I blinked. Were we No. 1?? Vandy tosses “The Gauntlet” at the Vols

“Well,” I said as the time rolled off the clock, “Shan Foster hit some big shots.”

Staring blankly at the television screen, Dad read my mind: “And we missed some.”

That about sums up Tuesday night’s 72-69 loss at Vanderbilt. Calling this a “trap game” is the easy way out, but after a game of the magnitude of Saturday’s win against the nation’s final undefeated team in Memphis, traveling to the No. 14 team in the country — an in-state heated, hated rival, no less — it was far more than that.

Prior to my high school football playing days, I played in junior high, and we’d line up two-by-two with a little channel in between, and everybody would get the opportunity to run through the channel carrying the football. You had to make it to the end, no matter how many times you got knocked on your can. Of course, each pair of two would try to destroy the ball carrier and make him fumble the football. This 20 minutes of unadulterated pain was called “The Gauntlet.”

That’s what Vandy did to Tennessee tonight. This wasn’t a trap game. It was The Gauntlet. Despite a torrid stretch sandwiched around the half by the Vols, the Commodores had every single answer all night long. It was the perfect storm to corner a national title contender.

The Commodores are an excellent team, one definitely talented and balanced enough to make it into the Sweet 16. Tonight as I was driving home from work, I gave my buddy a call who was driving to the game.”Tonight, we lose,” I said. “Nobody’s going to guard Tyler,” he answered. “I’m more concerned with Florida.”

“I just have a bad feeling,” I stated again. “We’re gonna lose.” All season long, this is how I thought it would shake out. We’d beat Memphis, showing that they weren’t exactly Paper Tigers, but that we were as good as them. Then, thanks to the Schedule-Making Demons, we had to turn right around and travel to Vanderbilt, just the team that hates us more than any other team in the country.

Ghostradomas

It turned into a blueprint of “How To Beat the Vols.” Foster drained a couple of big shots early, giving the Commodores a 14-point lead. Like any Bruce Pearl-coached team, UT fought back valiantly, proving they’ll never be out of any game anywhere regardless of circumstances, to take a brief lead. But you just lose a lot of energy coming back. Vandy hit another couple of big shots, then it made its free throws. When it mattered the most, the Commodores had the fan support and the discipline to inbounds the ball every single time against the Vols’ relentless press.

Take advantage of UT’s rushed shots. Make the Vols’ secondary perimeter players — i.e., J.P. Prince, Ramar Smith and Jordan Howell — think they have to do a lot on the perimeter offensively. Make all your free throws. Get the ball inbounds against the press.

Not many teams have been able to do that this year, but that’s the blueprint of beating the Vols. Vandy did it. Kudos to them.

Live Blog: Tennessee vs. Vandy

7:55- Almost game time. Eric Gordon is decent at best. He would probably be better if he ever worked out. Maybe then he could lose the t-shirt as well. Maybe I just associate the t-shirt under the jersey with bad basketball because thats what we used to wear.

7:58- Watching the game with a fellow Tennessee fan Chase, and a Bammer that roots against everything orange, Run in the Mud. We better win this game after all the bragging I’ve done these last two days or I’ll never here the end of it. I made the prediction we would pull this one out, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they beat us, at all.

8:00- Just watched the pep rally speech by Pearl before the Memphis game, so I’m ready to go, hopefully the team is too.

8:10- Terrible start. We got to start guarding Foster or were going to get killed.

8:17- We look flat. Lazy on defense, and not guarding the perimeter at all.

8:19- This gym really takes away the Pearl factor. Someone give that man a megaphone. I hate this place.

8:21- 20-9. About the worst start we could hope for. At this point I would give us a 25% chance of winning this game. This is such a trap game for the Vols and it looks like we’re caught in it.

8:25- Pearl just got a technical foul for arguing an obviously terrible call. If he’s not careful he may get the boot. Maybe he’s trying to pull a Lou Pinella to get a rise out of our players, we certainly need it.

8 :31- They’re getting it to the big men and its working. 24-12.

8:34- (Chase)- “Always great to hear the bullsh** cheer on national television. Especially when its the top college in the South doing it.”

8:35- Lofton needs five 3’s a game to catch Reddick. That’s three tonight. 24-17.

8:37- Vandy finally went cold. I’m starting to feel better about our chances. As long we hang in there in the first half we should fare better in the second half when we get the Pearl factor back, at least on offense.

