Tennessee Pregame Thread

[proshox]

First, this week be an awesome game to have downtown. I like having a different game experience from Koch and having a team like UT come to town is the icing on the cake.

Second, this will be the game that will get attention, because I think our bigs step-up and prove they can be part of a team capable of making a run in the tournament.

Third, I like that it is a revenge game against the team that prevented the shockers from going 10-0 last year.

Shockers win and the respect will come from all the doubters.

[DUShock]

Shocks by 5.

[Kung Wu]

One of my buddies is a UT grad and the loser has to pay for 4 diners.

Come on Shocks, play tough and bring home #10.

4 diners! Now that's putting your money where your mouth is. I am used to guys gambling a few meals here and there, but the entire eating establishment TIMES 4?! High roller in the house! :)

[Slalomshocker]

This one is going to come down to how it is officiated. Good matchup and should be a great game.

If the posts are let play:
Shox 72
Vols 65

If its called tight in the post:
Vols 68
Shox 62

I wouldn't mind seeing Marshall go with a "small" lineup with Cle at the 5 to try and run their bigs to the bench.

[1972Shocker]

I particularly loved this gem:



Now, don't get me wrong, I love Cle. But if you knew anything about us thus far, you'd know who are MVP and best all-around player is right now. Baker certainly isn't doing his thing because of Cle getting attention.

It would look better that if you don't know what you're talking about, to just simply stop typing. That seems to be a reoccurring theme with Tennessee fans.

The thing is, as far as the actual game goes it means little to nothing what Vol fans think (or what Shocker fans think for that matter). I'm pretty sure the Tennessee coaching staff understand what they are facing. I'm expecting a very competitive game. I'm hoping the Shocks have a break-the-mold full 40 minute effort of their best basketball and perhaps make it not so competitive.

[jocoshock]

This one is going to come down to how it is officiated. Good matchup and should be a great game.

If the posts are let play:
Shox 72
Vols 65

If its called tight in the post:
Vols 68
Shox 62

I wouldn't mind seeing Marshall go with a "small" lineup with Cle at the 5 to try and run their bigs to the bench.

I wouldn't mind seeing a lineup with CLE, Darius, Tekele, Ron, Fred with CLE spending some time at the 5. I think he could do some damage down there... But I am also eager to see how Chadrack does against Stokes.

McCrae, Stokes and Maymon are their big 3. McCrae is a 6'6 guard who could pose some matchup problems, but I think we can match up with them without too much trouble, no matter what the lineup/mix of Daris/Chadrack and the other 4. We need Kadeem to bring his game also, but right now, I see him as #3 on the depth chart in this particular game. Would love to be proven wrong though...

[jocoshock]

A conversation with Cuonzo Martin

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/90973/a-conversation-with-cuonzo-martin

ESPN: How significant is Saturday’s matchup at Wichita State?


Martin: I think it’s a big game for us. You’re talking about a very talented team, a team that did a great job making it to the Final Four. [Gregg Marshall has] done a good job of getting his guys to compete and play hard on a consistent basis, playing hard on both sides of the floor. I think it’ll be great for our guys. I think it’ll be a great atmosphere.

[1972Shocker]

Anybody up for some fun reading? Apparently, we haven't played anybody. They're the best team on our schedule. We're overrated. Our #11 ranking is unjustified. They should handle us. They have better guard play. We are unimpressive.

Did I miss anything?

I actually thought the Vol board was generally pretty respectful of the Shocks with the exception of just a couple of posters. @WuDrWu did a great job of educating the Vol fans who admittedly were making a lot of assumptions about the Shocks.

For example, the one or two posters claiming we had not played anyone are good examples of fans throwing worthless crap onto a message board without doing any research. According to RealTimeRPI.com the Shock's SOS to date is 70. That's actually pretty damn good for a school who that has difficulty getting BCS schools to play them. Tennessee's SOS to date is 179.

