Happy Thursday:
Congratulations Tennessee: 
They were among the top 19 teams voted into the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday according to David Warlock with the NCAA. This means that the job of putting brackets together has already begun. Warlock said while 19 teams were voted in 42 other teams are currently under consideration for 17 spots. Glad the Vols are easily in the tournament.
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When Will They Put The Brackets To Bed? Usually everything gets finalized Friday night with some adjustments done on Saturday. Then on Sunday it's ironing out the fine points.
Do The Vols Need To Win In Nashville? YES! At least two games if you want to get a #1 seed. Again I'm operating under the supposition that Tennessee needs to win 2 since this would give the committee zero wiggle room to insert UNC over the Vols on that Sunday. Usually the committee doesn't account for what happens on Sunday in the power leagues.
Will Tennessee Expand Their Bench This Weekend? One thought I hear is that you might see more Freddie and Estrella at least in the first round game along with 10-15 minutes of Gainey. Neither Dalton nor ZZ figures to play anywhere near 40 minutes per game. The expectation is that ZZ will play 40 minutes in the NCAA Tournament after the first round while DK will play 34-36 when it gets real.
Will Tennessee Run Things For Vesco? This is very possible. Barnes has spoken about hoping to help in Vesco rediscovering himself. It should be pointed out that Tennessee frequently tries to get Vesco involved and he refuses to shoot. It's really confounding.
Get Ready For A Steady Diet Of Jimmy Dykes This Weekend: Coach Hypes is slated to call every Tennessee game this weekend as long as the Vols last.
Dykes has called the following Tennessee games this season.
@UNC, Geo Southern (why?), Florida, Alabama, A&M, Arkansas, A&M, Auburn, South Carolina. He's done 9 of 31 Tennessee games. The good news is he won't do any NCAA Tournament games.
Today's Tough Question ... The NCAA Tournament Counts As _____ Percentage Of Rick Barnes Final Grade:
It's sad that it's come down to this for Rick Barnes and the way he'll be judged by this fan base. Can you imagine if this team goes out in the first weekend? How angry would this fan base be with a coach that just won an outright SEC Championship in one of the more entertaining seasons in school history? What about if this team gets beat in the Sweet 16? Is that going to cut it with this fan base? So back to the original question ... If you're filling the letter grade for Barnes in 2023-2024, how much does the NCAA Tournament count?
30 Percent
35 Percent
40 Percent
45 Percent
50 Percent
55 Percent
60 Percent
MORE ...
I have Barnes as an A+ going into the NCAA Tournament. The Vols are on track to be a #1 seed after winning an outright title in the mighty SEC.
We'll talk about this on the air today ...
I posed the following question to Watson Brown On Wednesday: Is It Fair That Up To 75 Percent Of Rick Barnes' Grade Is The NCAA Tournament?
'It's fair. It's the way this sport has become. Football will get there too. Baseball is that way. In football you just can't lose early and get there,' Brown said.
Watson Brown On Why Would Barnes Evoke Monday's Final As The Goal For The Vols? 'He knows everybody else is saying it. I think he's smart. Everybody else is saying it. I would do the same thing. Easy thing for me to say in my chair. They won the SEC outright. This team is older,' Brown said.
Watson Brown On Proposed Rules Changes For 2024 College Football:
Two-minute Warning In Each Half:
'I don't like it. Why change? This isn't a health rule like some are. Why would college coaches want this? I think it's 100 percent a money deal. I'm a traditionalist,' Brown said.
'I want to speed games up for health. The pace issues in college football is making the games longer. Why are college games so long? They're too long already ... Now we're going to add a couple more timeouts? Why?'
Uniform Violation: The proposal is first they take timeouts away. If no timeouts are left it's a 5 yard penalty.
'They've done this before. Knee pads above knees. Mouth pieces, etc. This is up to coaches and trainers. How could officials have time to do this,' Brown said.
Helmet communications: Technology would shut off with 15 seconds left on the play clock.
'This has belonged in the game for decades. All the time spent on signals is really silly. Why hasn't this happened until now? It was about money. This shows me the power schools are flexing to make the game better,' Brown said.
Helmet Communications Impact On Heupel Football: 'I hear people say that this will speed Tennessee up and I'm not sure how. If anything it might slow things down. Because the OC will feel tempted to give a guy like Nico advice on certain plays,' Brown said.
Horse Collar Tackle penalty A 15 yard penalty for a horsecollar in the tackle box. This change would outlaw horsecollar tackles all over the field.