8:39- Commercial break: Roger Clemens has been caught in yet another lie. Who would have thought that telling jokes about his wife and Canseco’s wife comparing boob-jobs would be the thing that ultimately took him down.

8:41- Chism has already got three fouls, but Ogilvy has three as well. The way Chism has been playing so far, advantage Tennessee.

8:42- Jajaun Smith from nearly half-court!!!! Wow!! That was Lofton-like from last year’s Vandy game. Our shot selection has not been very good as of late, but if we can drain them from there, who cares?

8:44- Jay Cutler in the house tonight (No, not the body builder). With that swoop hair-do and low I.Q., why did Bama not recruit that guy?

Can the Vols get up again?

When Tennessee ascended to its highest-ranking ever (at the time) in men’s basketball, it wound up being a short stay. One day after being ranked third in the country in January, the Vols fell at Kentucky. Is history about to repeat itself?

The Vols are now ranked No. 1 in both polls. That lofty ranking is compliments of Saturday’s 66-62 victory over then-No. 1 Memphis - a game hyped as the game of the year by ESPN. And the hype doesn’t appear to have been empty, as the game was the highest-rated regular-season college basketball game in ESPN’s history.

After such a momentous win for the program, can the Vols get back up for tonight’s SEC showdown with Vanderbilt? The Vols didn’t get home from Memphis until 2:30 in the morning Sunday. UT coach Bruce Pearl admitted his team hasn’t had the preparation time for Vandy  it had for Memphis.

The Vols hammered Vanderbilt 80-60 in Knoxville last month. But the ‘Dores are a different team at home, where they’re 17-0 this season. And, as if they needed any more incentive, that No. 1 ranking the Vols now sport has to be further motivation for VU.

If Pearl’s bunch can find a way to pull this one out, it will be a huge confidence boost when March rolls around. Tennessee won’t have a back-to-back test as tough as this until the second week of the NCAA tournament at the earliest - and maybe not until the Final Four if the Vols can make it to San Antonio. And, of course, the tournament games would be at neutral sites, not opponent’s home floors.

But, as I wrote yesterday,  another regular-season loss wouldn’t be devastating. It may even be preferable. We may find out sooner rather than later.

The hero worship is a little out of control in Knoxville…

The most damning evidence against Fulmer occurred Saturday night. Not in Memphis where the Volunteers beat the last remaining undefeated team in the country. Back in Knoxville.

And no, to my knowledge no football player was arrested. And I’m not referring to the uncreative ranting of Mike Freeman (Star Wars and Silence of the Lambs references? Surely you could have tossed in something on that Seinfeld craze, too, Mike). It’s worse than all of that.

The students at UT are now sacrificing burnt offerings at the altar of Bruce Pearl. Just as Moses came off Mt. Sinai to find a golden calf, Fulmer has returned from Atlanta to find a new deity. The difference, however, is that he does not carry with him the wrath of God.

These guys must be freshmen. Upperclassmen at UT know how to build a proper cross.

The bottomline is that Fulmer’s days of inspiring random acts of vandalism have passed. Sure, Tennessee was in the championship game. In fact, they were in it most of the game. But not one win in the last several years has been terribly inspiring at the time. The UGA win last season looks more impressive in retrospect, but at the time they only beat a team that couldn’t beat South Carolina. And the stretch run for UT made it appear that they backed into the championship game, with UGA garnering national attention with exciting wins over Florida and Auburn while UT was playing Vandy, USC, Arkansas and UK teams that had already begun their fade into mediocre seasons. Compound that with embarrassing blowouts at the hands of their two biggest rivals…well, when Fulmer got to work this morning, I’m betting there was already another car in his parking spot.

Forget about all the arrests. Those have always been rationalized away and they are always forgotten come football season, in Knoxville and everywhere else. But be concerned when in November, people are talking more about pre-season tournaments than UT’s chances to reach Atlanta. Basketball is fun, but logistically, it can’t make as much money as football. Thompson-Boling Arena’s capacity is less than a quarter that of Neyland Stadium. And when that quarter sits empty on a Saturday because those fans are watching basketball, that’s a problem.

Last Saturday, the basketball game against Memphis was being compared to a football atmostphere, both on this blog and then later on other blogs who apparently appreciate good writing. You have to wonder–Fulmer has to wonder–if the comparison is because they managed to get 24,000 people excited about the game.