Archive for February, 2009

Just a quick link or two that stood out to me…

Fred White does sports talk, and chats with VJ

First of all, anyone who remembers watching former Vol DB Fred “The Deuce” White from 1996-99 will be pleased to hear that Fred now has his own radio show courtesy of 1180 WVLZ in Knoxville, the same station that brings you Basilio and other great sports talk radio. The guys over at Vol Junkies recently got the chance to sit down and chat with Fred about his new show and get a few insights from the big man. Check out the interview over at Vol Junkies, and you can check out Fred’s show at 1180 am on your radio dial or in a live web stream from the WVLZ website.

Brian Butler’s tale gets even more twisted

RTT’s Hooper takes an interesting look at all of the issues surrounding the Tennessee recruit Bryce Brown’s “handler,” Brian Butler, on the heels of the announcement that the NCAA will be investigating Butler’s involvement the recruiting of high school athletes (not an investigation of any program in particular, but rather one of Butler and his Potential Players recruiting service).  It’s an interesting read, discussing the thorny path that high school handlers must walk, and the possible implications it can have for both recruits and the programs recruiting them.  Oh it’s a tangled web we weave…

MoonDog gets a facelift

In case you hadn’t noticed, the venerable and all-knowing MoonDog has gotten a facelift.  Well, at least his site has.  Slide on over and check out the new look for his prognosticating and pontification portal, MoonDogSports.com, which is pretty snazzy looking if you ask me (of course I did help a little with the makeover, so I suppose I’m biased).

Anyway…

Hopefully, I will get a chance to come up for air soon, and can continue on with my series looking into the impact of the nation’s economic woes on major athletics entitled: “The Cost of Sports.”  I also hope to simply get back to my standard fare of half-baked and poorly executed commentary on Tennessee sports.  Until then, however, all I can say is that I am trying my best and hope to be back in the saddle … someday.

– So it goes …

Check out the Full Poll Results at Garnet and Black Attack!

Week 8

Through 26 February 2009

Well, I’m running behind as usual, but moving purposefully.  The teams of the SEC (with the exception of LSU, Georgia, and Arkansas who have pretty much landed where they will stay) are engaged in a slugfest to determine who gets the leftovers.  Bearing this in mind here’s my ballot for this week’s SEC Basketball Power Poll.  As always, you can see the final poll results which will be posted over at Garnet and Black Attack Thursday-ish.

Anyway, here’s my ballot for this first week in the SEC Basketball Power Poll, along with a feeble attempt at explaining why I’m such a moron.

In all its radiant glory:

So there you have it, my thoughts on the state of SEC Basketball for this week.

The Rest of the Power Poll

Now that you have wasted your time looking at my ballot, go check out what everybody else is saying over at Garnet and Black Attack, where the final poll results will be posted later tonight or early tomorrow.

– So it Goes …

Apparently, University of Tennessee students are getting a bit restless these days when it comes to the BasketVols—so restless, in fact, that they’ve decided en masse not to come to the games at all, and have chosen to stay home and take naps (or something along those lines).

According to Basilio only 312 students showed up for the Vols’ game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at the Tommy Bowl (a/k/a Thompson-Boling Arena).  Tennessee currently has nearly 30,000 students, so that adds up to around 1% of the total students bothered to come to the game.  Now admittedly, that game was played on Valentines Day, and maybe “love” was in the air, but only 312 students?  I know from my time on the Hill, there are usually plenty of undergraduates who don’t have dates at any given time (or ever, in the case of some folks).  Unlike football, students don’t have to get a ticket, and need only provide a valid student ID to get into the games, so the cost and annoyance argument is out the door.  Given the fact that students came in throngs last year, it appears that the students have simply gotten fickle and expect a little more from the program than what they are currently receiving.

So why have the students seemingly given up on this team?

I was a student at the University of Tennessee from 1994-1998.  When I arrived on campus as a freshman, the Vols were coming off their worst season in the history of the school.  The 1993-94 Vols won a grand total of 5 games under, then, coach Wade Houston who apparently did not even understand the rules of basketball.  Thus, my expectations were low when the 1994-95 season rolled around, despite the fact that Tennessee had a new head coach, Kevin O’Neill.  Still, I can say with conviction that I attended every home game that season and watched the Vols claw their way to an 11-16 record.

Great basketball, it was not.  Still, I went nonetheless.

Now I am not going to call into question the loyalties of the student body as a whole—we each make our own choices and decide what is important to us personally.  I suppose, given the lengths to which I have gone as a fan of the Big Orange (including running the Gate), I am one of those fans that you can count on to show up anytime the real Gate 21 (into Neyland Stadium) or the doors of the Tommy Bowl are open.  I suppose I am one of those nut-jobs who blindly supports the Vols regardless of the circumstances (this is not entirely true but, for the purposes of this article, it fits).  I guess that is why I always attended the games when I was a student.

Either way, only 312 students at the game is pretty slim pickings, and I am pretty sure — at a minimum — that out of the tens of thousands of students at UT, there are more than 312 students who, like me, are certifiable head-cases when it comes to supporting the Vols.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I realize that I have hardly been doing a very good job of keeping up with things.  No, I am not done with my series on the Cost of Sports.  Yes, I do intend to get something of substance up in the near future.  It’s just been busy lately, to say the least.  Thus, I am—as always—a little behind the curve.  Thus, if anyone out there would be interested in doing a little writing, shoot me an email and we can talk.  I’ll do my best to get caught up as soon as possible.

