Admitting that I'm not knowledgeable of all that is going on with this team, it seems to me that there are players who are very likely "playing scared".  At least some of the athletes seem to be tentative and afraid of making mistakes.  I believe that some are likely "thinking" instead of just reacting instinctively, and this is never a good thing.

I read an interesting thought somewhere this weekend: What if some of the Ivy League schools decided that they wanted to use NIL to become competitive in recruiting for football and/or basketball?

I would imagine that there are some very wealthy alumni at those schools.

First off, I’m not a fan of NIL for the most part. Having said that, it seems that what Kirby and Nick are afraid of is that they won’t be able to keep up with all of the other teams in NIL money. They are not at all worried about the “haves” and the “have nots”, so long as they can remain on the “haves” side. Hypocrites!!

https://twitter.com/djbarrios00/status/1480282948406583297

Nobody in this forum knows what goes on in practice and in the locker room, including me. Without that knowledge, we cannot really make judgements in playing time and rotation imo.

Having said that, there are issues that are strange for me. Example: JJJ has only shot 10 free throws in 11 games. He is 10/20 from inside the arc and 14/62 from beyond it. He is good defensively and is adequate on the boards (4th, I think), but he’s giving basically nothing on the offensive end of the floor.

Sometimes I just wonder about things.

There are numerous problems with this team at the present time, imo.  I really hope that they can get it back on track.

Spyre Sports?  Word on VQ is that they likely came through with an NIL deal for him.

I haven't done any research on this group, but here's a couple of links: 
https://twitter.com/spyresports/status/1479563240975831044?s=21

https://www.spyresports.com/

Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"

I read on VQ that LSU only had 39 scholarship players available for this game but were still planning to play.  Supposedly they will not have a scholarship QB on the roster tonight.

I don't know if that is accurate because I haven't check the veracity of the post, but if its true - WOW!

College football as the game that most of us know and love is dead. It's not a matter of if the stench of rot becomes unbearable. It's when. I suspect it own't be long. 

I doubt that college basketball will be exempted.  I'm fearful that both sports will drastically change (for the worse) over the next few years.  I really hope that I'm wrong about that.

 ⬆️ 💯

I hear that A&M has a really aggressive NIL policy. Maybe tweet these players and let them know.

Seriously, the barn door is open. It's going to be almost impossible to close it now imo.

https://twitter.com/bapperton063/status/1477864948327927808?s=21

Surprise! Surprise!  Like OU isn't doing the same?  Like all schools don't do this?

I guess the real issue is that schools like A&M and Texas have such deep pockets that most others are going to have trouble keeping pace.

Here's an example: https://www.chron.com/sports/highschool/article/Most-expensive-high-school-football-stadiums-Texas-13145194.php

80 degrees yesterday and models showing 5 to 8 inches of snow projections for my area by tomorrow with a high temperature of 36 and a low of 17.

Uga fans nowhere near as bad as bammers

But like I said, it's a personal choice 

That's an opinion and quite frankly one that I don't share at the present time.

To me, though, it's not about fans. It's about what is best for the Vols. I see no way that another Bama title really hurts UT at all, but I think that UGA winning a NC could really make it even more difficult than it already is to gain ground on them on the recruiting trail.

It's the best of two evils and I'm pulling for the tide.

Top 4 likely would get a Bye. It would create blowouts (no different than what we have now) but yes, I think that given time it could possibly help to spread the recruiting wealth over a wider field.

⬆️⬆️ I agree

I think expanding the playoffs could potentially help spread the recruiting wealth, eventually, but it ain't changing any time soon.

With NIL and transfer portals who knows what will happen.

Anybody but UGA for me. I would prefer that it not be UGA or Bama, but will pull for anyone against UGA. They are, at the present time, my public enemy #1.

For your viewing pleasure. FF to the 1:17:00 mark. The refs literally missed 3 calls in Purdue's favor in the last 4 seconds of regulation. I'm still pissed about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrz3QtKlhqE

I will have to agree to disagree, BDV.

The ball did not hit his leg. 

The foul was questionable and could have gone either way.

The ruling on the clock at the end was by the book.  We can debate whether or not the TO should be given at the point that the player signals it, but that is not the way the rule is written.  The rule stops the clock when the official recognizes the request.  That simply was not an intelligent play in that situation, imo.

Fant could have been called for pulling the ball carrier.....You can push not pull. But UT is always screwed by the refs somehow.

UT should have been up 2-3 TDs on Purdue and never gone to OT. UT is a long way from being top 4th of the conference and so is Heupel's coaching.

I really can't disagree with much of this.

There is a significant problem with the rule in question, imo.  It is possible that the official actually thought that forward progress had been stopped.  I've been in those stripes and it is not an exact science.  The problem, as I see it, is that instant replay is supposedly designed to get it right and overturn calls which were errors.  This particular rule does not allow review to even consider the fact that an error was made and it bit us twice this season.

All that said, I don't think we should ever have been in OT.

As I've said before, this team has exceeded my expectations.  For the first time in a long time, I feel like we could be headed in the right direction.  The problem is that we are miles and miles from our destination. 

Go VOLS!!!!

Their defenders are dropping more than Atari stock!!!!

Nightmare 2nd quarter.  Hooker was off big time in that half.

We probably should have 35 points.

It was a legit hold.  If roles had been reversed and PI was not called, Vol fans would be fuming.

Where was BHH in the second half? ORN had 15 points & 9 rebounds??? Not sure how he had a "bad game"   I turned it on just in time to watch them wilt.  

Yeah, I meant a poor shooting game. ORN was 6/17 shooting and 1/4 from the arc.

Victor Bailey, JJJ, and ORN didn't have good games and there were two starters not on the trip - and still had a chance to win on the road.  I guess if you like moral victories this might be one, but I personally like the real W's.

BDV, I agree on Bailey.