Of course, with their respective conference affiliations the Shocks need a stronger SOS in the non-con. The Shocks projected full year SOS is 121 while Tennessee's is 27. Thank you MVC.

[WuShock16]

I am not going to take the time to register on their board to correct them...but huh????

"Martin has a track record of out coaching their coach....track record that one."

My count has 3G up 5-4 on this one.

Go to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.

[Play Angry]

According to RealTimeRPI.com the Shock's SOS to date is 70. That's actually pretty damn good for a school who that has difficulty getting BCS schools to play them. Tennessee's SOS to date is 179.

Of course, with their respective conference affiliations the Shocks need a stronger SOS in the non-con. The Shocks projected full year SOS is 121 while Tennessee's is 27. Thank you MVC.

Woof.

Missouri Valley Conference: lilliputians, poor sisters, and ankle biters welcome.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Last year the guy that hurt us most was Trey Golden, who had 25 points and 5 assists, Carl Hall had 21 and 9 for us, Cle was shut out, EO was nursing a bad ankle and Evan was not playing at all. The rest of the team had subpar shooting nights except for FVV.

For UT, Maymon did not play. So I don't think either team can draw any hard conclusions for this year's game.

Our bigs have to neutralize Maymon and Stokes. From what I have seen of their guards,they are definitely athletic, but nothing we haven't seen already. UT or TU's schedule is nothing to shout about either, so let`s play this game.

I expect to see 10-0 next to our name this next week...

We definitely can and should win this game, but it will take a SLU or BYU effort on both ends of the floor.

Would be great to see two good halves of BB. We get that, and there is no debate...

Last year, the Shocks lost by 9.

Here is the root cause of the loss as follows:

Turnovers - 16
Personal fouls - 28
Total - 44

Forty-four is an outrageously high total. Any hope of winning begins to diminish, when the total exceeds 30. Fortunately for the Shockers, the Vols total was 37. It helped to keep the deficit reasonably close.

In last season's NCAA Championship play, the average turnovers and personal fouls for all teams were as follows:
Turnovers - 11
Personal fouls - 16

In last season's NCAA Championship play, the Shockers average turnovers and personal fouls were as follows:
Turnovers - 11
Personal fouls - 20

In last season's NCAA Championship play, Louisville's average turnovers and personal fouls were as follows:
Turnovers - 11
Personal fouls - 20

Yes, the Shockers and Cardinals had identical stats.

Very good and great teams take care of the ball and avoid dumb fouls.

[Cdizzle]

I also remember a couple of very "questionable" Technical Fouls on Shockers for being "too excited." I am sure, that I did not see any such displays in any of the other SEC games I watched last year.

[1972Shocker]

Any hope of winning begins to diminish, when the total exceeds 30. Fortunately for the Shockers, the Vols total was 37. It helped to keep the deficit reasonably close.

I'm thinking your magic number probably needs to be adjusted upward somewhat this year due to the decision to enforce the rules of the game more strictly. Perhaps to the 33 to 35 area.

[Shox21]

Didn't see this posted, but might have missed it:
THE GAMES YOU NEED TO SEE (by Eamonn Brennan at ESPN)

…
Saturday: Tennessee at Wichita State, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN2): It's still early in the season, but we're rapidly approaching put up-or-shut up time for Tennessee, which entered the season with the returning SEC Player of the Year (Jordan McRae), a bruising front line (Jarnell Stokes, Jeronne Maymon) and SEC title contention buzz. The Volunteers have already lost to Xavier and UTEP. That's hardly an irreparable situation, and I'm not saying a win at Wichita State is required (harsh, man) … but we need to see something, you know?

[1972Shocker]

We all pretty much know who the studs are for each team. The question does either team have a couple of supporting players that might step up and make a significant contribution to the outcome of this game. I really can't comment on the Vols, but for the Shocks I think Kadeem and Nick could really give us a boost if they can have good games. Let's hope that is forthcoming.