NOW is Tennessee OUT of the NCAA Tournament?!

[Jmsdawg]

Just my $.02... I think as of this moment they are out. If they win their next game (Mississippi) and then at least 1 game in the SEC, then I think they may be in. 2 games won in the SEC conference plus a win vs. Mississippi probably guarantee them a spot. I imagine their RPI and what not is pretty solid.

But... as of this moment, they should be out. Vandy is dreadful. Probably worse than any team even in our conference. If I'm channeling Geno, this is a "really really really bad loss" for them...

Vandy is not dreadful, they are a decent team today. They were dreadful the first of the season due to injuries, 3 starters, but all those guys are back in the lineup now. The Vandy coach has done a very good job getting the team back and they could very easy win a couple of tournament games.

 

[DefenseBB]

So I went to see if there was an updated RPI for Tennessee with this loss and the one I found had the recorded updated at 17-11 and #61 RPI overall as noted. What really surprised me, is Tennessee has played 16 home games-16! And they are only 10-6. I believe they will finish 9th, slight chance for 8th but either way play LSU. If this RPI is right and they go 2-1 to finish 19-12, it could be a close call.

BTW Connecticut has played only 11 home games.

 

[cabbie191]

Wow just seeing this....they're definitely out IMO. I haven't looked at how other bubble teams are doing, but this is by far the worst loss in Holly's career and arguably in Tennessee history. Vandy was 1-13 in conference play with a 195 RPI and a 6-21 record. Vandy had lost 33 out of 33 times in Knoxville with rosters that were #1 seeds, Final Four squads, etc and arguably their worst team in program history comes into Knoxville to pull off this feat. On the bright side for UT fans, a loss like this could easily push Fulmer over the edge to firing Holly. Tennessee losing to Bama 5 or 6 times in a row, finishing with a sub 500 SEC record, missing the NCAA tournament and losing to Vandy at home might finally be enough to can Holly. What an awful season for Tennessee.

Regarding seeding, Tennessee has probably the worst collection of losses by bubble teams at the moment and really no defining wins. If their RPI does drop to 64, they don't have a way to bring it back up unless they win at least 2 tournament games in the SEC tourney. If they lose to Ole Miss, I think they need to win the whole SEC tournament to get in.

Sorry Bball for what you’ve had to endure.

I saw the first quarter of the game - it was hard to believe how poorly Vandy was playing and I couldn’t believe LVs weren’t winning by more. Then it was time to catch up on NCIS with the missus. Came back to see the last minute, somewhat in disbelief.

For those who waded through VolNation, did you notice how their posters acknowledged that Tennessee was getting the benefit of questionable calls by the refs? Never thought I’d see that, either.

 

[DefenseBB]

Vandy is not dreadful, they are a decent team today. They were dreadful the first of the season due to injuries, 3 starters, but all those guys are back in the lineup now. The Vandy coach has done a very good job getting the team back and they could very easy win a couple of tournament games.

I wonder if you’re just trying to justify a closer game against them last week than it should have been because Vandy is not good. Prior to this, they lost 7 straight SEC games. As currently seeded they would play Ole Miss then Mizzou in SEC T. No way they win both of those games. Most of us here have a radically different view of Steph White as a coach due To her 3 years of underwhelming reasults.
Respectfully DD.

 

[Plebe]

It appears that Tennessee will either play LSU or Auburn (against whom they're 3-0 this season) in its first game of the SEC tournament. If they get past that game, they'd face Mississippi State or South Carolina in the quarterfinals. If they can get a win over one of those two teams (especially if it's Miss St), they still will have a very decent chance of a bid.

 

[JordyG]

View attachment 40340

If you read the LV board an incredible number of LV fans have been saying this for months.

 

[triaddukefan]

If you read the LV board an incredible number of LV fans have been saying this for months.

saying that they are turning into Duke? Without the hillbilly fans.... beautiful campus and academic prestige of course... no offense to hillbillies

 

[MSGRET]

Here are some of the nice statements on HW's coaching on VN

"Trying to find something nice to say about Ms. Warlick's coaching skills is akin
to attempting to pick up a turd by the clean end."

"As for winning the NIT, I wouldn't bet a nickel on Holly beating the College of the Blind."

"We've hit Rocky Bottom."