'You can really hurt somebody with that type of tackle. That's every bit as dangerous as a face mask. Imagine how it feels to be tackled like this,' Brown said.
Tony Jones On Dalton Knecht: 'I've always called him a lottery pick. He's athletic. He scored at all 3 levels. He can get it when you need it. He's a winner and bucket getter. I've gotten to know him. We text each other. I shared with Jim about my brother Bill and his impact on me. He shared with me that it was his father. And how his father texted him. He's grounded and approachable. I think the Vols are winning the SEC Tournament and they have all the ingredients to win it all,' Jones said.
Tony Jones On If Knecht Can Become A Household Name In Tourney: 'Dalton is already a household name. I saw today where Mad Dog Russo is picking Tennessee to win it all. Knecht is already there. I don't think he needs to do anything in the tournament. He needs to relax and play his game,' Jones said.
Jones Said The Vols Will Go To The Final Four If ___: 'If their bench contributes. 5 points off the bench won't cut it the deeper you go. Plus Vescovi needs to join the party. He has to make open shots,' Jones said.
One more day and we'll have Tennessee hoops and baseball within a few hours of each other. Life is grand ...
ICYMI: Highlights from Monday's Blog Jerry Palm has the Vols as a #1 seed in his latest survey. He has the Vols heading west where they'll be placed with Arizona.
The Vols are set up comfortably to either be the 4th #1 seed or the first #2 seed. Either is a solid option, but the Vols would want to be a #1. I'll share below the reasons why.
Comparing Tennessee & UNC The Vols and Tar Heels are going to battle it out for the final #1 seed on the board. With Arizona losing over the weekend, they appear out of it and will be the #2 seed in the West. This means that either Tennessee or UNC will be the #1 seed in the West. Let's drill down from here ...
Vols are 24-7. Net 5. Ken Pom 5. SOR (Strength Of Record, Huge Metric) #5. KPI (Team sheet used by Committee similar to Ken Pom) #3. Torvik #6. SOS (strength of schedule) #9. Quad One 7-6. Quad One A (games vs best of the best top of bracket teams) 6-3. Quad 2 6-1. Quad 3 6-0. Quad 4 5-0. Road & Neutral 10-5.
UNC Is 25-6. Net 7. Ken Pom 8. SOR #4. KPI #5. Torvik #8. SOS #25. Quad One 7-4. Quad One A 4-2. Quad 2 6-2. Quad 3 7-0. Road and Neutral 11-5.
Other Considerations: Carolina Beat Tennessee by 8 at home on 11/29. The Vols called a timeout to run a play to get a 3 ball to make it look closer.
The Weekend Had To Close The Gap Between Tennessee & UNC: The Vols were pretty far ahead coming into Saturday. Tennessee losing to Kentucky hurt. As did Florida losing to Vandy thus falling from Quad One. Plus UNC beating Duke is huge for the Heels case.
If Vols Are A #2 Seed: Dallas From Knoxville - 840 Miles
Detroit From Knoxville - 510 Miles
Boston From Knoxville - 900 Miles
If the Vols are a #2 seed, they will go to one of these sites. They would be the #1 #2 seed, meaning they couldn't be put with the site of the #1 seed. That right now is Purdue in Detroit. This leaves Boston or Dallas. Both of these are decent distances. It seems to me that Tennessee would rather play Houston in Dallas as #2 seed than face UConn in Boston. UConn in Boston sounds like a great way to get put out of the tournament. Who is going to beat UConn in Boston? That sounds highly unfair. Looking at this is why, if you're the Vols, you really want to get a #1 seed and get grouped with Arizona.
The Advantage Of Being A #1 Seed For Vols: First round you draw a walkover. 16's are getting better, but you have a 99.9 percent chance to win as a #1 seed. Your second round is versus an 8 or 9 seed which is formidable. The Round of 16 is where you really feel an advantage. As a #1 you're going to see either a 4-13 or 5-12 matchup, which many years can mean beating some Cinderella #12 or #13 to get to the Elite 8. And this is a HUGE advantage over being a #2 seed where you have to see either a #3, #6, or a #11. And keep in mind that a few mid major final four teams were #11 seeds in recent years. One of the things that's hurt Rick Barnes at Texas and Tennessee is failing to land on the #1 line when he's had an opportunity. It's just a MAJOR advantage when you look into the mathematics.
