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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Mar 15, 2021 12:54:06 GMT -8
Oregon State and Tennessee have one common opponent and that is Colorado. Colorado travelled across the country to play Tennessee in Knoxville on December 8, 2020. The game was the Vols' season-opener. The Buffs had kicked off the season with two impressive wins over South Dakota (by 23) and Kansas State (by 18) in Manhattan, Kansas, the day before and after Thanksgiving. Colorado State had cancelled on Colorado on December 8th because of COVID-19, so Colorado scheduled the road trip to Tennessee instead. The Vols jumped out to a 26-10 lead before the Buffs cut the lead to four before trailing at seven at the half. Colorado cut the lead to two before Tennessee built up an 11-point lead, 50-39. The Buffs went on a 8-2 run to pull within five, but the Vols scored the final four points to put the game away 56-47.
Oregon State got swept by Colorado in the regular season. Colorado won in Boulder 78-49 on a Monday game after the Arizona State game was cancelled. Oregon State was coming off a home sweep of the Washington schools. The result was Colorado beating a very drained Oregon State 78-49. In game two, Colorado never trailed in the second half, but it was tied at 35-35. It was 44-43 Buffs before Colorado went on an 11-2 run to lead by 10 with 4:19 left. Oregon State worked it down to four, which is where it finished 61-57. The Beavers, of course, won the Pac-12 Championship game 70-68.
After starting 10-1 nine weeks ago (only loss at home to Alabama), Tennessee appeared to be a surefire two-seed. The Vols went 8-7 after that point, finishing fourth in the SEC. Tennessee's second-to-last regular season game was a 77-72 loss to shorthanded Auburn at Auburn. One week before, Tennessee dropped a home game to Kentucky (which finished eighth in the SEC) by 15. The Vols beat the Gators in the SEC Tournament but lost to the Tide in the semifinal by five. Tennessee led after the first minute and led by as many as 15 early in the second half, but Alabama came back to take a lead with 5:26 left. The Tide led for the rest of the way; although, the Vols were on the line with less than a minute to go with a chance to take the lead, but Davonte Gaines missed two free throws. The Tide were able to run the lead up to five for the win.
Tennessee finished with a NET of 13 but unranked. The general assessment is that the Vols are very talented but have a difficult time playing as a team and appear to be very inconsistent and poorly coached. If the Tennessee from the first month-and-a-half of the season shows up (or possibly the Tennessee from the last three games, as well), this will be a tough game to win. If the Tennessee from the second month-and-a-half shows up, this game will be very winnable.
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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Mar 15, 2021 13:09:16 GMT -8
Oregon State and Tennessee have one common opponent and that is Colorado. Colorado travelled across the country to play Tennessee in Knoxville on December 8, 2020. The game was the Vols' season-opener. The Buffs had kicked off the season with two impressive wins over South Dakota (by 23) and Kansas State (by 18) in Manhattan, Kansas, the day before and after Thanksgiving. Colorado State had cancelled on Colorado on December 8th because of COVID-19, so Colorado scheduled the road trip to Tennessee instead. The Vols jumped out to a 26-10 lead before the Buffs cut the lead to four before trailing at seven at the half. Colorado cut the lead to two before Tennessee built up an 11-point lead, 50-39. The Buffs went on a 8-2 run to pull within five, but the Vols scored the final four points to put the game away 56-47. Oregon State got swept by Colorado in the regular season. Colorado won in Boulder 78-49 on a Monday game after the Arizona State game was cancelled. Oregon State was coming off a home sweep of the Washington schools. The result was Colorado beating a very drained Oregon State 78-49. In game two, Colorado never trailed in the second half, but it was tied at 35-35. It was 44-43 Buffs before Colorado went on an 11-2 run to lead by 10 with 4:19 left. Oregon State worked it down to four, which is where it finished 61-57. The Beavers, of course, won the Pac-12 Championship game 70-68. After starting 10-1 nine weeks ago (only loss at home to Alabama), Tennessee appeared to be a surefire two-seed. The Vols went 8-7 after that point, finishing fourth in the SEC. Tennessee's second-to-last regular season game was a 77-72 loss to shorthanded Auburn at Auburn. One week before, Tennessee dropped a home game to Kentucky (which finished eighth in the SEC) by 15. The Vols beat the Gators in the SEC Tournament but lost to the Tide in the semifinal by five. Tennessee led after the first minute and