News from Knoxville

[HuskyNan]

And to me, the SEC is always overrated in football and basketball, in my opinion. I mean for crying out loud, Texas A&M was an after thought in the Big-12 football. Barely a legit contender. I understand that the 2012 Aggies welcomed a new coach and new quarterback. But the fact is that Texas A&M was a complete and total afterthought in the Big 12. For 20 years they have been perfectly mediocre, and the Aggies had notched a winning record in Big 12 conference play just three times in the previous 10 years. SEC fans have been nothing but dismissive of the Big 12 during The South’s BCS reign. But didn’t it raise anyone else’s eyebrows that this totally mediocre Big 12 team was able to step into the SEC, beat the league’s best team (Alabama) and fall just short of playing the conference title game? To me, that was a red flag that maybe the SEC isn’t all its cracked up to be compared to other big-time conferences in the land.

Might have shot yourself in the foot with that paragraph.

National Football Champions
2012 Alabama
2011 Alabama
2010 Auburn
2009 Alabama
2008 Florida
2007 LSU
2006 Florida
2003 LSU

And Auburn was the national runner-up in 2013.

 

[doggydaddy]

Might have shot yourself in the foot with that paragraph.

National Football Champions
2012 Alabama
2011 Alabama
2010 Auburn
2009 Alabama
2008 Florida
2007 LSU
2006 Florida
2003 LSU

And Auburn was the national runner-up in 2013.

SEC is by far the best football conference. I'd suggest we keep it on target with the level of play in SEC womens basketball.

Now, that is overrated and over seeded.

 

[Geno-ista]

All I can add to this thread is the following: TN should never apologize. I am glad Holly made that clear. If they play, they play. If not, whatever. In terms of scheduling, UCONN needs TN more than TN needs UCONN. the AAC is just awful and the SEC has far superior teams.

I realize I am on the BY, and about 100% of you will disagree, but that's my opinion.

Tenn needs someone that can figure out how to find someone that can take all those all Americans you get every year, to play team basketball on both ends of the court. We, the men and the women survived our first year in the AAC pretty well - and without Tenn and Holly's help.

 

[maddoggy]

Don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but apologies are usually a two-way street. That doesn't mean they have to be equal in weight, but it doesn't seem very realistic to me to expect TN to say "we lied and we're evil" without taking into account their grievances, real or imagined, against Geno, UConn et al. One can imagine a formula in which UConn expresses regret at the hurt felt by Tennessee but does not say one way or other whether it believes that Tennessee was right to feel that way. Tennessee could use similar language in addressing the Moores. But -- even if some of use think we are 100 percent in the right -- it doesn't seem realistic or productive to demand one-sided and abject surrender.
We're better than that.

 

[intlzncster]

Don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but apologies are usually a two-way street. That doesn't mean they have to be equal in weight, but it doesn't seem very realistic to me to expect TN to say "we lied and we're evil" without taking into account their grievances, real or imagined, against Geno, UConn et al. One can imagine a formula in which UConn expresses regret at the hurt felt by Tennessee but does not say one way or other whether it believes that Tennessee was right to feel that way. Tennessee could use similar language in addressing the Moores. But -- even if some of use think we are 100 percent in the right -- it doesn't seem realistic or productive to demand one-sided and abject surrender.
We're better than that.

You can't be expected to feel/express regret for something that you did not do. If they are upset over imagined transgressions, that is entirely their problem.

I mean, I get what you are saying, but seriously, what did UCONN do wrong again? Nothing. Oh, there was some minor violation somewhere that went self reported. That amounts to a mea culpa in my book.

It's hard to open the front door for someone who previously peed all over your front stoop.

 

[maddoggy]

You can't be expected to feel/express regret for something that you did not do. If they are upset over imagined transgressions, that is entirely their problem.

I mean, I get what you are saying, but seriously, what did UCONN do wrong again? Nothing. Oh, there was some minor violation somewhere that went self reported. That amounts to a mea culpa in my book.

It's hard to open the front door for someone who previously peed all over your front stoop.

I don't always see what my spouse has to complain about, but I recognize when she is upset/unhappy, and I can feel bad that something I said or did made her feel that way, even if I did nothing wrong.