Coming Out Of The West Can Be Really Good: 4 of UConn's National Championships were won coming out of the West. Last year, they beat Gonzaga in Las Vegas in the Elite 8 to get there. A #1 seed in the west is very much worth fighting for.
North Carolina Is In Action Thursday Versus Va Tech: We have to cheer for Va Tech to clip them and/or their next opponent, which would be Pitt or Wake Forest. Steve Forbes' guys will need a win. They need to scratch and claw to get in. Steve Forbes is the modern day Seth Greenberg. He's had very nice teams that just live on the bubble. This year is no different.
At This Point It's A Certainty That Tennessee & UNC Will Begin In Charlotte In First Round: They won't be grouped in the same region though. They'll just be placed there for pod purposes. So go ahead and buy your tickets to the first round. It's a stone cold lock that the Vols will play there. Duke losing over the weekend sealed this. It's not a choice either. It's about miles from campus.
It's Also A Certainty That Tennessee & UNC Are Fighting For Final #1 Spot:
Arizona is thought to be eliminated with the loss to USC over the weekend. They can't do enough in their conference tourney to get back.
Orange Throat
'T Club Team:
Random musings as the Basketball Vols absorb a stinging loss in the home finale:
THE KENTUCKY LONG RIFLES ... Shot the lights out at the Food Thom Saturday. The uber-talented Wildcats seized the initiative in this game from the start and took it to the #4 ranked Volunteers. This has to go down as one of Big Blue Nation's favorite wins at Knoxville in recent years, as this game went to the post with UK as a 7.5-point underdog to the SEC champion Vols on Senior Day.
WILL THERE BE LINGERING DAMAGE ... From this game to the Tennessee team's psyche and standing in the NCAA tourney? The Volunteers' appearance at the SEC tourney this week perhaps just became more important to address both concerns. On Friday, they'll either face a Mississippi State team fighting on the bubble to make the NCAA or an LSU team with nothing to lose. The good news is we wouldn't have a chance to see Kentucky until the Sunday title game. Not sure TGMD could stomach two losses to the Big Blue in a span of eight days.
RICK BARNES' 9TH TENNESSEE TEAM ... Finished 14-4, matching the 2022 team's league record but this team won the league outright. The biggest thing you don't want to copy from the '22 team is the second round exit in the NCAA tourney.
VESCO AND TRIPLE J'S OFFENSE ... Doesn't matter until it does. Let's all agree Rick Barnes' team could go all the way to the championship game in Phoenix and not see an offensive onslaught like they saw out of Kentucky. Let's also agree that Josiah Jordan-James gave a much better account of himself in his final game at The Thom than his teammate from Uruguay. It was sad to see Vesco struggle so badly after such a good career at Tennessee.
IT WAS ALSO ALARMING ... In its implications for the Big Dance. With Freddie Dilione's lack of progress, Jordan Gainey has played way more than he probably should be. No offense. Saturday, Gainey looked like a kid who didn't belong on the floor.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR.... Vol staffers were telling the sheep in the UT basketball media corps that Dilione was going to be special. He was going to be different than all of the other freshman flops because he enrolled in January of 2023. National NBA talent evaluators were listing him on 2024 first round forecasts. Fourteen months in the Tennessee program hasn't done much to keep Dilione from the same fate as most freshmen in this program. He's played double digit minutes only once since early November, and that was in the blowout over Vandy. So, it's going to be sink or swim with Santiago, whose defense is still real good in most games.
BASEBALL VOLS WIN 15TH STRAIGHT ... In completing the sweep of Illinois. Tennessee's pitching was consistently good as usual, paced by A.J. Causey and Drew Beam with winning starts and Nate Snead getting the dub in relief yesterday. Blake Burke stayed on his heater with a 5-for-9 weekend that featured two homers and three doubles. The only thing that slowed Burke down was the home plate umpire who tossed him yesterday. Eastern Kentucky is up tomorrow and then it's on to Tuscaloosa to open the league with a good Alabama team.
LADY VOLS TO BE SHIPPED WEST? That's what Beano and Charlie Creme were projecting yesterday, improving K.J. Harper's squad to a 7-seed after the Lady Vols advanced to the semifinals and nearly knocked off #1 South Carolina. Beano thinks Tennessee will be sent to Los Angeles for the first round and would play 2-seed Southern Cal in round 2. Upset the Women of Troy and they move up the coast to Portland, OR for the regional.
Orange Throat'
GBO
Tone
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