led by as many as 15 early in the second half, but Alabama came back to take a lead with 5:26 left. The Tide led for the rest of the way; although, the Vols were on the line with less than a minute to go with a chance to take the lead, but Davonte Gaines missed two free throws. The Tide were able to run the lead up to five for the win. Tennessee finished with a NET of 13 but unranked. The general assessment is that the Vols are very talented but have a difficult time playing as a team and appear to be very inconsistent and poorly coached. If the Tennessee from the first month-and-a-half of the season shows up (or possibly the Tennessee from the last three games, as well), this will be a tough game to win. If the Tennessee from the second month-and-a-half shows up, this game will be very winnable. I should add that John Fulkerson's status is up in the air after having surgery on his face after he was cheap-shotted in the Florida game in the SEC quarters. Fulkerson has been Tennessee's starting power forward the past two seasons after mostly playing as a backup in his first two seasons. Tennessee is 7.5 point favorites. |
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Post by TheGlove on Mar 15, 2021 13:16:44 GMT -8
A couple of Vol fans were just approved; hopefully they're sane.
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Post by afvolunteer on Mar 15, 2021 13:33:06 GMT -8
Haha...sane Vol fan here! Looking forward to learning about you guys and I’ll share a TLDR thread later about our team. 20 second version. We’re really good on D but wildly inconsistent on O (and even though we’re inconsistent, we’re typically pretty consistently bad)! Our fans hate the midrange game, but our coaches and players love it! Why take a 3 point shot when you can take one step forward basically take the same shot but get less points for it. That’s typically how we seem to scheme.  We’ve got 2 freshmen guards who are very talented, but this is where our inconsistency comes from. They can go off, but they also can disappear (on offense that is; on D, they’re like the rest of our team and generally pretty good). When we get beat it’s often b/c we cannot figure out how to put the ball in the bucket. We usually play better when teams like to run. We tend to rarely dictate the pace but our athletes and stagnant offense do much better in a high tempo format. I see you guys play insanely slow. That’s good for you, bad for us! Also, we tend to foul out our own players any time we get 2 in the first half. One of the most conservative in the nation. You guys are actually worse than us (though our respective coaches would say “better”). Yves Pons is who you want in foul trouble. Honestly, we’re not super deep across the board, but Yves is a defensive stopper and when he leaves the game, our D drops off quite a bit. Much more to follow later tonight. Of note, I think Illinois got screwed. Loyola-Chicago and Ga Tech are two teams that were seeded way too low (edited to add, seeded way to high? I’m dumb, both of these are way better than the typical 8/9 game I think. Same for LSU...Michigan and Illinois as a good as they all are might not make it out of the first weekend IMO)! My wife is from Banks (outside of Portland) and her folks live in Beaverton, a block from Nike campus. I got married in Oregon City. Beautiful up there. Ducks can suck it by the way. That’s my lame attempt at some arse kissing. Thanks for the quick approval. |
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Post by mbabeav on Mar 15, 2021 13:58:25 GMT -8
Haha...sane Vol fan here! Looking forward to learning about you guys and I’ll share a TLDR thread later about our team. 20 second version. We’re really good on D but wildly inconsistent on O (and even though we’re inconsistent, we’re typically pretty consistently bad)! Our fans hate the midrange game, but our coaches and players love it! Why take a 3 point shot when you can take one step forward basically take the same shot but get less points for it. That’s typically how we seem to scheme. We’ve got 2 freshmen guards who are very talented, but this is where our inconsistency comes from. They can go off, but they also can disappear (on offense that is; on D, they’re like the rest of our team and generally pretty good). When we get beat it’s often b/c we cannot figure out how to put the ball in the bucket. We usually play better when teams like to run. We tend to rarely dictate the pace but our athletes and stagnant offense do much better in a high tempo format. I see you guys play insanely slow. That’s good for you, bad for us! Also, we tend to foul out our own players any time we get 2 in the first half. One of the most conservative in the nation. You guys are actually worse than us (though our respective coaches would say “better”). Yves Pons is who you want in foul trouble. Honestly, we’re not super deep across the