Posted by ratkins589 on January 23, 2008 at 1:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Tonight, I don't think we all played with passion.''well said

Posted by hdhurst on January 23, 2008 at 1:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Nice article...hits it right on.

Posted by pms151 on January 23, 2008 at 2:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Excellent evaluation Mike. But don't you think it was more us playing down to the competition than KY having a great night? Tennessee men's sport teams do not fare well with rivals. Why so? Do we lack the killer instinct? Are we just getting psyched out by the dominance of the other programs? Just what is it?

Posted by slambob2 on January 23, 2008 at 5:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)

From where I sit, this team's version of "not playing with passion" is a whole lot better than most teams greatest passion.

This will make practice better, games better and the KY trip to Knoxville even sweeter.

This season and this team are a dream come true.

slambob

Posted by james on January 23, 2008 at 6:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)

It may be because he missed fired when the game was on the line then connected when the game was over. He may feel like he let down his team when the pressure was on. But we still love him and he has put the Vols on the map the last couple years. 5-10 from 3-point is not a bad night. Congrads.

Posted by alfrizzle097 on January 23, 2008 at 6:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)

He misfired on shots that wouldn't have been necassary if people had run the offense instead of running around playing 1 on 1 or trying to get someone else to take the shot.

It looked to me like our offense was a whole lot of nothing until 10 seconds left on the shot clock.

Posted by bustervols on January 23, 2008 at 8:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Shoot!

Posted by johnlg00 on January 23, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Good article, Mike. That is pretty much how it looked to me, too. The Vols clearly didn't have the extra pep and tenacity that has been the trademark of this team. For the most part, Chism, Lofton, and Ramar played well enough for us to win, but most of the rest of them did not. We got nothing at all from Howell and Childress. Tyler and J.P. had only a few good spots. We did look tired, but Kentucky played a late overtime game on the road Saturday with fewer players than we have, so what's up with that? Bradley has played every minute UK has played for most of the season, but he still had enough left to get around us pretty much whenever he wanted, and he looked pretty strong on those late clinching free throws. Patterson is a monster. I hope our post players were taking good notes. I said yesterday that we had to bring our A game if we wanted to win this one, so I hope the team has learned a lesson.

Posted by IdahoVol on January 23, 2008 at 9:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)

As expected, several posters on the other article are jumping ship. Take this game for what it was - an off night in a tough venue. In past years if we play like we did last night, KY beats us by 20. Last night they just outlasted us. As mentioned in the article above, this won't be the start of a skid. The Vols will be where they need to be in March.

Posted by sannie82 on January 23, 2008 at 9:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Lofton just flat out sucks, when your suppose to be a star player your not suppose to be on the bench 7 of the final 10 of the game.

Posted by VenomousVol on January 23, 2008 at 10:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)

sannie you need to step the F off of Chris! He has basically carried UT for the last two years, now you have the gall to say he sux? Somebody take this idiot's keyboard away.

Posted by sannie82 on January 23, 2008 at 10:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)

he carried us last year because he was basically our only scoring threat. there is no way he has carried us at all this year, better yet he has done ntohing positive this year. without the smith's (j and tyler) we would be just average. lofton sucks and i said this for the last couple of years, this kid is nothing more than an average player and you know it. it is what a 35 3 point shooter please and like i aid he could do nothing last night in the second half but sit on the bench in critical playing time. the only thing he done was made 2 meaningless 3 pointers when the game was well over. everyone on here is just to scared to say what i did, and another thing is this guy is just a d**k, i saw him turn away a 10 year old kid for an autograph, please this man is and will never be a star

Posted by utalum04 on January 23, 2008 at 10:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

sannie - what an idiot.....idiots like this give all UT fans a bad name.

Posted by Ironcity on January 23, 2008 at 10:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sannie when you learn basketball, go back to the Vandy board where you belong. As a team UT plays hard but I wouldn't say we play tough. Chism has a ton of talent but but on offense he is so soft around the basket. He must get on average 5 shots blocked a game from inside 5 ft. On the defensive side he is night and day better tehn he was last year and he appears to be pretty physical there. It seems to me that we are better team offensivly when WIlliams is in teh game simply because he is willing to mix up down low and he is a good passer. Congrats to Lofton he has been a heck of a player for us and he deserves all the accolades he gets.

One thing I would like to see improvement before tournament time is our press. Teams have had no problem passing out of our traps. Not sure why it has suddenly become so easy. Are we late on the traps? I am curious if anyone has an answer for this.

Posted by bricker865 on January 23, 2008 at 11:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sannie, you sound like you're about 12 years old.

