My Volunteer excitement is tempered this morning by the loss of 24 lives in our state to tornadoes last night. It is remarkable how quickly things like election primaries and SEC basketball games can be put into perspective when truly important events capture the morning's headlines. Let's keep these friends in our thoughts and prayers.
Clinton vs. Huckabee?
What is this, Arkansas? At least my own Hamilton County came out for Barack Obama. I still haven't sorted out yesterday's results, other than that I'm surprised Clinton won Massachusetts and California, surprised Obama looks like he is getting Missouri and surprised that people are still voting for Mike Huckabee. He really is Mitt's Ralph Nader these days.
By the way, how sad is it that Ralph Nader is now known mostly for being an election spoiler? I watched a PBS special about his wonderful crusades for regular folk like you and me, but he tarnished his place in history forever with his stubborn, destructive runs for president.
Enough politics...back to sports.
Vols Destroy Gators
Bruce Pearl went Steve Spurrier on the Florida Gators last night.
Remember the game in The Swamp when Peyton led the Vols to an early lead, only to get blown out in the second half 62-37? That is what happened to Billy Boy and the young Gators last night. Florida jumped out 16-3 on the Vols, but one of my time-tested coaching quotations held true once again:
"Early leads are false leads."
As an assistant coach, I used to say this to our head coach every time we fell behind early. It became somewhat of a running joke as I would use it when we were playing a team of 6'8 monsters that were going to run us out of the gym regardless of when they took the lead.
Back to Florida's false start, the Gators hit everything they threw up (even a banked three) in the opening moments of the game, but no team can keep that up for 40 minutes. The Vols also started out ice cold, but these guys are not the St. Louis Billikens - they are not going to stay cold for long. Once the Vols settled in, made some shots and improved their pick & roll/sprint defense, the #7 team in the country had its way with the two-time defending National Champions.
Which brings me to this - Bruce Pearl owns Billy Donovan. I love Donovan as a coach and as a man (he was one of the most impressive people our coaching staff met during the recruitment of DeAndre Jordan) and don't expect this to hold true forever, but Pearl is 4-1 against him so far. That is 4-1 against Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Jai Lucas, etc. That is impressive.
I try not to waste my energy on officials (I'll leave that to the messageboard morons), but last night's crew was awful. The Gators were in the double bonus with over 10 minutes left in the second half!
Here is the dirty little secret that every coach in the country knows: referees punish you for playing hard.
The Vols play as hard defensively as anyone in the country - they pressure the ball, they battle in the post, they look for strips, pokes and deflections and they get punished for it. There is a certain sympathy factor that happens when a defender is harassing an offensive player. As the Vols defense started to clamp down on the Gators in the second half, they were bailed out by sympathy calls.
Dribbling out of bounds? Foul on Crews. Unable to get to the basket in the post? Foul on Chism. Can't get around the ball screen? Foul on Williams.
The Vols do foul too much, especially with out of control charging violations and stupid hacks instead of moving in front of the ball. I'm worried that they are getting the reputation of a team that fouls. If referees think the Vols are trying to get away with things like slaps, pushes or shortcuts, they are going to continue to whistle the Vols for nickel-and-dimers. That could be the fatal flaw for these Vols come March when getting to the foul line can be the difference between surviving and going home.
The benefit of playing this way was seen in the glorious final minutes of last night's game. Florida was gassed; Tennessee was not. They ran the Gators out of the gym because the waves of fresh bodies and 40-minute intensity wore them out. There are few teams in the country as deep as Tennessee and few that can withstand their assault.
Bruce Pearl is a modern-day Ulysses S. Grant in this regard. He understands that part of his advantage is man-power. The bad guys can win battles, but he is going to eventually win the war with his constant pressure and superior depth. Last night's color commentator wanted Tennessee to get out of its press all night long, claiming it made Florida better. That was easy analysis whenever Florida beat the pressure for a lay-up, but where was the retraction at the end of the game when Florida could do nothing but raise the white flag?
Remember - Robert E. Lee beat U.S. Grant all through out 1864, but lost his army in the process. Pearl loses a battle or two over the course of the game, but usually takes the other coach's sword when it is all said and done.
A few more random thoughts:
- I'm already starting to have Chris Lofton withdrawal. It hit me last night just how much I'm going to miss watching him next year. I know, I know...there is still over a month left in the season. Maybe I'm just a little emotional these days with a new baby girl in the family, but I got sad thinking about the Vols without Lofton. That guy is freaking unbelievable.
- I know he got up hot, but did J.P. Prince really deserve a technical last night? He got tackled for no reason and came up angry. He was immediately stopped by teammates, did not deliver a punch or push and nothing came of his reaction other than the pathetic image of Teddy Valentine issuing six technicals to Prince (I guess only one counted). It reminded me of the Steve Nash play from last year - rewarding the thug for, well, being a thug.
- I imagine Pearl apologized to Donovan for JuJuan's late three-pointer (man, that guy is stroking it right now), but I hope that instead he said, "You undercut my guys on lay-ups and I don't call off the dogs, got it?"
- Welcome back, Josh Tabb. Keep up the D.
Signing Day
Unless Fulmer pulls off a John McCain comeback, it isn't going to be a pretty day for the Vols. Most of the "recruiting experts" have the Vols' class down at the bottom of the SEC and somewhere in the 40s nationally.
Hmm...what do we make of this?
On the one hand, it is sad because Fulmer has always been a master recruiter. Is he losing his touch? Did the coaching fluctuation cause it? Did the hiring of Dave Clawson fail to inspire? Was it the blowout losses to Cal, Florida and Alabama?
On the other hand, who cares? Have you ever looked at a list of the top prospects from given years? You won't recognize half of them. These "recruiting experts" are a bunch of idiots who know nothing about football and next to nothing about the kids about which they are experts. Having coached a 5 star basketball recruit, I can tell you that I never once saw a representative from Rivals or Scouts Inc. at our games, that their statistics were all inflated and inaccurate, and that they never once talked to our head coach about the player in question. These rankings are often based solely on things like 40-yard dash times (always inflated), physical size and strength (hardly guarantees success, right Tony Mandarich?) and numbers compiled against pathetic high school competition.
Let's look at some of this year's BCS teams - Hawaii, Illinois, West Virginia, Kansas - do you think they built their program on top-rated recruiting classes? It is great to have freakish athletes like Eric Berry, but the Vols also need guys with heart and desire. That does not show up on Rivals.com.
Finally, and maybe this is just a way to spin it, Vols AD Mike Hamilton warned that the Vols were after linemen over specialty positions this year. Linemen will never generate the excitement that quarterbacks and tailbacks garner. In fact, the schools that get the top-rated classes often do so by signing loads of players (many who will never play a down on the field) with a few highly-prized offensive players. That wins your recruiting prizes, but not football games.
Bottom line - the sky is not falling. One bad class does not a program destroy.
Good Ole Rocky Top
Rocky Top, Tennessee
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