board, but Yves is a defensive stopper and when he leaves the game, our D drops off quite a bit. Much more to follow later tonight. Of note, I think Illinois got screwed. Loyola-Chicago and Ga Tech are two teams that were seeded way too low (edited to add, seeded way to high? I’m dumb, both of these are way better than the typical 8/9 game I think. Same for LSU...Michigan and Illinois as a good as they all are might not make it out of the first weekend IMO)! My wife is from Banks (outside of Portland) and her folks live in Beaverton, a block from Nike campus. I got married in Oregon City. Beautiful up there. Ducks can suck it by the way. That’s my lame attempt at some arse kissing. Thanks for the quick approval. It's never lame to slam the ucks around here, welcome to the board! |
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Post by 93beav on Mar 15, 2021 13:58:41 GMT -8
Haha...sane Vol fan here! Looking forward to learning about you guys and I’ll share a TLDR thread later about our team. 20 second version. We’re really good on D but wildly inconsistent on O (and even though we’re inconsistent, we’re typically pretty consistently bad)! Our fans hate the midrange game, but our coaches and players love it! Why take a 3 point shot when you can take one step forward basically take the same shot but get less points for it. That’s typically how we seem to scheme. We’ve got 2 freshmen guards who are very talented, but this is where our inconsistency comes from. They can go off, but they also can disappear (on offense that is; on D, they’re like the rest of our team and generally pretty good). When we get beat it’s often b/c we cannot figure out how to put the ball in the bucket. We usually play better when teams like to run. We tend to rarely dictate the pace but our athletes and stagnant offense do much better in a high tempo format. I see you guys play insanely slow. That’s good for you, bad for us! Also, we tend to foul out our own players any time we get 2 in the first half. One of the most conservative in the nation. You guys are actually worse than us (though our respective coaches would say “better”). Yves Pons is who you want in foul trouble. Honestly, we’re not super deep across the board, but Yves is a defensive stopper and when he leaves the game, our D drops off quite a bit. Much more to follow later tonight. Of note, I think Illinois got screwed. Loyola-Chicago and Ga Tech are two teams that were seeded way too low (edited to add, seeded way to high? I’m dumb, both of these are way better than the typical 8/9 game I think. Same for LSU...Michigan and Illinois as a good as they all are might not make it out of the first weekend IMO)! My wife is from Banks (outside of Portland) and her folks live in Beaverton, a block from Nike campus. I got married in Oregon City. Beautiful up there. Ducks can suck it by the way. That’s my lame attempt at some arse kissing. Thanks for the quick approval. You had me at "Ducks can suck it by the way". I've read somewhere online that the Vols have one of the top defenses in the country. I think it will be an incredibly tough fight, and all comes down to whether OSU can hold Tenn defensively as well. How much does the injury to your forward (if he doesn't play) affect the team? |
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Post by beaverstever on Mar 15, 2021 14:03:01 GMT -8
@afvolutneer - wow, very sane write-up; not even sure which orange tint you have on your glasses  Yes, we are indeed a pretty deliberate team, and won't get in any track meets. We have pretty similar strengths and weaknesses; offensively very challenged at times, but have generally defended pretty well. This team was totally lost to begin the season, and somehow has found their identity. We basically have two guys that have played together beyond last year, and the 3rd is Lucas with any time together, who still feels like a precocious freshman. He and Hunt play our deliberate half-court game like Stef Curry, constantly moving. Alatishe is a joy to watch, as he's as athletic as a guy you will see in the postseason - monster on the offensive glass and scores around the rim with these one-handed shots that pretty much are released above the rim and move downward. He's still pretty raw to the game in general, but I will be very surprised if he doesn't develop into a draft pick by the end of next year. Andele is a similar story, relatively new to the game with great frame for it, and is a rare case of us actually having a wide body. He and Alatishe have a good two-man game going. Calloo is a guy that has not see much time and then goes off against Colorado - he's a matchup problem if he's confident, and he's a true outside-in big. Thompson is the senior leader; he scores in bunches quietly - not flashy but effective. Good playmaker in general; draws a lot of attention of the D. Reichle is a glue guy that can shoot, but picks his spots pretty carefully. Not a team that scares anybody on paper, but somehow this ragtag crew has come together at the right time. They embody what has often been our story at OSU in both football and (further back) in baseball, where they didn't have a lot of professional-level talent, but they found a way to beat people anyway. There's a good reason Tenn is a strong favorite, but I think they will be in trouble if they spend any time thinking instead about a later matchup with another OSU. They have thrived on the disrespect (picked to finish last in conference), and their confidence is now riding really high. |
