That was another terrible loss last night. Not nearly as bad as losing to a 1-9 AP team, but still bad. Despite the ESPN2 crew's attempts to build them up, Charleston has managed to squeak out some close wins against teams ranked 150 or worse in the RPI. Their only game against a team in the RPI top 100 was a loss. It's not a terrible team; just not as good as last year.
This Tennessee team can look really good at times, but then they go through stretches where they have absolutely zero basketball IQ. Too many guys on the court take crazy dumb shots and make crazy dumb decisions. Our post game tends to disappear at crucial times -- which I was afraid of, but I really figured that would come in SEC play.
This team has shown its potential, but unless it grows up, the SEC is going to be brutal.
Dwight Miller really showed out in the first half-- 13 points and 6 rebounds in 10 minutes of play. Then in the second half it was like he wasn't there . . . because he wasn't. He played one 3 minute stretch, got a rebound, and then a 20 second stretch later. 3.5 minutes. During his time on the floor in the 2nd half, we had two missed shots and two turnovers and then he went back to the bench. Sub patterns were something I never understood with Bruce Pearl and Tony Jones, and it seems I'm not going to understand them with Cuonzo either.
I think ultimately this will be a better loss than Oakland or Peay, but it stinks to have to think about which of your losses to mid- and low-major teams are the worst.