 

[bballnut90]

Here is Creme's latest:

Tennessee falls out of espnW's bracketology projection

Teams on and around the bubble have been losing lately, and in some cases suffering bad losses -- West Virginia lost to Oklahoma by 11 points and Indiana fell to Northwestern by 20, to name a couple. But none were as shocking and potentially damaging as Tennessee falling to a Vanderbilt team that had lost eight consecutive games, entered Thursday's meeting with just one conference win and ranked 196 in the RPI. ...​

​

With the Lady Vols falling out of the field, Indiana -- fresh off that 20-point loss to Northwestern -- returns and LSU gets to stay in despite suffering its own 20-point loss on Thursday to Mississippi State. Such is the fragility and softness of the bubble. It's so soft, in fact, that Tennessee might not be done yet, despite the three-game skid, the 6-9 SEC record and a second loss to a team below 100 in the RPI. The Lady Vols have four top-50 RPI wins, which is more than Auburn (currently in), LSU (in), UCF (in), Kansas State (in), Butler (out), Utah (out), TCU (out) and West Virginia (out).​

​

And some of the mid-major races will continue to impact the bubble. Drake and Central Michigan already have put together NCAA tournament-worthy seasons. But through Thursday's games, Missouri State, not Drake, is the No. 1 seed in the Missouri Valley Conference, and Miami (Ohio), not Central Michigan, is the top seed in the MAC. Both of those conferences could end up as one-bid leagues should the Bulldogs and Chippewas win those conference tournaments -- which would potentially open up two at-large bids. If that were the case today, the Lady Vols would still be in the field.​

Does any other bubble team have losses as bad as Tennessee? In the non updated RPI, Tennessee has losses to 89, 97, 147, 196 and if Auburn loses to LSU they likely drop out of top 50 which puts UT at just 2 top 50 wins. I dont follow the bubble teams as closely as I should, but it is mindboggling that Tennessee is still strongly in the hunt when theyll likely finish 9th or 10th in SEC play in an extremely weak year, plus have zero wins over top 25 RPI teams, compounded with some historically had losses. Nothing about their resume to me says tournament team but maybe the bubble is just very weak this year. Looking forward to seeing his projections this week.

 

[willtalk]

Creme at present has the SEC with 8 bids. What joke. I might suspect that it might be a ploy to give Tenn a better chance of getting on of the 8. Interesting that as the season progressed the SEC picked up two more bids. They seemed to get better playing themselves. Perhaps Creme figured that if so many teams were beating Tenn that rather Tenn being so bad the rest of the league must be good. In the past it was usually the leagues record against non league opponents that was used to rate the league. Not their record against themselves.

 

[bballnut90]

Creme at present has the SEC with 8 bids. What joke. I might suspect that it might be a ploy to give Tenn a better chance of getting on of the 8. Interesting that as the season progressed the SEC picked up two more bids. They seemed to get better playing themselves. Perhaps Creme figured that if so many teams were beating Tenn that rather Tenn being so bad the rest of the league must be good. In the past it was usually the leagues record against non league opponents that was used to rate the league. Not their record against themselves.

Well, look at the breakdown:
Mississippi State, Kentucky, SC, Missouri and A&M are all locks.

Tennessee, LSU, and Auburn are all right on the bubble with their RPI. At the time of his projections, all 3 were in despite being on the bubble. Given the last week, Tennessee is out right now so there are only 7 SEC teams and all 3 could moss yielding just 5 teams.

The SEC getting potentially 7 (or 8) bids isnt a sign of it being a powerful conference, it is the sign of a conference that has a couple of good teams and a lot of mediocre ones that are borderline NCAA teams. Chances are only 2-3 teams will make regionals while the PAC and ACC have a good shot for 4+.

The division between the top 10-15 teams and the bubble teams is much smaller than it has been in years past. Parity is here. We are seeing a lot of up and down teams pulling upsets (or almost pulling upsets) of top 10-15 squads but then they turn around and lose to a bottom feeder. As a result, a lot of top teams may not appear to be as good as they were in previous years when in fact the rest of college basketball is catching up.

 

[jumpstart]

I actually had the SEC at No.1 Miss. St....then Tennessee.....with UGA, Missouri and South Carolina battling it out for the third spot. I never thought South Carolina would actually have a chance to share the SEC title this year....especially after their 5-4 start to the season. You got to hand it to Dawn here.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Are there any Margo videos out there?

 

[JavaMan]

The BY had Duke #25 in the poll..... I tried to tell yall..... but yall didnt listen to me View attachment 40335 View attachment 40335 View attachment 40335 View attachment 40335 View attachment 40335

Shouldn't it be all yall didnt listen to me?

I'll be traveling south of the Mason Dixon line soon and I'd like to make sure that I have the vernacular straight so that I don't rile up the locals.
.

 

[JavaMan]

Charlie being Charlie.

​

 

[oldude]

Honestly I'm not upset because this might finally be the push that's needed to get rid of her. I'd rather sacrifice a season and hopefully get a new coach than endure a situation like the one at Duke where P has slowly but steadily turned Duke into an irrelevant program. This is the least talented team Holly has ever coached, and almost everyone is back next year with Horston coming so if there was a year to tank, it was this one.

While I understand your desire for a change at the top, there is a lot of “misused’ talent on this team. As I watched last night’s game I was struck by how badly coached the LV’s are...Duh!

Holly’s offense basically devolved into various players taking the ball at the top of the key and driving to the basket. Very little movement of the ball or the players. On defense, post defense was terrible. Vanderbilt scored at will. This is Basketball 101, and the LV’s are failing. But there is a lot of talent on this team.

