Archive for January, 2009

In case you hadn’t heard, a “College Football Playoff Act ” has been proposed in Congress.  Nice to see that Congress is focused on what really matters. Fortunately, my friends at Hugging Harold Reynolds have taken a little look at the statements surrounding this proposal.

Yesterday, Texas Congressman Joe Barton (R-Ennis/Arlington) issued the following statement after introducing the College Football Playoff Act of 2009. Because it is riddle with political jargonese, HHR has translated so that the average sports fan can comprehend…

• via: Hugging Harold Reynolds: Rep. Barton Issues Statement on College Football Playoff Act of 2009; HHR Translates.

Sweet translation, give it a look…

Does this post really need any other name?

When Meeks had 26 and Kentucky had a 41-37 halftime lead, I kept telling myself and by friends watching the game with me from the student section that he was going to have to cool off eventually. At some point his legs would away and his shot would stop falling. Or maybe, just maybe, we’d come out and play lockdown defense and at least get up in the tight blue Nike #23 jersey Meeks was wearing.

Shows what I know…

What else could Tennessee have done?

First off, mad props to Mr. Meeks. Dude cemented himself into all that Kentucky lore, history and tradition with his performance, one that many Wildcat fans believe is the start of their ascension back to national relevancy and the top of the SEC. I hate Kentucky basketball in the same category as the Florida-Alabama-Georgia football triumvirate of hate, but you have to tip your hat to the guy for scoring 54 points. On the road. On ESPN.

After dwelling on Tuesday night, thoughts filled with visions of Meeks draining jumpers from all over TBA, I have nothing. I mean, what can you do? The best comparison I have is to when LeBron James scored 29 of the Cavaliers’ last 30 points in a playoff win in Detroit. What were the Pistons to do to stop the guy? Sometimes in the game of basketball no defense (which many argue is what the Vols play) can stop a single player from scoring at will. What can you do?

I know, Jodie Meeks is no LeBron James. Granted. But I didn’t think Tennessee’s defense was all that awful Tuesday night. OK, any time some guy on the other team hangs 54 on you in your own gym your defense is atrocious, yes, but I thought it was better than on Dionte Christmas in the Temple debacle and last week against Gonzaga.

Once you get past the lingering feelings of shock and “Did that really just happen?” you feel terribly embarrassed. The Vols were torched by Christmas, by Belmont’s Alex Renfroe, Kansas’ Sherron Collins, Gonzaga’s Matt Bouldin. But none of those guys scored 54 freakin’ points. In Thompson-Boling. In the hoops equivalent of the Alabama game. And you think I/you are embarrassed? Think about the players.

Give Tyler some help!

Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism need help. Both those guys seem to me to be doing everything they possibly can. I see effort from the rest of the guys, and I’m not going to question their heart. But let’s just say the basketball IQ on this Tennessee team is lacking – big-time. Some would say it has been for a couple years now and Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith were able to bail Tennessee out with their shooting. I have lamented the poor defensive communication already. This team has several glaring weaknesses, and the most troubling aspect of all this is that Tennessee’s been exposed a number of times.

Honestly, I don’t know what to think or expect with this team anymore. The rate of opposing guards setting career-highs is very alarming, and as down as everyone says the SEC is this season, these guys have all got to be eagerly awaiting their shot at Tennessee: South Carolina’s Devan Downey twice (Saturday night is Round 1), Memphis State’s Antonio Anderson and Tyreke Evans, LSU’s Marcus Thornton, Florida’s Nick Calathes twice, Arkansas’ Courtney Fortson and Stefan Welsh, Auburn’s DeWayne Reed, and Alabama’s Ronald Steele and Senario Hillman.

Oh, and Tennessee plays Meeks and Kentucky again. In Rupp. February 20th.

So now what? The first positive that came to mind is that Tennessee’s struggles this season will likely keep the fringe basketball fans in the UT student population from coming to any games other than Memphis or Florida. This of course means less of the whole waiting two hours in the cold part of going to games. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for that and it’s enjoyable and part of the whole experience – but let’s be reasonable.

