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Strange: Prince starts, Ramar finishes counterpoint
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In football, there's a school of thought that if you've got two quarterbacks, you've got no quarterback. Some jobs, in other words, require an unquestioned leader.
Translate that to basketball. If you've got two (or even three) point guards, do you really have a point guard?
Tennessee hopes to avoid having to definitively answer that question for the next two weeks.
The curiosity lingers on because the Vols got away with their two-point guard experiment Sunday in a 76-71 overtime win over Butler.
It's not just that there are two of them, but which two.
J.P. Prince made his starting debut at the point, played 31 minutes and had some pretty nice numbers in his box score:
Nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot.
How many teams carrying legitimate Final Four credentials would hand a new point guard the basketball in their 35th game, which, oh, by the way, happens to be in the second round of the NCAA tournament with a Sweet 16 berth on the line?
My hunch is Bruce Pearl is the Lone Ranger on this one.
"It's not a panacea,'' Pearl said Sunday, "but I was able to do some different things offensively, things Butler hadn't seen.
"And that was fun. Actually, it was fun.''
Whether the Vols survived against a very good Butler team in spite of or because of their dual point guards, I'm not sure.
But March Madness is a bottom-line business and it worked. Tennessee plays on.
"I thought it worked well for about 39 minutes,'' Pearl said. "In the last minute, I probably asked J.P. to do too much.''
In the last minute of regulation, Prince committed his fifth and sixth turnovers. After the fifth, Butler scored to tie it at 63-63. After the sixth, a travel with 4.1 seconds to play, Butler got a chance to win it but failed to capitalize.
For overtime, Pearl went back to Ramar Smith, the sophomore who had started 17 games this year before falling from grace.
"I told them J.P. and I did not close out the regulation well,'' said Pearl. "I didn't play-call well and, no fault of his, he's never been in that situation.
"So I said, 'Bail me out.' ''
Ramar to the rescue.
After Butler took its first lead of the game, 68-66, Smith slashed into the lane and scored.
With UT up 70-68, Chris Lofton hurried the ball up court and fed Smith for a layup to make it a four-point lead with 26 seconds left.
"Going to the basket, that's my strength,'' Smith said. "Coach always says go to your strength.''
It's a strength Tennessee saw plenty a year ago, but not as much lately.
Smith played only 13 minutes in regulation, but all five of the overtime.
"Even though we haven't been getting great play from Ramar,'' said Pearl, "he's been in that situation before and he obviously delivered.''
And his teammates loved it.
"He ain't put his head down one time,'' said JaJuan Smith. "He's been right there. He showed he cared by making big plays when we need 'em the most.''
"He went out there,'' added Duke Crews, "and did exactly what he was supposed to do - make plays.''
Thanks to those plays, the experiment moves forward to Charlotte, N.C., where the Vols play Louisville on Thursday.
"I'm not the most popular guy in that locker room, I guarantee you,'' Pearl said. "But I've got to do my job and they've got to handle it.''
They handled it Sunday. It wasn't seamless but, in the end, the job got done.
Now, the stakes get even higher. In a best-case scenario, Prince will be more comfortable; Smith will be re-energized by his strong finish Sunday.
Maybe two point guards won't be one too many.
"He's got my back,'' said Prince, "and I've got his back.
"That's what we do.''
Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by Ironcity on March 23, 2008 at 9:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If Smith steps up like he did in overtime then we can win. If we depend on Prince to break Louisville's press, it could be a long evening. I hope UT puts it all together in Charlotte. I hope I'm wrong for thinking Louisville will take us. One thing I know for a fact is this team has proven itself at tough times all year and seems to have that knack for making big plays when they have to.
Go Vols and shock the world and win two games in Charlotte.
Posted by rabidvol1998 on March 23, 2008 at 9:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's amazing what you can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit - General Neyland (not really but I can't remember)
Great team effort. OK offense, defense won the game. That defense and a hot shooting night and we beat anybody anytime.