One other point to consider. Right now TN WBB is a train wreck. There are rumblings already of players transferring. I know there’s been a lot of buzz concerning Westbrook on social media. In addition, if HW goes, will returning players petition to transfer to greener pastures and for immediate eligibility? Also, would Horston ask to be released from her LOI?

 

[Fairfield Fan]

If they win the SEC tournament they’re back in

When Tennessee wins the tournament....and pigs fly!

 

[Tonyc]

As far as getting rid of HW. Shes under contract and Tenn is a football school. The donors want a championship football team not a top WCBB team . So I dont think HW is fired. Tenn would have to pay her and a new head coach and the donors wouldnt want their money spent on WBB. They want it spent on football.

As far as LV's in the NCAA it would take almost a miracle or the NCAA tournament committee to say let them in despite their record because theyve been in so long. Tenn is gonna loose in the SEC conference tournament. That will give them 12 losses. IMO to many. This will bring a new meaning to Go Lady Vols.

You old timers on this board know that I still have bad feelings about what happened with the 37 page report. It was embarrassing and just a really nasty thing they tried to pull off. I have no respect for the Tenn program and everytime they loose its Christmas for me.

Sorry to the good fans at Tenn but what the program did for me is not forgiveable. Its not about todays players its about the program.

 

[FairView]

#16 in Albany .... #16 in Albany ... #16 in Albany ... please, #16 in Albany.
Altogether now ...

 

[oldude]

Tenn is gonna loose in the SEC conference tournament. That will give them 12 losses.

You are assuming that the LV’s win their last regular season game at Mississippi. With the way they played last night that’s hardly a sure thing.

 

[oldude]

Charlie being Charlie.

​

I think Creme is trying his best to continue to keep TN relevant despite all the evidence to the contrary. At the very most, the SEC will have 8 teams in the Big Dance. TN is currently 10th in the conference, and playing badly. It’s 50/50 they lose at MS to end the regular season, and then it will come down to the absolute requirement that they make a sustained run in the SECT. I don’t see it happening, and if Creme was being honest, neither does he.

 

[cabbie191]

I think of the relative strength of conference as being a bit like a roller coaster - ups and downs.

What I find interesting this year is that while most all agree that the top tier of WCBB has gotten much more crowded, many of the conferences seem to be weaker than in the past, including SEC, Big Ten, and to be honest, ever our own American has taken a step backwards.

ACC to my mind has a bit more strength, and the PAC 12 is ascendant.

To the main point of this thread, I can't even see why SEC gets 7 slots except that as Creme says, you need 64 bodies to fill out the card. 7 slots - I realize Auburn has 20 wins but they are barely above .500 in conference play, and their OOC schedule was largely filled with cupcakes in IMO.

 

[Jmsdawg]

I wonder if you’re just trying to justify a closer game against them last week than it should have been because Vandy is not good. Prior to this, they lost 7 straight SEC games. As currently seeded they would play Ole Miss then Mizzou in SEC T. No way they win both of those games. Most of us here have a radically different view of Steph White as a coach due To her 3 years of underwhelming reasults.
Respectfully DD.

MSST won by 16, so no not trying to justify anything. I am going by what I see when watching a game and Vandy is a lot better today than the first time I saw them against Tennessee. Vandy is certainly not a top level team but I do think they can beat the average Team if they play their average game.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I bet the Boneyard had them highly ranked in the preseason as well.

But perhaps Creme and the BY weren't so delusional, since UT did and does have strong talent. But that talent, year after year, fails to come close to expectations.

This is on HW. She brought in the rookie of the year from North Carolina, then watched that player and the team underperform. It's understandable that players transfer. But there have been a number dismissed from the program, which hints at poor coaching and perhaps poor management of young players.

I don't buy the argument that UT doesn't care about women's college basketball, and that the lack of interest in the program means that they'll let HW slide through. Women's sports have been rising in visibility and importance for lots of people, and UT and PS were the face of women's college sports for decades. I don't think they want to be seen as ignoring poor performance in the women's sports program.

And if one or more of these top recruits begins to pull out....what?

 

[jumpstart]

While I understand your desire for a change at the top, there is a lot of “misused’ talent on this team. As I watched last night’s game I was struck by how badly coached the LV’s are...Duh!

Holly’s offense basically devolved into various players taking the ball at the top of the key and driving to the basket. Very little movement of the ball or the players. On defense, post defense was terrible. Vanderbilt scored at will. This is Basketball 101, and the LV’s are failing. But there is a lot of talent on this team.

One other point to consider. Right now TN WBB is a train wreck. There are rumblings already of players transferring. I know there’s been a lot of buzz concerning Westbrook on social media. In addition, if HW goes, will returning players petition to transfer to greener pastures and for immediate eligibility? Also, would Horston ask to be released from her LOI?

I have said before that Holly's offense looks like a "we make it up as we go along". It sometimes works and sometimes it doesn't. Too much talent to have a," no concise purpose" for it.