Posted by johnlg00 on January 23, 2008 at 11:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)

sannie, I don't know how it was on your biddy league team, but in big-time college basketball the coach decides who plays and how much, not the players. The "meaningless" shots he hit at the end were our only chance of getting back in the game after the other players put us in the position where they were necessary. Lofton is not only still our biggest offensive threat, given how much attention the opponents give him, but he is probably no worse than 2d or 3d on the team in every other statistical category, as well as being a strong defender. I don't know the circumstances of him snubbing the 10-yr-old, if that is what happened, but there are an awful lot of other kids and adults who would say he is a gentleman who has less "big-time" attitude than almost any other star of his caliber. We can never repay all Chris has done for us, but we can surely do without any more such spiteful, idiotic posts from you!

Posted by TommyJack on January 23, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sannie: Are YOU the 10 yr. old kid the turned away? Lofton has been a great asset to the TN bb community.

Posted by kyvol98 on January 23, 2008 at 11:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Being there, the crowd had a lot to do with the emotion factor. They seemed to will UK to play harder. Please remember that come March 2!

Posted by murrayvol on January 23, 2008 at 11:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)

sannie, sannie, sannie: Where to begin? I think TJ caught you i.e. the turned away 10 yr. old.

Let's start w/basic grammar: "when your suppose to be a star player your not suppose to be on the bench blah blah....." When your can't write any better than that thar, then your oughter get your grammatically challenged ass back in an english class.

Let's finish w/Lofton: He's only the best thing (with the possible exception of Bruce Pearl) to happen to Tennessee Basketball since King and/or Grunfeld. Most of us who visit here appreciate that and will take him on a bad night, a good night, or anywhere in between.

Posted by murrayvol on January 23, 2008 at 12:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)

kyvol98: I was there also and the crowd was a huge factor. I may have heard louder, but I can't remember when. We were flat for much of the game and this is not the UK team that lost to Gardner-Webb & San Diego.

The Vols will be better in Knoxville. These guys need a day off.

Posted by rootin4volz on January 23, 2008 at 12:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yep...No intensity...But we'll be allright in the long run, as long as they work on those FTs!

Posted by Basketball_Jones on January 23, 2008 at 1:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"JaJuan Smith couldn't find his range."

Thats the understatement of the night, I didn't even realize he got off the bus. Congrats to C-Lo, much deserved record for a great guy/player.

Can someone please tell me what Howell brings to the floor? For that matter Childress as well? Ramar needs to start, Jordan couldn't break a defense down with a dry erase board and colored marker.

Tough loss, we'll get em next time

Posted by sannie82 on January 23, 2008 at 3:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)

WHAT HAS LOFTON DONE IN THE LAST TWO YEARS, NOTHING. IM SORRY EVERYONE HERE IS PUTTING TO MUCH VALUE ON HIM, WE WOULD HAVE THE EXACT RECORD NOW WITHOUT HIM ON THE TEAM. AS FOR THE AUTOGRAPH THING, IF THIS WAS YOUR KID, LET ME REMIND YOU IT WAS NO ONE WITH ME I JUST SAW THIS HAPPEN, YOU WOULD BE PISSED OFF. WE TALK ABOUT PROS DOING THIS SORT OF THING AND EVERYONE BASHES THEM, HERE WE GOT A SMALL TIME COLLEGE WANNA-BE STAR DOING THIS IS CRAZY. AND WE MIGHT HAVE WON LAST NIGHT IF HE SHOWS UP IN THE SECOND HALF. HE HAS ONE DIMENSION IN HIS GAME,SHOOTING THREE'S AND HE HAS LOST THAT, HE CAN SCORE ALL THIS POINTS, BUT HE HAS NOT WON ANYHTING (CHAMPIONSHIPS) THAT I KNOW OF, BY THE I KNOW MORE ABOUT SPORTS THAN ANYONE HERE. HA HA HA

Posted by kb7398 on January 23, 2008 at 3:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

When someone says they know more about sports than anyone...they usually are just ignorant wannabes...I'd venture a guess that'd be you sannie82.

Posted by bsalyer on January 23, 2008 at 3:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

sannie, your an idiot. you obviously dont know anything about sports.

Posted by VolnFlorida on January 23, 2008 at 4:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

How do you not go into Rupp arena and not play with passion? You're ranked third and have an 11 game winning streak. You play in one of the best
arenas in all of college basketball, at the most storied program in basketball, you have a national
audience, and you have no passion. What I'm I missing?

Posted by dfreeman on January 23, 2008 at 5:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)

sannie82 is really 12times transormed!! Would that make it a Tranny82??

