Vols lose to UGA. What now?
By JT White
It was a tough game tonight in Athens for Tennessee. The game stayed in the pace that UT loves, but to keep that pace, you still need to score. Trae Golden and company did not do that in this game. You always give yourselves a great chance to win when you only allow 57 points… unless you only score 53. It was an offensive struggle all night long and was very hard to watch sometimes. The Vols could not get in any type a rhythm or get anything going from beyond the 3-point arc at all (The Vols went 1 for 14). Not to mention, 20 turnovers. It is really hard to win a game when you turn the ball over that consistently.
Defensively, it was another stellar game for UT despite a few blunders down low (including the one that tied the game at the end of regulation). What are the 2 things that Cuonzo emphasizes? Defense and rebounding. While, the Vols did not lose the rebounding margin (tied 36-36), UGA got rebounds when they needed to and Tennessee could not grab crucial defensive boards late in the game. Those of you that watched the game know what possession I’m talking about so I’m going to save us all the torment of bringing it up again. It’s moments like that where UT needs to improve if they want to get some upsets to earn a bid to the Big Dance.
So what will it take for UT to make the NCAA tournament? Right now, that is a very good question. From a basketball standpoint, they need to learn how to finish games and find someone who can step up in big time situations. I love Trae Golden but right now he is obviously not the person who can step up for us. Jeronne Maymon showed us some clutch moments in Maui. Maybe he can bring that back. Can McBee bring back memories of the Kansas game and drain a huge 3-pointer to propel the Vols to a marquee win? Or will Jarnell Stokes, the 18 year old sensation, make a name for himself early and be the very thing that Tennessee needs? It all boils down to one question: Who is going to step up and lead this team when it matters most? It’s easy to lead a team when things are going good and you have 10 point lead on Florida, but what about when you’re fighting for your lives against an unranked Georgia team?
But what is the NCAA tournament committee looking for from the Vols? Well, the win over Florida was huge but loses to Austin Peay, College of Charleston, Oakland, and Georgia doesn’t give them much room for error. So this means one thing for this squad: play extremely well in conference. And by play extremely well I mean compete for one of the top spots and pull off some upsets. A big non-conference win over UConn would be ginormous for the tournament resume. I’m not saying that it is a must win for UT, but this is the last shot that this team has to get a marquee out of conference win at home. And it happens to be against the defending National Champions who are struggling a bit.
Conference play will be where they earn a bid or we are probably looking NIT bound. Looking at the conference schedule, there are many chances to get some good wins. 2 games against Vanderbilt, 1 more game against Kentucky and Florida (both on the road), and a game in Tuscaloosa against Alabama. We obviously cannot go into the Kentucky game expecting to win in Rupp although is would be nice. The Florida game, however, is a big one. To have a clean sweep on a team that is an NCAA tournament lock would be nice. And UT has had a lot of luck against the Gators in the last couple of years (knock on wood). You really need to beat Vanderbilt at least once, if not twice, and knock off Bama. You need those kind of wins. Every other conference game is a must win. UT cannot have anymore ad losses on their resume. Period. We have enough of those. So, with that being said, we’re talking 10-6 at the absolute worse in conference. I’m not sure if that would get us in. 11-5 or 12-4 would be much nicer but you gotta get a upsets if you wanna do that. Also, if you do end up going 10-6 or worse, you better hope UT knocked off UConn or Kentucky because the chances are small if so.
With that being said, I’m not a member on the NCAA committee so I don’t know exactly what they are looking for except for big wins and a tough schedule. We have the tough schedule and are running out of chances to get the big wins. But I will say that I didn’t think VCU had any chance in the world to make it last year and not only did they make it, they went to the FINAL FOUR. So maybe the committee will love Cuonzo’s toughness and the strength of schedule and give us a chance. You can’t expect that, though. You have to earn for the right to play in March and right now, UT has not earned it.