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Post by flyfishinbeav on Mar 15, 2021 14:19:40 GMT -8
Haha...sane Vol fan here! Looking forward to learning about you guys and I’ll share a TLDR thread later about our team. 20 second version. We’re really good on D but wildly inconsistent on O (and even though we’re inconsistent, we’re typically pretty consistently bad)! Our fans hate the midrange game, but our coaches and players love it! Why take a 3 point shot when you can take one step forward basically take the same shot but get less points for it. That’s typically how we seem to scheme. We’ve got 2 freshmen guards who are very talented, but this is where our inconsistency comes from. They can go off, but they also can disappear (on offense that is; on D, they’re like the rest of our team and generally pretty good). When we get beat it’s often b/c we cannot figure out how to put the ball in the bucket. We usually play better when teams like to run. We tend to rarely dictate the pace but our athletes and stagnant offense do much better in a high tempo format. I see you guys play insanely slow. That’s good for you, bad for us! Also, we tend to foul out our own players any time we get 2 in the first half. One of the most conservative in the nation. You guys are actually worse than us (though our respective coaches would say “better”). Yves Pons is who you want in foul trouble. Honestly, we’re not super deep across the board, but Yves is a defensive stopper and when he leaves the game, our D drops off quite a bit. Much more to follow later tonight. Of note, I think Illinois got screwed. Loyola-Chicago and Ga Tech are two teams that were seeded way too low (edited to add, seeded way to high? I’m dumb, both of these are way better than the typical 8/9 game I think. Same for LSU...Michigan and Illinois as a good as they all are might not make it out of the first weekend IMO)! My wife is from Banks (outside of Portland) and her folks live in Beaverton, a block from Nike campus. I got married in Oregon City. Beautiful up there. Ducks can suck it by the way. That’s my lame attempt at some arse kissing. Thanks for the quick approval. Hey, I like this guy! |
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Post by Judge Smails on Mar 15, 2021 14:39:29 GMT -8
Haha...sane Vol fan here! Looking forward to learning about you guys and I’ll share a TLDR thread later about our team. 20 second version. We’re really good on D but wildly inconsistent on O (and even though we’re inconsistent, we’re typically pretty consistently bad)! Our fans hate the midrange game, but our coaches and players love it! Why take a 3 point shot when you can take one step forward basically take the same shot but get less points for it. That’s typically how we seem to scheme. We’ve got 2 freshmen guards who are very talented, but this is where our inconsistency comes from. They can go off, but they also can disappear (on offense that is; on D, they’re like the rest of our team and generally pretty good). When we get beat it’s often b/c we cannot figure out how to put the ball in the bucket. We usually play better when teams like to run. We tend to rarely dictate the pace but our athletes and stagnant offense do much better in a high tempo format. I see you guys play insanely slow. That’s good for you, bad for us! Also, we tend to foul out our own players any time we get 2 in the first half. One of the most conservative in the nation. You guys are actually worse than us (though our respective coaches would say “better”). Yves Pons is who you want in foul trouble. Honestly, we’re not super deep across the board, but Yves is a defensive stopper and when he leaves the game, our D drops off quite a bit. Much more to follow later tonight. Of note, I think Illinois got screwed. Loyola-Chicago and Ga Tech are two teams that were seeded way too low (edited to add, seeded way to high? I’m dumb, both of these are way better than the typical 8/9 game I think. Same for LSU...Michigan and Illinois as a good as they all are might not make it out of the first weekend IMO)! My wife is from Banks (outside of Portland) and her folks live in Beaverton, a block from Nike campus. I got married in Oregon City. Beautiful up there. Ducks can suck it by the way. That’s my lame attempt at some arse kissing. Thanks for the quick approval. Hey, I like this guy! Careful....they do have a former uck playing for them.... |