Posted by Volunteerfan on January 23, 2008 at 5:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)

sannie,
shut - up!! you are an idiot! if you knew sports like you claim you do, you would know two things. First, Chris Lofton is one of the greatest if not the greatest shooters in America...you know that, i know that and so does every coach in America so when they face Tennessee, Lofton is getting double teamed, face guarded, box and one and any other kind of defense that people can show him so what does he do shoots less and distibutes the ball more to get other players involved so not only is he a great scorer he is also a smart basketball player.

Secondly...He averaged over 20 points a game last year. That is driving to the basket and shooting the threes so tell me how can you in your right mind say he sucks... go back to coaching YMCA basketball you basketball genius

Posted by bige14 on January 23, 2008 at 5:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Its hard to swallow but just as Florida is our football daddy, Ky is our basketball daddy. Anybody who thinks differently is kidding himself. We may win more games, we may go further in the tournament, etc, but in Rupp, we take our annual spanking from daddy. We may sneak one out of there every, what, 10 years or so, but that is the way it is. And, I love Bruce, I love our style of play, I love that he has made TN basketball relevant again, I love the atmosphere at TBA, I hope Bruce stays as long as he wants, but he is not perfect and he got outcoached last nite. Stop with the crap about being tired. Ky has much less depth than us and they played an overtime game saturday. He had Lofton sitting on the bench til the closing minutes when he should have been in there. When both Ky big men got 4 fouls each, we did nothing to attack them and get them fouled out. We did not impose our will on the style of play in the second half. I think Bruce played up too much of the Rupp mystique and how "Ky is still Ky" to his players. We took a much better team than the Cats into Rupp and lost that game between the ears. Instead of putting these guys away when we could, this team puckered up and folded when KY wouldn't roll over and play dead. I will be there Saturday cheering the large Orange on, but I am just calling it like it is. And, if this team doesn't start rebounding and hitting free throws, a Sweet 16 exit is in our future. Alley oops and three's may sell tix, but rebounding and free throws separate good teams from great teams.

Posted by dirislr on January 23, 2008 at 8:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

bige14, know it alls like you make me sick.

Posted by wcirwin64 on January 23, 2008 at 9:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Wow!! 3 years ago nobody even gave us a shot at beating UK at TBA, and now everybody is upset that we lost at Rupp and came home with a 16-2 record.Bruce has done wonders for this program!!

Posted by cjraney on January 23, 2008 at 10:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sannie-
Good thing you hit the "Caps Lock" on your last post--it all makes perfect sense now.

What do I win for figuring out your screen name is short for Sanitation Engineer?

Posted by wally on January 23, 2008 at 10:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)

bige14 knows nothing. KY had by far there best game of the season while we were off...it happens. 16-2??? That's fantastic. GO VOLS!!!!

Posted by LR_Vol on January 24, 2008 at 9:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Saw Pat Bradley on TV doing a commercial for a local LR Mexican restaurant. He so fat he looks like he could eat Lofton now!

Can't wait to see the #5 hung from the rafters in the future.

Posted by bige14 on January 24, 2008 at 11:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey drislr and w, don't be typical mental lightweights and just demean the messenger because you don't like the message. I am a die hard Vol fan and I don't profess to know it all, but I try to be informed before I write. But like I said, I call it like I see it, without Orange colored glasses. I'm not trying to run Pearl off, I think he's a heck of a coach and I think we'll get our payback on the Cats when they come to Knoxville in March. But the Cats' dominance over us can't be disputed. If you don't believe me, believe the numbers. According to UTSports.com KY has now beaten us 12 of the last 14 games in the series including 9 of the last 10 in Rupp. All time in Rupp we have won 4 games since 1977. All time in Lexington we are 16-81. Pearl is now 2-3 v. the Cats. Anyone else fared that well against him since he's been here? And we all know the alltime series record ridiculously favors KY. They are the Daddy of SEC basketball. Further, KY shot 86% from the stripe Tues. nite, including 12 for 12 down the stretch, and out rebounded us 38-33. Still think rebounding and free throws don't make or break you? As for coaching, if you don't take my word for it, believe the man himself. Bruce is quoted in the News Sentinel as saying it was his fault. And both Mike Griffith and Brent Hubbs alluded to the fact that even Pearl felt he didn't push the right buttons, especially on offense. REad the articles yourselves. Pearl said in his post game radio show that he was disappointed in our conditioning down the strectch and was unsure why, with all our rotation, KY played with "more passion" than we did. THe KNS headline this morning reads "Round One goes to KY's Gillespie." Bruce rarely gets the short end of a coaching duel, but he did on this nite. Surprise, he's human. Now, who is YOUR daddy?

