booster, 1 year dissociation from the collective, $5k fine plus 1% of the football budget, 5% reduction in scholarships over the 2 year probation, reduction in official visits in 2023/24, reduction in recruiting communication.

I?m not suggesting that anything like this happened at Tennessee. This is only one case that was recently investigated and resolved. This NIL landscape is not without rules, most of which we have no knowledge. It seems that the NCAA has implemented rules to make certain that the universities and the collectives are separate entities with completely different agendas (even though everyone with a pulse knows that is not/was not ever true).

I think JJJ has been playing hurt the entire 9 years he's been here.

Hubbs was speculating that JJJ might currently be playing with an undisclosed injury. If so, he should probably be benched until he recovers. Mashack is more than capable of filling his role.

I?ve wondered about that. He?s not the same as he was earlier in the season.

If he is hurt, he?s playing a really high number of minutes for an injured player. I agree about Mashack.

JJJ in January: 7 games)

300 minutes
11/ 42 FG - 26%
9/21 2pt FG - 43%
2/21 3pt FG - 9.5%
3/5 FT - 60%
42 rebounds
15 assists
2 blocks
8 steals
14 personal fouls
6 TO
27 points

This team needs more from him offensively.

I was not really excited when he decided to return, but he proved me wrong in the early part of the season. The team needs him to get back to that level. He is capable.

His final numbers don't pop off the page, but Estrella gave us some solid minutes tonight. We're going to need him down the stretch- because the refs seem to have it out for Awaka, who just can't stay on the floor. He seemingly gets whistled for two fouls just for walking over to the scorer's table to check in.

I agree. I think this kid could be good in the future, hopefully the very near future.

The technical came with 1:17 left in the first half. Vandy led until the 14:27 point in the second half. DK scored 12 straight Tennessee points in that stretch.

The half was ugly because DK was not "on".

This team MUST be able to get scoring from others if they are going to have success in March, imo.

Watch JJJ run away from the basket on the play. Even if DK shoots it, JJJ is in no position to rebound a miss. Can anyone explain what JJJ was thinking here?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gop49gx3GYt5WUczEcslNwV70cX6eFL8/view?usp=drivesdk

You forgot to add the little tidbit that it was BYU that requested them to be taken off. They said it was not in line with their standards of conduct. Dang those Mormons anyhow.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11XolOOQajJqYZDi6AR9mSvE2RKX-jTxY/view?usp=drivesdk

There is an unwritten rule in the Big 12 that addresses this. It is likely that the BYU folks requested the shirts be removed to avoid the officials penalizing the team.

Plus the 12 team playoff has watered it down. In what world is a 10-12th ranked proven they deserve to play for a title.

Denver Broncos (1997), Baltimore Ravens (2000), Pittsburgh Steelers (2005), New York Giants (2007), Green Bay Packers (2010), and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2020) all say hello.

We get it. You don?t like the 12 team playoff. I love the idea and the format.

I think that if you can defend the drive with the on-ball defender (without having to have a lot of help defenders), UK is very beatable. You also have to get back to prevent the transition basket. They don?t seem to like the physical game, either.

They can absolutely light it up from the arc, though, if they are open.