Thoughts on Tennessee Basketball

On the GoVols web site, sports editor John Adams has written a column that calls this "the worst week in UT basketball history." Having watched both teams deliver embarrasing performances in back-to-back games, I would agree.

The question on everyone's mind, lips, and keyboard is -- Why? Why are teams that had such high expectations in pre-season having such season-ending meltdowns?

Here are my thoughts, which I posted as a comment on Adams's article:

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Well, let's see if we can make two comments that are somewhere in the middle of the extremes I'm reading:

(1) Both teams lost some all-everything players, and have not been able to replace them. The men's program isn't at the we-just-reload stage yet, and the reload on the women's side was short-circuited by injury. The drop in current ability (not necessarily potential) on both teams is a fact, and one that can't be overcome easily or early.

(2) That said, even green freshmen and freshwomen should get better as the year goes along, and these two teams are getting worse. I don't know if it's lack of effort, or lack of correct coaching, or lack of listening to the coaching, or what. Frankly, only the players and the coaches know which it is; none of us are in the practices or in the locker room. But something ain't right, and #1 above doesn't explain it.

And one more thing --

(3) CPS and CBP are both excellent coaches; you don't have their records of success by being clueless. But even great coaches sometimes can't find the right button to push, at least not in time. What you can do is not let it repeat. I still think we've got two of the best coaches in the business, and I believe they will figure it out. Maybe not this season, but they'll figure it out.

As my boss says, "Either you change the people, or you change the people." At UT, I think we're going to see:

"Either you change the players, or you change the players."

Comments

[Bruce]

Meanwhile, the Cards and Lady Cards continue their push through the Big East, in both cases staying on the heels of UConn. Should be two interesting Big East tourneys.