Posted by johnlg00 on January 24, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)

bige, although your tone might have seemed harsh to some of the posters, it is hard to argue with most of your facts and opinions--unlike sannie, for example. (BTW, sannie, Lofton WAS the SEC Player of the Year last year, and very few of the voters were orange-koolaid-drinking Vol fans. I don't know what your problem is, but it seems kinda personal--I hope you get over it.) As for the UK game, we win as a team and sometimes we lose as a team. CBP manned up and accepted most of the blame for the loss. We are lucky to have him, and I hope he stays 20 years, in the process making Vol BB as respected as UK is now.

Posted by cjraney on January 24, 2008 at 12:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

bige14-
Your analysis of the game is pretty much right on. However, I have to disagree with your whole "Daddy" characterization.

The lopsided historical record simply means that most years KY has had a better team than UT. During periods when UT had good teams, we have beaten KY in Knoxville but rarely in Rupp. Factor in the fact that KY has had much better coaches than TN, Rupp seats 24,000 fans not distracted by football and you can understand the strong homecourt advantage. This doesn't mean KY is our Daddy and we can't beat them, just that historically they've had a better program.

Second, recent history under current coaches is the only relevant analysis on the topic. Pearl is 2-3 against KY. Including 2-2 against Tubby before we got the talent on this year's team. Last I heard Tubby was a pretty good coach. Not bad.

Third, saying some other team is our team's Daddy is just silly and juvenile. I thought that phrase had become extinct until AirForceOne started screaming it on this site. Still I figured its use was probably limited to a few unfortunate Kentuckians. To hear a UT fan use it to describe KY made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

Posted by bige14 on January 24, 2008 at 3:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Cjraney, point taken, but I disagree that my characterization is offbase. We are KY's football daddy. Part of the reason is because we have historically had the better program, but it more refers to the fact that they have failed to beat us even in years when we had down teams. In 1988 and 2005, we had losing a losing record and still beat KY. Just as in basketball, there have been years we had the better team on paper but still manage to lose in Lexington. I think its closer to what johnlg00 says, the rather demeaning term ruffled the skirts of a few posters still smarting over the loss. Sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities. You are also right, maybe I should have used the more update comparable phraseology - TN is KY's basketball b****. Just kidding, time to move on. I was still ticked about the loss myself when I first posted. I will try to be kinder and gentler in the future so no one gets her panties in a wad.

Posted by johnlg00 on January 24, 2008 at 4:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that this is my last post on the UK game(;-P)! The flip side of bige14's impressive array of facts is that as much as UK has dominated us over the years, we still have more victories over UK than any other SEC school. I have heard that UK fans call I-75 "The Trail of Tears" for all the times they have trudged back to Lexington after a loss at UT. I haven't taken the time to check it lately, but I believe that UT is second all-time to UK in the number of SEC BB championships. For the foreseeable future, we should treasure any win we get against UK, however much we may lament any particular loss. The main thing is that UK should know better than to EXPECT to beat us from now on. Last Tuesday was a "must-win" for them; if we had won, as we easily could have, the population of Kentucky would have dropped by half overnight because of all the suicides. They knew they HAD to have the win if the season was not to turn into a total disaster. Nice to know that we can put them into such conniptions these days.

Posted by mike on January 24, 2008 at 7:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)

bige14.. your analysis is right on target. You are the first TN fan on these threads to voice the obvious. You might change my opinion of UT fans, ..probably not. Sleep it off vol fans, it won't be your last loss.

Posted by TurboFan on January 25, 2008 at 10:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Some years ago (maybe decades) I read that Tennessee had more wins vs Kentucky than any other program. Basically, Kentucky has dominated everybody over the last century. We have only 4 wins in Rupp? How many does everyone else have (sans Florida who has won 3 or 4 staight there)? Any unemloyed people with time to look that up?

Prediction: Kentucky will win at least 10 SEC games and play on Saturday in the SEC tourney and make the NCAA field. Basis: Kentucky always has talent; they are back at full strength; Gillespie is a successful coach but it took his players longer to adjust to Gillespie's style than it did for Buzz's players to adjust to Pearl's style. Kentucky will be a force to reckon the rest of the season. Just being a realist.

Posted by icecream on January 25, 2008 at 11:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Chris, my 2 boys like you better than they do me. Thanks for being a good guy. You're the best damn shooter I ever saw.

Posted by icecream on January 25, 2008 at 11:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey big14, Kentucky leads the NCAA in recruiting violations. Bet you're a proud Cheater.

Posted by thethommyb on January 26, 2008 at 10:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

sannie: I like how UT's jerseys look with all that green on it.

sannie: I think TBA is too small.

sannie: I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS.

Posted by thethommyb on January 26, 2008 at 11:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)

How do argue with someone who says Lofton is not good?

They clearly see the world differently.
(thus, my previous insane comments)