Mechelle Voepel's October 27, 2010 came down pretty squarely on Geno's side of the dispute, but she also said this:

There were times I thought Tennessee was being oversensitive to a "funny" remark. I'd say, "Come on, he clearly meant it in jest." But in retrospect, I also can understand where the cumulative effect of them could be interpreted by Tennessee as negative recruiting: a way of casting aspersion on the school, the state and Summitt herself via constant wisecracks.

And perhaps I've always been too flip about the "Evil Empire" remark, for instance. I took it as a whimsical comment on the powerhouse that Tennessee was in the sport -- but that UConn also had become. So in past columns, I sometimes jokingly referred to the programs as "Evil Empire North" and "Evil Empire South."

But it was never funny to Tennessee. To Summitt and the Orange Nation, the "Evil Empire" moniker came across as character slam, a suggestion that they did things underhandedly in Knoxville, that "good" players should go someplace else, and that UConn represented the opposite of "evil."

Do I think Auriemma actually intended it to be a serious insult? No, I don't. But regardless, that remark, and all the others, were taken very seriously at Tennessee. They were seen by Tennessee supporters as Auriemma's deliberate attempt, while building up his own program, to tear down Summitt's.
Do I think Summitt and the tin-hat crowd were wrong? Absolutely. But also I think their feelings were really hurt, and I don't see anything wrong with acknowledging it. Nobody's perfect (well, except for this year's team, at 40-0, and a few other teams before that.)

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

There may be a way to thread the needle. More of an indirect apology ... UConn is a great program that has achieved excellence while doing things the right way ... There has been a lot said in the years since we last played. I'm sure we each said some things we regret but, the best thing we can do, for the sake of the two programs and their fans, is to put that behind us and compete on the basketball court.

Personally I think that should be enough. Will it be enough for Geno? I don't know.

IMHO any apologies and amends made by TN to all incriminated by their NCAA report should be made in public just like the charges they filed! They soiled a lot of people with a wide brush and to have private apologies or basically sweep it under a rug is an insult to all incorrectly accused! Remember they accused Sue Bird & Diana Taurasi of cheating to recruit Maya Moore while in fact they were playing a game in Moscow at the same time they were supposed to be meeting Maya at Storrs!
It's true TN needs us more than UCONN needs them, and we shouldn't ignore the slander for ESPN $! Geno is right to ask for apologies but make TN do it publicly! There was over 30+ pages of BS filed with the NCAA, that's a lot of apologies to make!

 

[DaddyChoc]

The dominant view on the VolNation is that Tenn should not play UConn now because they would get such a thorough thrashing.

VolNation is reasonable...

 

[UcMiami]

Hey - I am happy to not play TN. Why play the third or fourth best SEC team when we can concentrate on playing the better teams - I mean we don't go out of our way to schedule Indiana, or Colorado, or Wake Forest.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

All I can add to this thread is the following: TN should never apologize. I am glad Holly made that clear. If they play, they play. If not, whatever. In terms of scheduling, UCONN needs TN more than TN needs UCONN. the AAC is just awful and the SEC has far superior teams.

I realize I am on the BY, and about 100% of you will disagree, but that's my opinion.

First of all UCONN is the best program in the NCAA with 9 Championships and all the other facts that go along with that! TN is now joining the 1982-1999 programs that used to be relevant powerhouses in WCBB, LA Tech, Auburn, GA, Old Dominion, Virginia, SoCal, TX, W.KY, Et Al! TN is now a southeastern regional power if that! It no longer has the power to dictate terms to anyone! So get off your high horse and accept that the only way UCONN LOWERS itself to play TN again is after a public apology for ALL the lies in that NCAA report!

 

[rocky rococo]

As far as "the awful conference" is concerned: when it comes to wbb, Stanford plays in a conference that is genuinely atrocious, year in and year out. Yet they've managed to maintain excellence, F4 quality teams, for decades, despite their pathetic conference "competition".

 

[HuskyNan]

As far as "the awful conference" is concerned: when it comes to wbb, Stanford plays in a conference that is genuinely atrocious, year in and year out. Yet they've managed to maintain excellence, F4 quality teams, for decades, despite their pathetic conference "competition".