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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Mar 15, 2021 15:08:01 GMT -8
Haha...sane Vol fan here! Looking forward to learning about you guys and I’ll share a TLDR thread later about our team. 20 second version. We’re really good on D but wildly inconsistent on O (and even though we’re inconsistent, we’re typically pretty consistently bad)! Our fans hate the midrange game, but our coaches and players love it! Why take a 3 point shot when you can take one step forward basically take the same shot but get less points for it. That’s typically how we seem to scheme. We’ve got 2 freshmen guards who are very talented, but this is where our inconsistency comes from. They can go off, but they also can disappear (on offense that is; on D, they’re like the rest of our team and generally pretty good). When we get beat it’s often b/c we cannot figure out how to put the ball in the bucket. We usually play better when teams like to run. We tend to rarely dictate the pace but our athletes and stagnant offense do much better in a high tempo format. I see you guys play insanely slow. That’s good for you, bad for us! Also, we tend to foul out our own players any time we get 2 in the first half. One of the most conservative in the nation. You guys are actually worse than us (though our respective coaches would say “better”). Yves Pons is who you want in foul trouble. Honestly, we’re not super deep across the board, but Yves is a defensive stopper and when he leaves the game, our D drops off quite a bit. Much more to follow later tonight. Of note, I think Illinois got screwed. Loyola-Chicago and Ga Tech are two teams that were seeded way too low (edited to add, seeded way to high? I’m dumb, both of these are way better than the typical 8/9 game I think. Same for LSU...Michigan and Illinois as a good as they all are might not make it out of the first weekend IMO)! My wife is from Banks (outside of Portland) and her folks live in Beaverton, a block from Nike campus. I got married in Oregon City. Beautiful up there. Ducks can suck it by the way. That’s my lame attempt at some arse kissing. Thanks for the quick approval. You had me at "Ducks can suck it by the way". I've read somewhere online that the Vols have one of the top defenses in the country. I think it will be an incredibly tough fight, and all comes down to whether OSU can hold Tenn defensively as well. How much does the injury to your forward (if he doesn't play) affect the team? Pomeroy ranks Tennessee as the fourth-best defense in the Country behind only Loyola-Chicago, Alabama and Memphis. Pomeroy rates our offense as better than Tennessee's but nowhere near as good on defense. According to Pomeroy, Oregon State has the 43rd slowest offense in the country, third-slowest in the Pac-12 behind (ahead?) of only UCLA and California. Oregon State would be 12th in the SEC behind (ahead?) of only Mississippi and Texas A&M. Tennessee is 82 spots behind (ahead?) of Oregon State in tempo. According to Pomeroy, the team that plays with the most similar style to Tennessee in the Pac-12 is USC. The Trojans' defense is not as good as the Vols, but USC tends to shoot the ball better than Tennessee. Oregon is the second-closest analog but shoots the ball better and plays worse defense than USC. Pomeroy ranks Tennessee as the 21st-best team in America, which means that the Vols are slightly over-rated as a five-seed. The team in the Pac-12 that is closest to Pomeroy's ranking is Colorado. The Buffaloes are even better offensively and worse defensively than USC. Pomeroy ranks Tennessee third in the Pac-12, behind both Colorado and USC but better than Oregon. Oregon State beating all those three teams four times on the year. I still think that Oregon State and Tennessee are two teams that each played much differently late and early in the season. The Beavers played like hot garbage their first 10 games before starting to right the ship in the middle. And then they really came on hot over the last seven. Tennessee played like all-worlders the first 11 games, then regressed a bit in the middle of the season before, hitting their stride again in the final three games or so. I would have liked to play Tennessee 10 days ago rather than on Friday, but beggars can't be choosers. |
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Post by wcvol on Mar 15, 2021 16:00:03 GMT -8
Hey guys Vol fan here first off congrats on your amazing run in the PAC12. I won 3 bets backing you guys the entire way and I also hate Oregon (maybe its that eye cringing court or the puke uniforms but I digress) so I'm sure it felt good knocking them out of the PAC12 tournament. Amazing run for being picked last.
