Tennessee 2025, part 2 | Page 9 | The Boneyard

Tennessee 2025, part 2

Charlie updated 'bracketology latenight' after Sunday ncaa committee reveal.😁

He still has the Vols as a 7 seed, ahead of 8 seeds Oregon, Oklahoma St, USC and Illinois.

In SECT the Vols open most likely vs current 6 seed Alabama. In theory Alabama will be the favorite in this game.

Even with another loss TN still unlikely to fall below 8/9 seed level now.
 
I don't believe for one minute that it was her decision not to play. Why have your family there to celebrate and then you refuse to go in the game. She had 8 family members/friends on the court with her on Senior Day.
 
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JeannoCT said:
I don't believe for one minute that it was her decision not to play. Why have your family there to celebrate and then you refuse to go in the game. She had 8 family members/friends on the court with her on Senior Day.
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Me neither. Her twitter post says she wanted to play. Wolfenbarger also didn’t play.
 
Are we allowed to call Head Coaches Dunderheads on this forum? Someone... let me know in advance.

 
She supposedly was offered the chance to go in with 15 seconds left and said "no thanks."
 
I asked AI and got a less than fully satisfactory answer but some things are worth noting.

It does appear to be true that she was offered a chance to sub in the game late when it was effectively over. She declined that option so Maria's claim that she "had a chance to enter game late, opted not to" is accurate but incomplete.

According to her post (I'll try to post it) she said "the one night I was most looking forward to was senior night. As someone who was never started a career game, I was hoping to start my last appearance in Thompson-Boling. That obviously did not happen, and to be asked to check into the game with 15 seconds left while losing was not how I wanted to spend my final moments in the arena…"

One can still debate whether it was a reasonable coach's decision not to start her in a game they felt they had a chance to win but not much margin to spare, given her usual sub approach, she could started and played for three minutes.
 
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Well I was wrong. She did refuse. After reading her twitter post, I really feel for her. Sad way to go out.
 
JeannoCT said:
I don't believe for one minute that it was her decision not to play. Why have your family there to celebrate and then you refuse to go in the game. She had 8 family members/friends on the court with her on Senior Day.
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To be fair, the post I shared came from a press writer claiming "sources". That can obviously be taken with a grain of salt. Wynn's post on Twitter indicates a different perspective. So now it's a matter of who does one believe and that comes down to the individual.
 
I recall an interview with Shea Ralph early in her tenure at Vandy. And she made a comment like "Culture beats [xx - I forget what] 10 times out of 10." I was a little surprised by the statement and the boldness of it. But she clearly had a vision. Fast forward: she seems to know what she's doing.

Choosing not to play/start a senior is a choice. And if in the end you lost by 2 because the senior was on the floor, I think you could say that you still did the right thing.

Unless the players had previously burned bridges ....
 
Just my opinion, but if the player was honored before the game that is all that is required. The expectation that an inactive player should be entitled to start the game or play significant minutes in a competitive game vs top 5 opponent --- when her team was in midst of existentially terrible skid --- isn't reasonable.

Be mad at Caldwell for not being a good coach if you want. Not for trying to maximize chance of winning.
 
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Gamecockfan77 said:
Just my opinion, but if the player was honored before the game that is all that is required. The expectation that an inactive player should be entitled to start the game or play significant minutes in a competitive game vs top 5 opponent --- when her team was in midst of existentially terrible skid --- isn't reasonable.

Be mad at Caldwell for not being a good coach if you want. Not for trying to maximize chance of winning.
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She wasn’t inactive. She had played in 9 games during the season.
 
Gamecockfan77 said:
Just my opinion, but if the player was honored before the game that is all that is required. The expectation that an inactive player should be entitled to start the game or play significant minutes in a competitive game vs top 5 opponent --- when her team was in midst of existentially terrible skid --- isn't reasonable.

Be mad at Caldwell for not being a good coach if you want. Not for trying to maximize chance of winning.
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I could think of a lot more ways to maximize winning than this. But, in any case, it’s done.
 
What's telling is "this was not the sole reason, it was the breaking point for me." A lot of other issues obviously happening behind the scenes that are impacting the team.
 
Gamecockfan77 said:
Just my opinion, but if the player was honored before the game that is all that is required. The expectation that an inactive player should be entitled to start the game or play significant minutes in a competitive game vs top 5 opponent --- when her team was in midst of existentially terrible skid --- isn't reasonable.

Be mad at Caldwell for not being a good coach if you want. Not for trying to maximize chance of winning.
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Not significant mins, but they can’t play for a minute mid game?
Esp at Tenn where they just want you to run all out for 2 mins?

I also would’ve had a conversation with them pregame to set expectations.
 
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BRS24 said:
Charlie Creme just saying something like, Tenn still deserves a #7 seed for keeping it close or playing competitive or something random vs Vandy. Me? I'm thinking, that's a six game losing streak at the end of the season, when IMHO, the committee should be looking at what teams are finishing strong. Still not buying the SEC is SO strong, etc, etc, when I'm looking at a 8-8 and 16-12 record, the latter wins of which were vs East Tennessee State, UT Martin, Belmont, Middle Tennessee, Coppin State, Winthrop, and Southern Indiana. And no, I am not disparaging those programs.
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The committee is supposed to look at "Last 10 games", I believe. That being said, I don't think that in itself paints an accurate picture.

Tennessee started out SEC play with a 7-1 record. The second half of conference play had them going 1-7. Most would agree that Tennessee's first half conference schedule was much easier than the second half which was very tough other than A&M. If we flipped Tennessee's conference schedule, would folks be giving them props for going 7-1 to end the regular season? No, they'd be talking about the level of competition; and, that's what I think most committees ignore. If you want to evaluate a team based on their last 10 games, look at the level of competition, not just the won-loss record.
 
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