A story by Wes Rucker at GoVols247 ($) this morning suggests an awful possibility: the new SEC Basketball schedule, with the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M, could mean only one annual home-and-home rivalry series for each team in the conference. I have no concrete idea how the powers that be would structure an 18 game schedule, but Rucker's story includes quotes from both Cuonzo Martin and Dave Hart suggesting that if only one annual rivalry series was allowed, the Vols would draw Vanderbilt...meaning Tennessee and Kentucky would play each other only once per season more often than not.
You can make the math work several other ways - a 14 team league playing 18 conference games certainly allows for five annual home-and-home rivalry series for each team while playing the other eight opponents only once each year. I have no idea why we're not going in that direction, though I suppose some schools could find that setup unfair or unbalanced (I'm sure all of us would want Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Florida twice a year under a model like that, which might make it harder to win the league, but then again life has never been easy in the old SEC East in basketball).
Only one annual rivalry series means you would see the other twelve opponents through the other sixteen games - four home-and-homes each year on a rotating basis, I assume. Of course, the Vols will still play Kentucky and everyone else in the league at least once every season, but we'd only get to see UT/UK home-and-home one out of three years (I think - there's math involved, and I'm the wrong writer for that).
What I hate about this even more is that I guarantee you Kentucky will draw Florida in this format. Most of the other matchups for annual rivalries make sense (Alabama/Auburn, Mississippi/Mississippi State, some combination of Arkansas/LSU/Missouri/A&M, us and Vanderbilt), which would leave UK/Florida and Georgia/South Carolina. The Cats and Gators have had a lot of sizzle in the last decade, no doubt, but no team in the SEC has beaten Kentucky more than Tennessee. I realize UK is the biggest rival for a number of teams in this league, but no team in this league is a bigger rival to them than we are. And not that we wouldn't enjoy two chances to beat on Kevin Stallings every season, or that UT-Vandy isn't a rivalry...but man, it just doesn't seem right to have a season where Kentucky doesn't come to Knoxville or Tennessee doesn't go to Rupp.
It's been twelve years since Allan Houston hit this shot.
That was the last time any player from the University of Tennessee even had a chance to do anything meaningful in the NBA Playoffs. And with apologies to the brief stints of Vincent Yarbrough and Marcus Haislip in the league, Houston was our only option for any former Vol to do anything meaningful in the NBA at all the last two decades.
But that all changed today.
C.J. Watson is a fifth year player, a career backup point guard who had decent numbers in that role with Golden State before moving to Chicago last season. His role in the Windy City was clearly defined: backup Derrick Rose, last year's MVP and one of the best players in the league. The Bulls made the Eastern Conference Finals last season, with Watson playing 8.5 minutes and scoring 3.2 points per game in the postseason.
This year the Bulls had the best record in the lockout-shortened regular season, an incredibly impressive feat considering Rose was banged up throughout the year, playing in just 39 of 66 games. Chicago went 18-10 without Rose, and for the year Watson averaged 9.7 points per game and 39.3% from the arc.
The Bulls might've been the favorite in these playoffs. Watson could've earned a ring in that backup role, and we would've celebrated it.
But all that changed today.
Derrick Rose is lost for the season, tearing his ACL in the fourth quarter of Chicago's Game 1 win over Philadelphia. Let's make this clear: though Rose tends to only come up on this blog for his inability to hit free throws in both the epic 1-vs-2 showdown between the Vols and Memphis in 2008, as well as the National Championship Game later that year, none of us want to see anyone get hurt. Chicago fans are rightfully depressed, and this was a huge loss for the game of basketball and these playoffs. All the best to Rose in his recovery and the rest of his career.
But very soon, the story will turn to C.J. Watson.
Magic Johnson is on TV saying that whatever good Watson did in the regular season doesn't matter because it was the regular season. And right now, he's right. But that doesn't mean Watson can't prove him wrong.
Make no mistake, C.J. can play. And make no mistake, this has just become the biggest opportunity of his career, perhaps one he may have never thought he would have (and never would've wanted under these circumstances, I'm sure). But for Tennessee fans who haven't had any reason to care about the NBA Playoffs because no former Vol has played a important role in them in a dozen years? Now it's time to pay attention.
