22-23 season

They also really shot themselves in the foot with that unacceptable loss to potentially the worst LSU basketball team we've ever seen the other night.

They are on a 7/8-1 conference run, yet somehow the only L they have found during that stretch was to LSU. Brutal defeat

 

It’s crazy this year. Think 3 ranked big 12 teams lost to unranked teams yesterday.

 

Was looking up our record this year in games with lead changes in the last five minutes…

It’s 0-3. Honestly could’ve sworn we’d blown more leads than that. (I guess we blew leads against Florida and Colorado, but much earlier. And the losses to Kentucky, Arizona, and Texas A&M involved us cutting the deficit to one or two and not actually taking a lead)

 

Yeah it was something like 2-6 or 2-7 in 5 point games in the last 5 minutes iirc.

 

Yeah we either win or lose

 

Hope the committee doesn’t try to give us Memphis in the 2nd round. They won’t be a fun draw.

 

I’m honestly not sure there is an easy second-round draw out there right now. There are no elite teams, but there are a million decent ones.

 

For those who care -

Lundardi has us as a 3 playing Duke in round 2 (in Greensboro..............of course)
Palm has us as a 4 with St. Mary's in round 2 in Greensboro
Athletic has us as a 4 with St. Mary's in round 2 in Albany

 

All of these are fine.

 

The principle of getting Duke in Greensboro is irksome, but none of them scare me.

This team is capable of both beating and losing to all other 67 teams in the field, including current Big Sky 9 seed Northern Arizona who made their conference semis.

 

Duke is trending up a bit. With their talent, I don't think we want that draw. Similar feel to Michigan last year. But they are in comfortably.

 

We've won back-to-back games once since the end of January and half of those losses were to teams worse than whoever we'll face in the second round assuming we make it that far.

 

So you're saying we are due, sweet.

 

Still more enjoyable arguing about how bad we suck as a 2-4 seed than having to win the tourney to get in or worried about last 4 out.

 

I'm just not putting any effort or energy into war gaming who we might play and where. I'll watch the games and hope to be surprised, but I'm not scheduling around the 2 week. It's definitely a better spot to be in than hoping to make it through the bubble.

 

My take away from this season. We are wildly inconsistent. We don't have a "go to" scorer. We can get mentally confused and flustered.

I do enjoy not being on the bubble. I don't enjoy "anybody can beat us".

 

Bubble stuff is not fun when it is your team.

 

Gonna miss Santi. Fans on him are clueless. Opposing coaches know. He’s got to be gassed late and has an affect on his fts. Did something no vol has done in 25 years. And led the league in 3 pt % as jackwagon fans beg for him to stop shooting.
https://utsports.com/news/2023/3/6/...hillips-earn-all-sec-honors-from-coaches.aspx

 

I agree with most of this, but I’m actually becoming less convinced of the bolded. We have a go-to scorer. It’s Vescovi. But the problem is that other teams know we have a go-to scorer and will harass the hell out of him and make us beat them four-on-four, which we can’t do. Watch the last five minutes against Auburn (actually don’t, because they sucked). Vescovi didn’t get a clean pass within 30 feet of the basket. We need Phillips, or JJJ, or Nkamhoua to take over with more space on the floor. And none of them have been able to do so consistently.

 

And for those who wonder why we won’t look as good defensively, look at ZZ defensive numbers. Ball pressure preventing teams from getting into their sets isn’t tracked.