1. The gentlemen from First Baptist Concord really nailed the Anthem tonight. Quality vocal harmony is welcome in any venue. I bet Sundays sound pretty good around that church. 2. Whoever organized the standup pregame live shots for the local news stations obviously has a bias in favor of Channel 10. Standing Kris Budden between Beavis Wogan and Gator Russo is a great advertisement for Team Straight From The Heart. A Fallon Smith sighting would have leveled the playing field. 3. I am now officially rooting for Mike Tomlin Doppleganger, henceforth MTD, to take friendly fire from the Texas Roadhouse T Shirt Cannon. That might actually motivate me to spend some dough at one of Phil Fulmer's investments. 4. This next suggestion is made with complete sincerity. UT should send Trae Golden over the Medical Center to have his lung capacity tested. I've never seen an otherwise seemingly fit guard labor that much on the D-I level. Three trips up and down the floor and you can see fatigue begin to appear. 5. This team's ballhandling is just shockingly bad. It would be interesting to watch them do offensive shell drills. My guess is that the ball is thrown away, fumbled, and dribbled errantly against air. 6. Seeing Chuck Driesell on the sideline tonight reminds me to get on my soapbox. His father has never gotten his proper due as a coach. His flamboyance and the Len Bias tragedy are what people generally remember. That's a shame. The Lefthander could flat coach. 7. I really like this team's attitude right now. Guys are encouraging their teammates from the bench and celebarting the success of others. That a really good sign. This team isn't talented enough to win with guys going in a hundred different directions. Everyone has to be pulling the roap toward a common goal. 8. It's dangerous to read too much into a game against Southern Conference also ran, but Yemi Makanjuola was brilliant. He broke out post moves he hadn't even hinted at having to this point in the season. Maybe the recruiting class Coach Martin cobbled together after he took over in the spring will turn out to exceed expectations. The only person in the builing not having a great time was probably Bob Kesling. The listening audience probably got at least nine different pronunciations of Makanjuola's name. 9. All in all, not a bad performance. The Citadel isn't going to be confused for UCONN or Kentucky, but the Vols made shots, moved the ball, and were generally sound defensively. The rebounding was iffy until Makanjuola came on the floor. The ballhandling is simply something this group has to play through. 10. Three in a row is a good run for this team. Nobody's going to confuse them with the '87 Lakers, but progress, albeit slow, is being made. They have little margin for error, but should be able to compete most nights when conference play begins.
What size shirt do you wear? I am making Yemi Makanjuola fan club t-shirts and I am sure you want one now. Seriously though. I appreciate the post-game reports. Good stuff.
One more thing I wanted to comment on: Bill Justus provides excellent color commentary on the television broadcasts. He isn't over-the-top or trying to use stupid jargon throughout. He provides measured analysis when necessary and then lets the game speak for itself.
Golden seems pretty adept at getting in the paint and knocking down those floaters. I remember three of those that he made tonight. Competition likely had something to do with it, but I'd like to see more of those from him. Pretty good weapon for the 1 guy to have.
The '87 Lakers are the first basketball team I ever liked....at least that I can recall. Childhood fanhood is a funny thing, but man I loved everything about that team. Loved Magic...but Byron Scott was totally my favorite. I also had a sweet sweet James Worthy poster (thumbnail below).