Those who've followed this blog for the long haul know that after the Vols, the team I care most about is the Boston Celtics. And believe me, if Watson gets what now becomes his team as the point guard through the rest of Round One, he'll have his hands full if Rajon Rondo is there waiting in Round Two. But I can't wait to see him try.
Though it comes by unfortunate circumstance, this now becomes Watson's moment. Is he ready? We're about to find out...and for Bruce Pearl, Cuonzo Martin, and Tennessee Basketball, this is our first chance in a very long time to see one of our own make a real difference on the biggest stage.
Go get 'em, C.J.
During Tuesday night's brief panic over a single story claiming mutual interest between Cuonzo Martin and Illinois, an interesting topic played out in our comments: is Illinois really a better basketball job than Tennessee?
My first impression was that, while Tennessee is clearly the better job for 2012-13, Illinois is still the better program long-term. But several made the good point that, if the Vols continue to ascend as Cuonzo Martin continues the journey Bruce Pearl started, Tennessee could become the better program down the road. Tennessee Basketball hasn't hit its ceiling and we've still got plenty of room to grow.
But in the present moment, exactly where does Tennessee stand among college basketball programs nationally?
Bruce Pearl always spoke of this as a Top 20 job nationally, especially at the end of his tenure. That's a status he helped create, and we saw it pay off last year: those who were worried that Tennessee would fall behind others with job openings last year, including Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Missouri, NC State, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M were pleasantly surprised to find Tennessee got the guy they wanted, and after one year only Missouri had a stronger regular season, and only NC State had a stronger postseason. I was among the many who overreacted to Pearl's departure and didn't fully appreciate the growth of the program and its ability to stay in the national conversation.
Since Pearl's arrival, Tennessee has been in the top five nationally in attendance seven years in a row. And the Vols have made three Sweet Sixteens since 2007 - consider that only 52 programs have made the Sweet 16 at all in the last six years, and only four from the SEC. No team has made the Sweet Sixteen in each of the last six years, only Kansas and North Carolina have made it five times, and only Ohio State, Michigan State, and Xavier have made it four out of six. This current run ties the Vols with Florida, Butler, Memphis, Louisville, Wisconsin, Duke, Syracuse, and Kentucky with three Sweet Sixteens in six years...pretty good company, if you ask me.
So we're obviously biased and I'm sure that'll come into play here, but where do the Vols rank in terms of national jobs right now? After the jump, we'll look at several different tiers and attempt to place the Vols in one of them. Should fans of other teams stumble across this, I'm sure you'll be happy to tell us why we're wrong. And in some cases you'll be right, and in some cases Washington will still be a sub-lateral move in football.
Let's take a look...
Of course. Comcast SportsNet Chicago is citing Secret People Who Supposedly Know in reporting that coach Cuonzo Martin is "interested" in the vacant head coaching gig at Illinois. This means that we should all immediately take to the streets in our Freak Out clothes. After all, football and men's basketball is over for the season, and we need some way to kill some time before spring practice starts next week, right?
Martin is his own man and shouldn't be viewed negatively because of our Rumspringa with Lane Kiffin. I just don't see anything in Martin or in the circumstances that make me very nervous. Martin's nostalgia resides in West Lafayette, not in Urbana-Champaign. And is Illinois' program better than Tennessee's? Better at all, much less to the tune of Martin's current $2.6M buyout?
Martin seems to be already focused on next season at Tennessee, telling media that they're "planning on being one of the best teams in the country." Most of the team will be back, including Jeronne Maymon, who we just learned scored 17 points and 7 rebounds on a torn meniscus. Cam Tatum will graduate and Renaldo Woolridge will spend his new fifth year of eligibility somewhere else, but with the exception of one other guy (Dwight Miller? Wes Washpun?) who will apparently be making room for new 2012 guard Armani Moore, Martin will have essentially the same team with more experience and another year in Martin's defense-first system. Surely we can stop the high ball screen with eight months of practice.
That's not to say that Martin-to-Illinois couldn't happen. We Vol fans know better than to tempt fate to feed us another slice of Minnie's Chocolate Pie. Fate sure does like a challenge, and it's a creative old cuss, too. So don't quote me that this ain't happening.
But I just don't think that it will. What about you?
