Tennessee Talk

I expected to write this week's entry with a big smile on my face, but Patrick Patterson, Rameel Bradley and Joe Crawford left me in a sour mood this morning. How is that team 8-9? Like Henry Rollins, I'm going to rise above and churn out another exciting edition of "Tennessee Talk" despite my Kentucky hangover.

Vols Still Can't Win in Rupp

Despite leading by double-digits twice last night, the Tennessee Vols could not put away a physical, gutsy Kentucky team and lost a tough one to the Wildcats. It sure looks like the Kats are starting to drink the Billy Gillespie Kool-Aid of defense, physical play and pounding it into the post. Having lived in Houston for the past three years, I saw plenty of Texas A&M basketball when Gillespie was the head coach. It looked identical to what we watched last night. It is dull, but effective. He uses a short bench, rides his studs, plays a very physical style of basketball and keeps his team in the game until the end.

Rameel Bradley could be Gillespie's A.C. Law this year, though he is not a pure point guard. I have watched Kevin Love and DeAndre Jordan this year, but there is no better freshmen post player than Patrick Patterson. He is long, strong, has great hands and a soft touch. He worked over Wayne Chism last night.

Enough about Kentucky - let's talk Vols. It was a disappointing loss for several reasons, but also heartening for a few as well. Let's start with the bad news - the Vols looked soft last night. They got pushed around on the boards and in the post. J.P. Prince has the reputation of a soft player and he earned it last night. Ditto Ryan Childress, JuJuan Smith and Brian Williams. The Vols could not play through the bump, got whipped on the boards and failed to open their offense with what could be described as "matador" screens.

This is a tough thing for Coach Pearl. He wants his team to be fast and loose. To be so, they cannot play as physical a style of basketball as Kentucky played last night. There is a reason Kentucky scores in the 60s and plays a halfcourt game. Pearl does not want to do that. However, his team was exposed as being vulnerable to physical play last night. What is the answer in this situation?

The other disappointing aspect was the Vols inability to get good looks in the halfcourt. The ESPN announcers continued to point out the "shadow" aspect of the Kentucky defense (which was nothing more than basic help half the time, but I think they were getting a commission for the word "shadow" last night) and how it hindered drives to the bucket. Fine - run your offense and get looks off screens or find space from the help defenders by running your sets. The Vols could not do it. They were not patient enough, not efficient enough and not physical enough.

The positive signs that night came from Chris Lofton and Ramar Smith. Lofton always plays well against Kentucky because they snubbed him out of high school. Lofton looked like his old self last night, making tough 3's, driving to the basket and being aggressive offensively. Ramar Smith also looked his old self - driving, passing and finishing inside. He did get sloppy with the ball for a stretch and his shot is ugly, but he offers more all-around than Jordan Howell (who strikes me as the worst passing point guard in college basketball).

I once heard John Calipari tell his Memphis Tigers that a win at Arizona would be huge, but a loss would not. Sounds strange, but I buy into the idea. Last night would have been a huge win for the Vols, but losing at Rupp to an improving Kentucky team is not devastating. Disappointing, but not devastating.

Lofton Becomes 3-Point King

It didn't mean much at the time, but Chris Lofton sank two late 3-pointers to become the all-time SEC leader in the category. I think he is the best shooter I have ever seen in Knoxville, including Allan Houston. Congrats to Chris.

More Football Problems

Freshmen running back Daryl Vereen was arrested this week for being publicly drunk, fighting, ignoring police, kidnapping, tax evasion...you get the idea. He was actually only charged for public intoxication, but apparently was fighting as well and did ignore the police (when you are as drunk as he was, how can you be expected to obey the cops?). Fulmer had the entire team run sprints at 6 a.m. after the second embarrassing off-the-field incident (after the Gerald Jones situation).

I heard an interesting conversation about Fulmer's discipline style and its effectiveness. Apparently Fulmer is of the Red Auerbach philosophy of not sitting guys during games as punishment since that hurts the entire team. Instead, he prefers making guys run, etc. Personally, I side with Fulmer and Auerbach in this regard, but it is troubling to see so many Vols getting into trouble away from the field. The other question here is just how much Fulmer should be held accountable for the actions of teenage kids away at college. Most of us did stupid stuff at college like drink beer and smoke weed (the two offenses of the past two weeks), so why would these kids be any different just because they are also good at football.

I hate it when these things happen because it is embarrassing and potentially dangerous to the athletes I root for, but I also tend to downplay the "there's no discipline in Knoxville" cries that emerge whenever some such incident occurs. Show me the football coach with 100+ kids under his umbrella that does not deal with these issues and I might change my tune.

Good ole Rocky Top
Rocky Top, Tennessee