Good season. Maybe even a great season. Definitely accomplished a lot by finishing second in the league and winning the conference tournament. But what a disappointment today was. Just absolutely brutal. Sucks more because I think this is an absolutely great group of kids and wanted them to go out on a high note. Add on the fact that it looked like this team was peaking at exactly the right time and it's even more brutal. Sucks even more that this is how it ends for Fulkerson (think what you want about him as a player, but he gave everything he had to this university) and probably Chandler who played incredible basketball the last month of the season. He really is special. Fingers crossed for one more year with him. Hope we bring the entire group back minus Fulkerson. Should make us a great team again with a chance to make noise in March.
Today's game is going to be absolutely brutal to rewatch. As the 3rd best defensive team in the country by the numbers, the game came down to just not being able to get enough stops. A lot of credit goes to Michigan because they played a hell of a game. Dickinson had a Ryan Kline game. But let's not get it twisted, Michigan is not a very good basketball team. They were 17-14 coming into the tournament and their starting pg only played about 5 minutes and was coming off a concussion. They hadn't won back to back games in months. And yet, they pulled an absolute rabbit out of their hat. Obviously if we hit shots, it's a different game. But that's life. And you've got to figure out a way to beat that team regardless of how you're shooting. I read a lot of people complaining about the refs on here, and I think we got a tough whistle, but it wasn't egregious and the loss came down to the way we played and the way we allowed Michigan to play.
Rick Barnes is the best coach Tennessee could have imo. He's done a great job here and has us operating as a top of the SEC basketball program. He does it while keeping a team of very likable and hardworking kids who never get in trouble off the court while playing with a chippiness and edge on the court which I think is tough to do. He just led the team to the first SEC title in 30 years. I hope he is the coach here until he chooses to retire.
But people who call him round of 32 Rick aren't wrong. There are people who are complete assholes and only want to acknowledge that and not all of the success he's brought to this program. Those are people who really just need to find the nearest bridge because I doubt they find very much joy in life. However the sample size now just shows us that for some reason he cannot get it done in March. Call it bad luck (hell who woulda thought there could be 2 Ryan Kline games) or call it the players fault. You can really call it whatever you want but at the end of the day he's the only constant on underachieving NCAAT teams for two decades. Even if you don't want to talk about the Texas years, just since he's been at UT, he's lost the last 4 tournaments to teams that he had a better team than.
2018-Loyola
2019- Purdue
2021- Oregon St
2022-Michigan
Yeah we can say he's had rotten luck and thats true. And no, he didn't go 2-16 from 3 today. Thats on his players, but when you look at the 4 years listed above those were all teams with different players and assistant coaches. Only one constant. And when you look at the sample size now for 4 years he's underachieved in the tournament and luck or not, that's a trend. And that's without counting the Texas years. So yes, people can bag on the tournament results because it's true. It's a valid criticism and people have every right to be upset with it. I really hope that one day it isn't. And if it is luck, well then surely it's got to turn around sometime right? Here's to hoping it changes and Rick brings a natty to Knoxville. Fingers crossed.
Today's game is going to be absolutely brutal to rewatch. As the 3rd best defensive team in the country by the numbers, the game came down to just not being able to get enough stops. A lot of credit goes to Michigan because they played a hell of a game. Dickinson had a Ryan Kline game. But let's not get it twisted, Michigan is not a very good basketball team. They were 17-14 coming into the tournament and their starting pg only played about 5 minutes and was coming off a concussion. They hadn't won back to back games in months. And yet, they pulled an absolute rabbit out of their hat. Obviously if we hit shots, it's a different game. But that's life. And you've got to figure out a way to beat that team regardless of how you're shooting. I read a lot of people complaining about the refs on here, and I think we got a tough whistle, but it wasn't egregious and the loss came down to the way we played and the way we allowed Michigan to play.
Rick Barnes is the best coach Tennessee could have imo. He's done a great job here and has us operating as a top of the SEC basketball program. He does it while keeping a team of very likable and hardworking kids who never get in trouble off the court while playing with a chippiness and edge on the court which I think is tough to do. He just led the team to the first SEC title in 30 years. I hope he is the coach here until he chooses to retire.
But people who call him round of 32 Rick aren't wrong. There are people who are complete assholes and only want to acknowledge that and not all of the success he's brought to this program. Those are people who really just need to find the nearest bridge because I doubt they find very much joy in life. However the sample size now just shows us that for some reason he cannot get it done in March. Call it bad luck (hell who woulda thought there could be 2 Ryan Kline games) or call it the players fault. You can really call it whatever you want but at the end of the day he's the only constant on underachieving NCAAT teams for two decades. Even if you don't want to talk about the Texas years, just since he's been at UT, he's lost the last 4 tournaments to teams that he had a better team than.
2018-Loyola
2019- Purdue
2021- Oregon St
2022-Michigan
Yeah we can say he's had rotten luck and thats true. And no, he didn't go 2-16 from 3 today. Thats on his players, but when you look at the 4 years listed above those were all teams with different players and assistant coaches. Only one constant. And when you look at the sample size now for 4 years he's underachieved in the tournament and luck or not, that's a trend. And that's without counting the Texas years. So yes, people can bag on the tournament results because it's true. It's a valid criticism and people have every right to be upset with it. I really hope that one day it isn't. And if it is luck, well then surely it's got to turn around sometime right? Here's to hoping it changes and Rick brings a natty to Knoxville. Fingers crossed.