Wanted to provide some info about Tenn since I guess many of you haven't watched us. Tenn is a complete enigma. No other way to describe them. At times they look like a Final 4 team and at other times they make you want to pull your hair out. Tenn started out the season dealing with Covid and was one of the last power 5 teams to even play a game. As mentioned they played Colorado and while the final score doesn't really appear that way Colorado was really never in the game. Tenn defense smothered them and shut down Wright. Without looking it was probably Wright's worsy game all year. I believe metrics wise it was one of Colorado's top 3 worst points per possession games in the last 10 years. The two 5 star freshman Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer played their least amount of minutes all year vs Colorado as the coaching staff eased them in the first couple games. I don't take much away from that game other than when Tenn is dialed in on defense they can shut down some really good teams and make them look silly on offense.
They had a good non-conference schedule before Covid ruined that so the rest of the non conference they really buried some mediocre and bad teams. Best win all year was probably a drubbing of Kansas in Jan. The SEC schedule was up and down filled with several games where they just completely did not show up. The variance is off the chart with this team which is why everyone has written them off. Blow Missouri out by 20 on the road lose by double digits at home. Beat Arkansas then turn around and lose by 26 to Florida missing multiple players. Beat Kansas then turn around and lose to Ole Miss where they made one basket the last 12 mins. Beat KY in Rupp by double digits and then turn around and get smacked by KY at home. Tenn dealt with various injuries and key guys in and out of the lineup at different times so they were constantly without a full deck during the SEC schedule but that's not an excuse for the erratic play because every team this year dealt with adversity this season.
Even with the ups and downs this year Tenn has remained a top 5 adjusted defense in Kenpom and are currently 4. While they are not a team filled with "size" they are 11th in the country in blocked shots%. The length and athleticism of Tenn guards is a problem for a lot of teams. Tenn weakness on defense is putting people on the ft line. They are a very aggressive defensive team which creates lots of TOs and gives you nothing easy at the rim but with that comes a tendency to foul. So I think for Oregon State to have success in this game its to get to the FT line. Even if they keep getting shots blocked keep trying to draw fouls and get to the line. I also think Oregon State is gonna have to make 8+ three pointers because Tenn does have a tendency to lose some shooters due to being over aggressive. I really expect Oregon State to struggle a lot at times on offense in this game but if they get hot from 3 and get to the line we got a game.
Tenn real issue is on offense. Not having a true PG is probably what is keeping this team from being an elite 8 final 4 team. The talent is there. Tenn is completely erratic on offense. They go through spurts where they don't score for 5 mins and go through spurts where they can jump a team by double digits in a blink of eye feeding off their defense. They go through spurts where they wont turn the ball over for 7 mins then turn it over on 5 straight possessions. The perfect example of this team was Sat. Dominated Alabama the first 25 minutes and were up 16. Josiah James gets his 4th foul and Alabama immediately goes on a 15-0 run. I think Tenn wound up with 20 TO's that game so if Tenn gets to 15+ TO's vs Oregon State you guys have a great shot at winning. Barnes has consistently said all year one of Tenn major problems is they are too unselfish. They turn down open shots to make an extra pass or try to get too cute and it causes a TO that leads to an easy basket the other way. I don't expect this to get fixed in a week since its been a problem all year so I think Oregon State has a real chance to get easy points when Tenn is careless with the ball.