Cal, USC, and Oregon State were all ranked at some point this past season, IIRC, and in recent years Arizona State and UCLA have been quite good. It's just that we don't hear a lot about the Pac-10 that makes it seem like there's only one good team in the league. In the AAC, however, after Louisville and Rutgers leave, the next best team will be USF or maybe Temple.

 

[David 76]

As far as Pat's feelings being hurt by Geno's wisecracks, I believe he has already apologized for that. An alleged recruiting scandal is not a reciprocal apology

 

[LesMis89]

As far as Pat's feelings being hurt by Geno's wisecracks, I believe he has already apologized for that. An alleged recruiting scandal is not a reciprocal apology

This.

An apology for hurting someone's feelings is at one level.

An apology for slander/damaging inaccurate statements is at an entirely different level.

 

[Hongster]

Friend like Pat who the hell needs enemy?

 

[EricSD]

Cal, USC, and Oregon State were all ranked at some point this past season, IIRC, and in recent years Arizona State and UCLA have been quite good. It's just that we don't hear a lot about the Pac-10 that makes it seem like there's only one good team in the league. In the AAC, however, after Louisville and Rutgers leave, the next best team will be USF or maybe Temple.

Do we really think Temple is ready to make the next step? I don't recall seeing Tonya landing any recruits of note over the past few years. USF (not that they've landed big time recruits) has done quite well even making it to the semi's of the NIT this past year.

 

[HuskyNan]

Do we really think Temple is ready to make the next step? I don't recall seeing Tonya landing any recruits of note over the past few years. USF (not that they've landed big time recruits) has done quite well even making it to the semi's of the NIT this past year.

That's kind of my point. It's UConn, USF and then maybe Temple? not exactly the Big East. I freely admit I wrote Temple with my heart not my head. SMU could well be the third best AAC team next year.

 

[EricSD]

That's kind of my point. It's UConn, USF and then maybe Temple? not exactly the Big East.

Oh gotcha. I think Memphis could make some noise too. they bring back most of their top scorers and were fairly young last year. SMU unfortunately loses their 2 top performers to graduation so I don't think they will be improved at all. Tulane will be very interesting as their top 3 scorers were all juniors this year. Wouldn't surprise me to see them as the #3 or even #2 team in the conference next year... ECU will be another interesting team - their top 3 players consisted of 2 juniors and 1 sophomore. But Tulsa will be dreadful.

I could see this order - UCONN, Tulane, USF, ECU, then maybe Memphis or Temple... USF loses Orekhova, but brings back their #1 and #3 scorers (both sophomores). Just a very rough analysis based on what they have going into next year.

 

[j66kicker]

Oh gotcha. I think Memphis could make some noise too. they bring back most of their top scorers and were fairly young last year. SMU unfortunately loses their 2 top performers to graduation so I don't think they will be improved at all. Tulane will be very interesting as their top 3 scorers were all juniors this year. Wouldn't surprise me to see them as the #3 or even #2 team in the conference next year... ECU will be another interesting team - their top 3 players consisted of 2 juniors and 1 sophomore. But Tulsa will be dreadful.

I could see this order - UCONN, Tulane, USF, ECU, then maybe Memphis or Temple... USF loses Orekhova, but brings back their #1 and #3 scorers (both sophomores). Just a very rough analysis based on what they have going into next year.

OMG we have to get out of here

 

[Vowelguy]

That's kind of my point. It's UConn, USF and then maybe Temple? not exactly the Big East. I freely admit I wrote Temple with my heart not my head. SMU could well be the third best AAC team next year.

The American will be almost as bad as the Old Dominion-dominated Colonial of the 90s. The Monarchs won a bazillion conference games in a row.

It will be amazing if even one of those teams can make it to the NCAAs.

 

[jdubct]

The American will be almost as bad as the Old Dominion-dominated Colonial of the 90s. The Monarchs won a bazillion conference games in a row.

It will be amazing if even one of those teams can make it to the NCAAs.

True. Rutgers had to go to the NIT. Even the #2 team in the league will have major challenges to make the NCAA tournament next year.