23-24 Season

I guess I was kind of expecting it, but I was disappointed to see us drop a spot.

Kansas has 2 losses to teams who are far worse than anyone we've lost to, and Houston hasn't beaten a single team currently ranked in the top 15, while we have wins over Illinois (#10) and Wisconsin (#11) on the road.

Our only loss outside of the AP top 15 is Mississippi State on the road. That's not a bad loss (it's Q1).

It's also hilarious that our loss to South Carolina at home is currently considered a Q2 loss (despite them being ranked in the top 15 of the AP Poll), while Kansas's loss to UCF is considered a Q1 loss because it was away against the 67th ranked team (Q1 cuts off at top 75 for away games).

Maybe the NET rankings just haven't been updated recently or something.

 

When it comes to rankings, record is king by February. There were some Memphis teams that hung out in the top 3 after playing virtually no one just because they only had 1 or 2 losses.

 

Hell, you could even make the case for UNC dropping. They lost @GA Tech last week and then beat an overrated Duke team at home. GA Tech is WAY worse than any team we've lost to. Why doesn't UNC drop as well?

 

On the bright side, our next 6 games are against:

- SEC # 9
- SEC # 8
- SEC # 12
- SEC # 13
- SEC # 14
- SEC # 8

There's no reason we can't win all 6 of those games and roll into our home game against a top 10-15 Auburn team ranked #3 in the country.

 

The truth is that the only way the Vols get into the top 4 is for the teams above to lose more games than the Vols do in total. At this point, there is enough of a resume that no one cares if half of our losses came from the top 10 while everyone else's came from outside the top 25.

 

@TAMU seems the riskiest.

 

Saw where ESPN (I think) has us projected to close out 9-1, only loss at Bama.

If we're thinking 1 seed, we've got to take the next 6 though.

 

That's likely enough to win the regular season championship, and be a great argument for a 1 seed.

 

Yup.

 

At SC may be an L. Maybe we won’t miss as many but their pace hurts us and gives us matchup issues when they force a switch then go iso.

 

I get the feeling we are going to win in Columbia. I think the Gamecocks are a good team, but they are going to come back to reality soon. Our loss to them was rock bottom for this season.

 

ya I don't see the Vols not getting up for that one.

 

Doesn't really fit the DNA of this team to no-show that game. Dude was shushing our fans while taking free throws, for [uck fay]'s sake.

 

I could be wrong, but I think after how we lost to UsC and how we won at UK, I think something clicked for our guys.

If they execute like they did against UK, I feel good.

But it is SEC, so anything can happen.

 

I wish we'd run like we did at Kentucky all the time.

 

We will know in the next week or two if it something has clicked.

 

Yeah. We seem to do better when we are aggressive on both sides of the ball. We don't seem to overthink. We just play.

At least that is how it seems to me.

 

If I ever coached competitive basketball at all I'd run all night and push the ball as fast as I could.

 

Ever since Barnes there's just something about playing a highly ranked UK squad that gets our undivided attention. We kick it into a gear we don't always consistently showcase whenever we find ourselves the "underdog" vs them. Us being 7-1 vs them under Barnes when they are ranked in the top 10 while being like 4-9 vs them the remaining games in the Barnes era when they are unranked/not in top 10 is boggling. We really only lose to Calipari's squad nowadays whenever they come in wounded and catch us off guard

Would be very sweet indeed if we always played with the mental edge we typically do whenever we find ourselves playing a highly ranked "future NBA talent rich" UK squad. Love how our players seemingly always desperately desire to prove a point against 'the big blue" whenever they are "elite". By far my favorite feature of the entire RB era thus far

 

For the most part, there has always been increased intensity (before Barnes included) when played UK in basketball (or Bama football or the vandyboys baseball). And yes, it is a wonderful thing to watch.

And yes, wouldn't it be grand if we maintained that intensity against all foes.

In the case of this years basketball team, it just seems we do better when we play aggressive, they don't overthink. They just play and have the confidence that they all can do it when called on to deliver. And I am hoping that the UK game made them realize that and embrace it.