For me, I’m going to take the approach I took during football season: LOW EXPECTATIONS. Why? I honestly had high hopes for this season. I had high hopes for the Gonzaga and Kentucky games, and left frustrated and disappointed each time. Considering the football season we all just experienced – yes, I know we’re all excited now for the future and all – I think that’s a great way to handle the frustration and losses that are still likely to come unfortunately.

I’m also not worried at all right now about the NCAA Tournament, the Bubble or any of that. It’s still mid-January and there’s 15 games left on the year. Taking it just one game at a time. As Ghost over at 3SIB said yesterday, just leave it to Bruce Pearl. This would be a good idea…

– … to me.

Images Courtesy of: Amy Smotherman Burgess / Knoxville News-Sentinel

Final Statistics:  Kentucky 90 • Tennessee 72

Postgame:  Quotes • Box Score

Well, so much for being optimistic.  Despite their best efforts, the Tennessee Volunteers were whipped by the Kentucky Wildcats 90-72 last night.  Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Jodie Meeks whipped the BasketVols—his school-record 54 points building a wall that the Vols had no hope of overcoming.  ESPN’s SportsCenter crew rather pointedly noted, Meeks was unstoppable, putting on an absolute clinic in front of the 20,474 in attendance at the Tommy Bowl.  Here are the highlights courtesy of ESPN.com:

Kentucky Bests Tennessee | ESPN.com

As if watching Meeks break Dan Issel’s 39 year-old single-game scoring record wasn’t enough, the Vols did not exactly do themselves any favors.  The Vols only shot 37.9 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from behind the arc.  On top of Meeks’ display and the Wildcats’ 56.6 percent shooting percentage, Kentucky piled it on by hitting 12 of 19 three point shots (63.2 percent), and hitting 90 percent of their free-throws.

After trailing by four at the half, Tennessee cut the deficit to only two points early in the second period.  Led by Meeks, however, Kentucky responded by stretching its legs and jumping out to a 15-point lead.  Tennessee refused to go quietly, however, cutting Kentucky’s lead down to 8 points, 71-64, with 6:52 remaining in the game.  That push by the Orange quickly faded, however, as the Vols scored only one point to Kentucky’s nine over the next 3 minutes.  From there, Kentucky glided on home to take the Victory, and the lead in the SEC East.

Chism Looks on in Disappointment

After the game Coach Pearl pointed to a lack of confidence as a key to the Vols poor showing, especially when it came to defensive play at guard, who at times appeared to be standing still Kentucky pushed the ball up.

Kentucky was clearly the better team, and we thought we could beat them if we played well. Our guys wanted this one, and they worked hard for it.  We play our best when everybody contributes, but that was not happening tonight.

— Coach Bruce Pearl Commenting on the Loss to Kentucky

Still, there were bright spots, as Tennessee led in turnovers 15 to 6, but only managed a total of 16 points of of those turnovers.

On the whole, Tennessee’s defense did not look as bad as its offense.  Again, the BasketVols found themselves vexed by another bout with “inconsistent inconsistency.”  Once again, the men in Orange will have to sit down and try to figure out how to bridge the gap between valiant effort and often excellent individual play (Tyler Smith 19 points, 2 rebounds • Wayne Chism 19 points, 9 rebounds , Bobby Maze 11 points, 2 rebounds), and the mystical nirvana of playing a complete game as a team.  It would also be nice to finally figure out the answer to why the guard play has been so disappointing.

With this loss, Tennessee falls to 10-5 on the season and 1-1 in SEC play.  Up next the Vols face the 12-1 (1-0 SEC) South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday at 6:00pm at the Tommy Bowl.

Needless to say, the Vols will be focused on exacting a little revenge when they meet the Wildcats again on 21 February, at Rupp Arena.  Hopefully, they will be ready to go then.