In the meantime, here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports College BasketBlog Poll hosted by — as you might imagine — CBS Sports.

Week 3

Through 23 February 2009

Well, after the past week in the world of college basketball, there have been a few major changes in my BasketBlog Poll ballot.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here’s my ballot:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Pittsburgh	2
2	Oklahoma	–
3	Connecticut	2
4	Memphis	3
5	Villanova	3
6	Michigan St.	–
7	North Carolina	3
8	Missouri	2
9	Clemson	8
10	Gonzaga	1
11	Marquette	–
12	Louisville	–
13	Wake Forest	8
14	Illinois	–
15	Duke	1
16	Purdue	1
17	Arizona St.	1
18	Xavier	5
19	Louisiana St.	–
20	Texas	1
	Kansas	4
22	UCLA	NR
23	South Carolina	1
24	California	1
25	Utah	NR
Last week’s ballot

Dropped Out: Dayton (#20), Butler (#24)

Having taken the time to consider my feeble attempt at ranking the powers in college basketball, feel free to try and convince me that I am wrong — which is part of the way the BlogPoll is supposed to work.  I promise that I will consider all comments.

As for the rest of the BlogPoll, well, you can check out how other bloggers voted, how your team fared across the blogosphere, and view the weekly results each week over at CBS Sports (at least I think that’s how it’s supposed to work…)

Oh yeah, the BasketVols also lost to the Kentucky Wildcats over the weekend.  More on that as soon as I can…

– So it goes…

This headline is just too good to pass up:

“Lane Kiffin sets fire to Alabama scoreboard.  Probably.”

Hmm... isn't this getting a little out of hand?

No?  Maybe?  Well, probably.  After all, these days he’s pretty much the culprit behind everything from recruiting violations to the crappy picture quality on Raycom basketball games…

• via: The Godfrey Show

Well, it looks like Kiff has everyone’s attention…

Image Courtesy of: al.com / Alabama Beat Blog

Earlier this year, I was somewhat miffed at the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s Mike Griffith over his early-season criticisms of the BasketVols.  I felt that those criticisms—which were as candid as they were brutal—were misplaced.  At the time I felt that Griffith was premature in his biting critique of the Vols’ play.  I felt that the, then, 6-1 and No 10 ranked BasketVols were still just beginning to warm up.  I felt that he was putting the cart before the horse.

I take that back…

As was seen in the Vols’ utterly disappointing 81-65 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels, if anything, Griffith might have actually been a little too kind to the Vols when he assessed their performance back in December.  Lately, it has seemed that the Vols have been sliding further and further as the season progresses, raising concerns about where (or whether) this team will land in the NCAA Tournament.

After all, with their game against the Rebels presenting a chance to take control of the SEC East, there was plenty to play for…

Either way, the Tennessee Volunteers now find themselves sitting at 16-9 / 7-4 with games at Kentucky, at Florida, and at South Carolina in the next two weeks.  This after losing two of their last four games (Auburn being the other recent loss).  In terms of the Vols hopes of winning the SEC East, those are not exactly great odds.

What’s more, Mississippi didn’t just get lucky down the stretch, they beat the Vols in all of the four key areas of the game:

But enough of the doom and gloom.  The good news is that, miraculously, Tennessee is still tied for first place in the SEC East—again with Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina.  Thus, the importance of each win in the last five games of the season is amplified.  So there is a real chance for Tennessee to stretch its legs quickly and pull away from the pack.  Of course, each loss is equally as devastating in terms of conference standing. The peculiar thing is that, despite Tennessee having been mightily swatted by Kentucky—and in particular Jodie Meeks—in January, the Vols and the Wildcats actually matchup fairly evenly from a statistical perspective. As the chart below shows, Tennessee has been on a slight decline in the four key factors, but have—all things considered—held reasonably steady throughout conference play.

Of course, given the Vols’ inconsistencies over the last month, it remains to be seen whether they can manage to hold the line and man-up against Kentucky this Saturday.

I am sure Mike Griffith will be watching…

– So it goes…

Charts / Stats Courtesy of: StatSheet.com

Here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports College BasketBlog Poll hosted by — as you might imagine — CBS Sports.

Week 2

Through 15 February 2009

My what a mess we have now.  After the past weekend in the world of college basketball, the changes are many in my BasketBlog Poll ballot for this week.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here’s my ballot:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Connecticut	–
2	Oklahoma	–
3	Pittsburgh	–
4	North Carolina	–
5	Wake Forest	–
6	Michigan St.	3
7	Memphis	6
8	Villanova	7
9	Gonzaga	7
10	Missouri	7
11	Marquette	5
12	Louisville	4
13	Xavier	3
14	Illinois	6
15	Purdue	3
16	Duke	9
17	Clemson	5
18	Arizona St.	4
19	Louisiana St.	NR
20	Dayton	NR
	Texas	NR
22	South Carolina	NR
23	California	NR
24	Butler	10
25	Kansas	4
Last week’s ballot

Dropped Out: UCLA (#11), Syracuse (#19), Minnesota (#23), Ohio St. (#24), Utah (#25)

Having taken the time to consider my feeble attempt at ranking the powers in college basketball, feel free to try and convince me that I am wrong — which is part of the way the BlogPoll is supposed to work.  I promise that I will consider all comments.

As for the rest of the BlogPoll, well, you can check out how other bloggers voted, how your team fared across the blogosphere, and view the weekly results each week over at CBS Sports (at least I think that’s how it’s supposed to work…)

– So it goes…

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