Posted by alfrizzle097 on March 23, 2008 at 9:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Need better ball handling. JP had six TO's and Tyler had 7. Not good. Still happy about the win. Hope we can iron out the problems at point.
Posted by tenuscvol on March 23, 2008 at 10:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Vols made many stupid turnovers and could have easily beat Butler by 20....The point is how do you stop the stupid ones...turning it over trying to make a play is one thing but I think we give it away "gifts" way too often...loved the outcome though and would just love to see the Big Orange put it all together (re. Memphis) and get to the final four....It could happen!!!!...GoVols!!
Posted by JohnnyU on March 23, 2008 at 10:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Interesting article on the dynamics right now regarding the point guard situation and Bruce Pearl. Maybe Ramar reasserted himself a little and will take the pressure off CBP. Probably the key factor in how we do from this point.
Posted by Pullingguard on March 23, 2008 at 10:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I anticipate that Smith will get most of the work verses Louisville. Why? Louisville will employ the pressing defense and don;t think JP can handle it, turnovers will be the key to W/L and Smith is better at protecting the ball under such circumstances.. The way Lofton is playing would not be bad idea to give JP lot of his minutes./ Lou will give them a defense they have seldom seen and must protect the ball.
Posted by anthony on March 23, 2008 at 11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We would win more games, the close one also if we would set different tempos. Let's start now for the Louisville game. Two games, two guards, too dangerous@@!!!! for the other team to prepare for and to guard. We will increase the tempo and the mantra for each game on these posts. We will not depend on the KNS to do this for us. Thanks and good luck to all(of us), of course.
Posted by hdhurst on March 24, 2008 at 1:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
U of L vs UT...definitely going to be sweet if you like to see a running game (and I do, brethren).
I agree with most that Ramar is the best option for us against the Cardinals. JP is a nice option, especially in the half court game, but I think Ramar can (and will) carry us to the Elite 8.
You have to believe in UT's chances if Jujuan and Chris not shooting lights out and we still win. What I like about Pearl and Co. is their ability to adjust to the opponent. So far, so good.
Nice work from Brian Williams today. I hope Wayne doesn't spaz out on us...he seems to have a killer game, then takes the night off the next game.
Whatever happens from here on out, proud to identify with this bb program. GO VOLS!!!
Posted by utchris2003 on March 24, 2008 at 2:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
As far as match-ups are concerned, our PG situation might be a little better with Ramar and Jordan against UL. Jordan may not be shooting the ball well, but he is a really good ball handler and after watching a little bit of Louisville today, we may need that. Maybe that last minute in overtime will give Ramar the boost that he needs to get back on this side of the hump.
If we rebound, play solid defense, and take care of the basketball, we will be fine.
Posted by JohnyLobo34 on March 24, 2008 at 3:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Pearl almost cost Tennessee that game. Prince is an amazing talent, but he's no point guard. His ball handling is atrocious & I don't think his decision making was very good either. Better get it together for Pitino & Louisville. Another performance like that one is going to get us run out of the gym. Go Vols.
Posted by va_vol16 on March 24, 2008 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
if we are going to win it all we need ramar to be the man at point jp cant handle the ball good enough to beat louisville or unc
Posted by kimzy1961 on March 24, 2008 at 11:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Watching Chris, Tyler, JP put the ball on the floor lately has been scary! Their ball handling has been terrible! Lofton has lost the handle on too many posessions. It seems that he's forgetting to take the ball with him when he makes a move toward the basket. He and Tyler both dribble too far away from their bodies. It's like taking candy away from a baby sometimes! JP just needs to pass the ball if he can't make it to the basket in three bounces. I just hope that Bruce figures it out for the Louisville game.
GO VOLS ! ! !