I don't think Fulkerson is going to play and while he's not had a very good season due to health issues he is still a Sr. leader on the team. That means Tenn is probably going to go small and play fast. Don't be fooled by the tempo metrics as Tenn was one of the slowest teams to start the year but due to the way things have played out they are playing much faster with the two 5 star guards and playing small ball. They are gonna run any chance they get and its probably wise for Oregon State to not play that game because that is how Oregon State can get run off the court. Slow the game down and limit possessions and make Tenn beat them by taking care of the basketball in the half court something they can't seem to do consistently. This team is either hot from 3 or ice cold. Your guess is as good as mine which happens on Friday. They can go 9-21 or 3-25 from 3.
Tenn can lose this game but at the same time they could really put a whooping on the Beavers. The variance here is crazy. My best guess is Tenn wins but Oregon State covers the 8 points. Maybe a 70-64 type final. I think Tenn at some point will get a big lead then will proceed to cough it up like they have all year. So as Beaver fans don't give up if it some point it might not look good because I can tell you as a Tenn fan this is what they do. They have not played 40 mins of great basketball all year minus the Kansas game and the first Missouri game. There will be a stretch where Tenn wont score and they will cough the ball up and that's where Oregon State can do some damage.
Off topic but I really like your football coach. Good luck next season and beat Oregon again.
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Post by afvolunteer on Mar 15, 2021 18:44:53 GMT -8
You had me at "Ducks can suck it by the way". I've read somewhere online that the Vols have one of the top defenses in the country. I think it will be an incredibly tough fight, and all comes down to whether OSU can hold Tenn defensively as well. How much does the injury to your forward (if he doesn't play) affect the team? The injury will definitely affect us. We're a better team with him on the floor. He was an absolute stud last year, his junior year. Surged to become one of the better big men in the game. Was a national leader in FG efficiency, TS%, getting to the line, etc. He started that way this year, then the team got hit with COVID, and he's not been the same player. He was actually benched for a few games. There's (total speculation) rumor about him having COVID fatigue after he tested positive, as his stamina is just night and day different than last year. I'll write a long post to follow, but he's not a traditional big. He plays wreckless and fast, despite often looking like a giraffe learning how to walk sometimes, but somehow makes it work. His last 2 games (coincidentally when we started playing well again) were a direct reflection of him coming back to form.
I see no way he plays the game against you guys, but the even if he does, he's going to be so timid with a faceshield or something that my assumption is it will take away his helter skelter style of play which is what gives him such an advantage.
We have very little post depth, so his loss is likely a big plus for you guys.
In our favor though, he didn't play well through a large portion of the year so we're used to him not playing, or not playing well (coincidentally that's often where we struggled this year). The other thing his absence will force us to play small, and I actually think that at times makes us faster/better; not trying to force the inside out halfcourt game is a good thing for us. We didn't have him a on Sat against #2 seed Bama, and we led most of that game and were down 1 with under a minute to play, going to the line for 2 FTs (and we missed both...ugh!) Every Vol fan would surely wish we had him. And what chaps our ass the most about him missing action is the dude who made the dirty play gets to play his NCAAT game.
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Post by irimi on Mar 15, 2021 19:15:01 GMT -8
I got $50 that says the orange team will win the game. Any takers?
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Post by Henry Skrimshander on Mar 15, 2021 19:54:35 GMT -8
That I wouldn't want to live there?
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Post by afvolunteer on Mar 15, 2021 20:40:53 GMT -8
That I wouldn't want to live there?  |
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