Tennessee Talk

Wednesday means one thing - time for Tennessee Talk.

Vols Roll Tide

It was not always pretty, but with this team it rarely is. The Vols looked poised to put Alabama away several times last night, but eventually did hang on for a 93-86 victory. Tennessee was sloppy, over-matched in the post and shaky from the foul line, but they were also deadly from 3-point range, ferocious with their press and clutch down the stretch.

Alabama showed that Tennessee can be vulnerable to a good, long zone defense. The Tennessee attack struggled to get looks from outside or convert chances inside against the Tide's 2-3 defense. The inside conversions were most troubling. The ball repeatedly went inside to Chism, Crews and Tyler Smith with poor results.

On the other side of the court, the Vols went through defensive stretches of absolute mediocrity. How many dunks and lay-ups did Alabama have last night? The transition defense was poor, the interior defense was non-existent - it was not a championship effort from the Vols D.

The Vols did make some clutch jumpers that broke the elephant's back. JuJuan Smith has absolutely no fear on the court, which is sometimes bad, but usually good. The corner 3-pointer he made in transition was the shot of the game. It was ill-advised, rushed, probably not what Coach Pearl wanted, but it was a dagger.

You could also sense the frustration in the Alabama crowd at Chris Lofton's inability to miss. A couple of his 3's were contested, but he is in the zone right now. I also thought I heard a mock cheer from the fickle Tide fans when their press break finally succeeded in getting the ball across the timeline.

Here is the thing I took from the game last night - I always feel good when the game is tight at the end that Coach Pearl has his guys ready to win. Look at Xavier. Look at Ole Miss. Look at Alabama. They know how to close the deal. That bodes well for the NCAA tournament when every game will be tight.

The tests keep coming - the Vols visit Mississippi State this weekend. The Bulldogs are the only team unbeaten in the SEC so far. Hopefully that will change very soon.

Ainge Wins Meaningless MVP

The Senior Bowl seems to be more about the workouts than the game, but Ainge did win some hardware for leading the South to a comeback victory over the North. Reports from the practices, however, were not good. Ainge's arm strength did not impress and his lack of mobility was also exposed. It does not sound like his week was as disasterous as Andre Woodson's or Colt Brennan's, but Ainge is now being touted as a late-round pick in the up-coming NFL draft.

He really has turned into the second-coming of Casey Clausen, hasn't he?

Lady Vols Beat Duke

I can't pretend to care much about the Lady Vols until the tournament rolls around, but this game got my attention because of Coach Summitt's ill-advised warning to the Duke students beforehand. After being upset with the Cameron Crazies' Wal-Mart taunts of Alexis Hornbuckle (she was arrested for shop-lifting at a Wal-Mart while in high school), Summitt declared that she might not bring her Lady Vols back to Duke if the chants returned this time around.

Oh, please...

Summitt's "I'll take my ball and go home" routine sounded childish and actually brought more focus to the taunts than leaving it alone ever would have. I never read or heard about Hornbuckle's arrest until Summitt brought it up this week. I love Coach Summitt, but don't understand how dictating behavior to Duke's students and threatening to never return to play the Blue Devils has any positive aspect to it whatsoever.

Until next week...

Good Ole Rocky Top
Rocky Top, Tennessee