Posted by johnlg00 on March 24, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
kimzy, I don't think it is so much a case of CBP figuring it out as it is the players figuring out that the 90% smart play is better than the 10% spectacular play, 90% of the time. Triple-teamed? Don't force the shot, pass it out. Weak-side defender in your path to the basket? Pull up for the mid-range jumper, or find an open team-mate, or stop, pivot, and pass it out. Your guy a half-step ahead of a defender 50' down-court? DON'T try to force it to him! Take your time getting it down-court and set up a play. If we could just cut down on our turnovers in THOSE kinds of situations, we wouldn't be teetering on the edge of the cliff so much in these games. It just is NOT an acceptable excuse that a guy is just "trying to make a play". SOME plays in SOME situations just SHOULD NOT BE TRIED! Whoever is playing the point or any other position, until the guys learn some simple, basic lessons about how the game should be played, we will be on the edge in every game we have left, and we may not have many more! Once again, I love the team's heart, nerve, and aggressiveness. I will always be grateful for what these guys have accomplished, win or lose against Louisville. It would just be so much better for this old fan if they would go down doing it the "right way" than because they made some boneheaded error that would get a middle-schooler benched(;-P)! GO VOLS!!! PLUCK THE CARDINALS!!! ON TO SAN ANTONIO!!!
Posted by nastyman on March 24, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Here's an analysis that I did regarding TN and UL.
Below is a comparison of the overall rivals.com ranking of the seven players who play the most minutes on each team.
I also analyze the overall team ranking by adding the rankings of all the players.
I'm not stupid enough to think that this is a logical way of picking a game, but I thought some of you might find it interesting.
It's funny that Lofton and JuJuan are the best players on our team, yet were the lowest recruited out of high school (BTW, I assigned walk-ons an automatic score of 500; Luckily both teams only had an equal amount).
*LOWER IS BETTER*
TN
--------------------------------------------
W Chism recruited @ #34 **** Forward
T Smith recruited @ #43 **** Forward
C Lofton recruited @ #146 *** Guard
J Smith recruited @ #500??? 0* Guard
R. Smith recruited @ #20 ***** Guard
D. Crews recruited @ #26 ***** Forward
JP. Prince recruited @ #21 ***** Guard
TENNESSEE SCORES A 790
UL
----------------------------------------
T. Williams recruited @ #111 *** Forward
J. Smith recruited @ #82 **** Guard
J. Palacios recruited @ #30 ***** Forward
E. Clark recruited @ #22 ***** Forward
D. Padgett recruited @ #500 0* Center
E. Sosa recruited @ #74 **** Guard
A. Mcgee recruited @ #107 *** Guard
LOUISVILLE SCORES A 926
If we go by this, TN should win by approximately 13 points.
The only matchup that doesn't work in our favor is at Forward, where Louisville has two ***** players.
GO VOLS!!!
Posted by murrayvol on March 24, 2008 at 4:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hat's off to JP. Given the situation he played well until the last two turnovers. Look at his line (excepting TOs). I don't think we win this game without him.
Regarding UL. This will be Ramar's kind of game. Redemption in OT should get him stoked for Louisville.
Posted by TommyJack on March 24, 2008 at 5:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lofton appears to be either injured or terminally fatigued. Is there an injury report out on him?
Posted by kimzy1961 on March 24, 2008 at 7:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gee johnlg00,
When you put it that way I guess I should go back to reading instead of posting ! LOL !
No, really what you said makes alot of sense. It seems that we have resorted to a wreckless schoolyard style of play lately that has only gained us scorn and ridicule from the basketball world.
Anyway, Bruce is the MAN ! I would take him coaching this team over anyone else in the country.
If there is any figuring out needed, then CBP is up to the task !
GO VOLS ! ! !
Posted by 3StatesofTN on March 24, 2008 at 7:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I vote terminally fatigued, but certainly a good question TJ. Focus was just not there for Lofton. Anyone in the know?
Posted by pecaro on March 25, 2008 at 12:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I've watched that last walking call on JP four times and have yet to see what I would call a legitimate walk. I think he got "jobbed".
Posted by orangebloodgmc on March 27, 2008 at 4:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Did Crews get any playing time?
Posted by orangebloodgmc on March 27, 2008 at 4:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How did big Brian do?
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