To reach that point, however, the Vols have a long way to go…

– Go Figure …

Image Courtesy of: KNS / Amy Smotherman Burgess

Let’s start the day out with a little good news…

Congratulations to Lane and Layla Kiffin on the birth of their son, Monte Knox Kiffin, yesterday.  According to the KNS, the proud parents have already decided to call the newest member of the family “Knox.”  By all accounts both baby and mom are doing well.

Has kind of a nice ring doesn’t it—they ought to name a county after him, or something…

In all seriousness, best wishes to the Kiffins on their new arrival and Godspeed to Layla as she recovers from the delivery.

– Go Figure …

Oh, they may look harmless, but you have to be careful…

Beware!!!

Yes friends and neighbors, tonight the Kentucky Wildcats (NR), come into the Tommy Bowl to take on the Tennessee Volunteers (15 AP / 24 USA Today) in what is sure to be another serious challenge for Bruce and the Barbarians.

Like the BasketVols, Kentucky has struggled with inconsistency since the start of the season.  Though the Wildcats are currently 12-4 on the season (1-0 SEC), two of their losses were against far-from-impressive teams:  VMI and Miami.  That said, the boys in blue have appeared to rally lately, barely losing to Louisville and defeating Vanderbilt in a 70-60 win last Saturday.  Given the heat that Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie has felt since the start of last season, a win tonight is a must for the Cats.

Billy Clyde Gillispie in all his Glory!

The Vols, on the other hand, are struggling to reign in their defensive woes (currently 298th … that’s right 298th in scoring defense) and find some offensive consistency (shooting an average of 45.5 from the field and 30.8 from behind the 3-point arc).  Kentucky, however, has always been Tennessee’s biggest rival in basketball, and the Vols should have no problems getting up for all that the Wildcats have to dish-out.  My question from yesterday, however, stands: will Tennessee’s desire, hustle, and tenacity be enough to win the day?

Well, one way or the other, we’ll find out tonight at 9:00.

For a more in-depth preview and breakdown of tonight’s game, check out what RBK has to say over at the BruceBall Blog, as well as Joel’s thought’s at Rocky Top Talk.

The game will air tonight on ESPN and ESPN360.com (where available). As always, the game will also be broadcast by the Vol Network through its broadcast affiliate stations, as well as via the live internet stream available through UT Sports.com, and via the XM Satellite Radio Channels 199 (Tennessee) and 200 (Kentucky).

Barring incident and time permitting, I will be joining in the Live Game Thread over at Rocky Top Talk, where everyone is always welcome to join in and either celebrate or commiserate throughout the game.

Go Vols, Beat the Wildcats!

– Go Figure …

Image Courtesy of: Smash South Sports / HeyBC

Apparently Steve Spurrier is just not getting along with the folks in Georgia.

One of the state of Georgia’s premier prep football programs has forbidden Steve Spurrier and South Carolina from recruiting future prospective student athletes …

* * * * *

… Franklin Stephens, spoke with Spurrier late on Sunday and with assistant coach Shane Beamer on Friday about the Gamecocks collective coaching decision. It got heated to say the least acknowledged Stephens …

* * * * *

… The news hit Knoxville fast, and just as fast as it did, it found new Tennessee D-Coordinator Monte Kiffin tearing up the interstate to Tucker. Davis who was still upset, was surprised to see Kiffin at his home

• HT to / via: Scout.com: Spurrier – South Carolina Now Banned

Nice to see that the Full Monte was there to jump-in the gap…

I really have no idea why I am posting this insanely off-topic video, but, like Leeroy Jenkins, sometimes we all rush into things without thinking them through properly.

Besides, it’s just funny (in an inexplicably stupid sort of way)…

YouTube – THIS IS SPARTA!!! (music video).

I wonder if maybe the Vols could use this to get pumped up before games?  Yeah, probably not…

The linked videos at the end are equally as ridiculous.