CSNChicago citing sources saying @CuonzoMartin interested in vacant Illinois coaching position.tinyurl.com/72l7kop
— Steve Phillips (@steve_phillips_) March 21, 2012
The #illini coaching search is so fun, we must touch all fanbases with our paranoid misery. hello Tennessee fans and Cuonzo Martin
— Joe K (@Hailtotheorange) March 21, 2012
Vols hoops sports information director @TomSatkowiak says there is "no truth" to Cuonzo Martin/Illinois rumors, for what it's worth.
— govols247.com staff (@govols247) March 21, 2012
In a wild game that saw MTSU build an early 23-11 lead before the Vols battled it back to two at halftime, then saw UT lead by as many as eight - the margin they held after Jordan McRae's bucket with 7:11 to play - the Blue Raiders made every play down the stretch, and Tennessee was finally burned by their offensive problems.
MTSU closed the game on a 15-0 run over the final 7:11, as the Vols got absolutely nothing on the offensive end. Tennessee went 0 for 9 during that stretch. It wasn't as bad as the end of the Ole Miss game where the Vols took only threes, and UT only turned it over once during that span...but on a night where Jeronne Maymon had 17 points and Jarnell Stokes added 15 - again, both totals with still seven minutes to play - the Vols couldn't get the ball back inside, and settled for jumpers that just didn't fall.
Meanwhile, MTSU grabbed seven offensive rebounds during the final seven minutes and hit nine of ten free throws. That stretch bolstered them to 71.4% from the line and 46.2% for the game, numbers that were just strong enough to stay ahead of the ice cold Vols.
This isn't the first time Tennessee has flatlined this season, though their defense has usually been good enough to survive it. But the Vols will go into the offseason with something very clear to work on: defense will always only take you so far - you can't go seven minutes without scoring against a good team like the Blue Raiders.
It was the end for Cameron Tatum, who wasn't able to duplicate his senior day performance, going 3 for 11 tonight. Tatum and Skylar McBee combined to go 1 of 10 from the arc - the Vols went 1 of 13 for the game, and just 19 of 30 at the free throw line. An improvement in either category would've made the difference.
Tennessee has to find something more consistent on offense to go to when teams sell out to take Stokes and Maymon away. We saw tonight how strong Tennessee can be inside...and we also saw that this team has to get Cuonzo Martin's motion offense fully installed this offseason, so the defense doesn't have to stand up to a total offensive shutdown.
Congratulations to MTSU. It was a disappointing end to a successful first year under Cuonzo Martin - more on that later. Tonight the Vols go home disappointed...and almost all of the players involved can hopefully take this memory and use it as motivation to grow in the offseason. We believe the Vols can be very good next season. To get there, Tennessee has to avoid the flatline.
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26-6 (14-2)
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19-14 (10-6)
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Jackson the Mule says . . .
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. . . Festival seating? I'm there. #finishwell
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Leave your pre-, in-, and post-game thoughts below.
It's always better to be in the NCAA Tournament than the NIT...but it is nice to still be playing basketball on this Monday. If the Vols want to play beyond today, they'll have to go through an MTSU team you should absolutely not underestimate. I expect the Blue Raiders to give Tennessee all they want tonight in what should be a very good basketball game.
MTSU is the sort of team we should be talking about on this Monday because they upset two teams and made the Sweet 16, not because they're in the second round of the NIT. This team is fourth nationally in field goal percentage at an astounding 49.6% per game, 24th nationally in assists per game and 28th nationally in assists per made basket (60.3% of the time). And they don't have to score 85 to win: MTSU beat Ole Miss 68-56, beat Belmont 65-62, and won twelve games in a row from December 10 - January 26 while scoring more than 71 just once in that span. That streak ended when they went blow-for-blow with Vanderbilt in Memorial before falling 84-77 in a game in which they shot 57.4% from the floor, 53.8% from the arc, and 72.7% at the line. The biggest difference in the game was that Vandy shot 24 of 30 at the free throw line and only turned it over nine times. But they were right there with Vandy in their house - they absolutely will not be intimidated in Thompson-Boling.
The crowd itself should be a great one, quality over quantity. UT students are on spring break, which may take some of the air out of the balloon, but general admission NIT crowds mean those who care the most about coming get the best seats...and that will surely include some of our blue brethren from Murfreesboro. It should be a unique and fun atmosphere with a game that should match the crowd's intensity.
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