Alabama junior Anthony Brock's turn from the grief of attending the funeral of his grandmother Saturday to hitting the game winning shot Sunday is the stuff of poorly written TV scripts. That's part of what makes sports so fantastic. These things really happen.
On Sunday, the Vols got knocked off by Alabama on a desperation shot from mid-court with time expiring.
Anthony Brock was the hero who took the shot, throwing Alabama into hysteria. Yet a day earlier Brock was gripped with sadness, as he was mourning the loss of his grandmother at her funeral. It wasn't until late in the night that he re-joined the team. With little sleep for an early afternoon game and a heavy heart, Brock scored 11 points and shot 3-of-3 from behind the arc, including the game-winner.
Bruce Pearl seems like a pretty intense dude. He's willing to paint himself orange and run around Knoxville, Tenn., shirtless, for one thing. For another, he yells a lot. Well, on Thursday night against South Carolina, he was rocking a blazer-white T-shirt combo. And at one point during the first half, he ripped said blazer off. Brent Musbergernoticed, too. Enjoy.
Tennessee spent the first half of Sunday's game against Florida showing that it knew two things about the outcome of this game: The winner would be tied with South Carolina for first in the SEC East and find themselves on the right side of the bubble watch heading towards the SEC Tournament.
The second half was a different story. The Gators outscored the Vols 42-34 in the final 20 minutes, cutting the lead to three points with 54 seconds remaining. But Tennessee managed to hold on for a 79-75 win, hitting just enough free throws to stave off the Gators.
It's bubble time in college hoops, so FanHouse is here to determine whose gets popped and who rides the bubble to the Big Dance. Check back for more NCAA or NIT calls.
Team: Tennessee Volunteers
Record: 16-10 (7-5 SEC) Good Wins: Marquette (in Nashville), South Carolina, Florida
Bad Losses: At Auburn Comments: The Vols were a preseason top-10 team, but the lack of a true point guard has hurt the team. Tennessee struggled with turnovers and against teams with strong backcourts. Meanwhile the Volunteers' misadventures in perimeter shooting means teams are packing inside against Wayne Chism, and limiting drives by Tyler Smith.
Jodie Meeks was held in check with only 14 points on only 4-for-14 shooting (0-for-7 from outside). The problem for Tennessee was that the rest of the Wildcat team shot 24-for-33 -- a blistering 72.7 percent. Patrick Patterson looked very healthy dropping 19 points on 75 percent shooting and Darius Miller had 17 on a perfect 6-for-6 day.
Well, I mean aside from LSU which has run their record to 10-1 in the conference. Over in the SEC East it is a mess. Whether you want to call it parity, mediocrity or just plain suckitude, there are four teams pillow-fighting their way to see who can back into the top spot in the division.
Kentucky got humiliated by Vanderbilt yesterday. Florida, which had lost three of four got a win over a bad Alabama team. Tennessee got run out of Oxford by an injury-ravaged Ole Miss team. South Carolina has been overachieving, but they couldn't win in Starkville. That leaves all four with identical 7-4 conference records.
There is a SportsCenter commercial with Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt where Kenny Mayne fires off puns that use the coach's name and team, only for Summitt to respond that she's got "this coaching thing down pat."
I concur.
Thursday night, Summitt became the first Division I coach, men's or women's, to reach 1,000 wins as her Volunteers beat up on Georgia 73-43.
Jodie Meeks is a baller. He was AJC Player of the Year. He averaged 23-plus points as a senior in high school. In college, he made the 2007 All-SEC Freshman Team and All-America Freshman Team. And he's only 21. But Tuesday he reached a new level, as scored the most points in a single game by a player in the University of Kentucky history. (Meeks also broke the record for most 3-pointers made in a game, with 10.)
This is no joke, folks. Kentucky, as you may or may not know, is kind of a decent basketball school. They had this guy named Adolph Rupp. He did okay. And Rick Pitino (who can't even hold a candle to Rupp) still managed to become a college basketball legacy in the Bluegrass State.
At least, that is, if Dennis Felton wants to keep his job as coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs blew a home lead against the only ranked SEC team, the suddenly struggling Tennessee Volunteers, falling, 86-77.
Normally, it wouldn't be that noteworthy that a Georgia team that has lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Loyola (Ill) would lose to Tennessee. What makes it a surprise was how badly Georgia managed to blow this game. The Bulldogs were up by 11 on the Volunteers with over 12 minutes left.
More importantly, Tennessee was in significant foul trouble. Even as Tennessee chipped away at the lead, Georgia held a lead with over five minutes left. Tennessee had four players with four fouls, including their power forward Wayne Chism and wing guard J.P. Prince -- both starters.
NCAA Basketball tennessee Volunteers 
Tennessee spent the first half of Sunday's game against Florida showing that it knew two things about the outcome of this game: The winner would be tied with South Carolina for first in the SEC East and find themselves on the right side of the bubble watch heading towards the SEC Tournament.
It's bubble time in college hoops, so FanHouse is here to determine whose gets popped and who rides the bubble to the Big Dance. Check back for more NCAA or NIT calls.
A month ago, Tennessee was torched on their home court for 54 points by Jodie Meeks. The Volunteers really wanted to stop Meeks this time. Even Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl talked about his team being motivated to stop Meeks. Well the Vols won the battle, but lost the war by losing to the Wildcats 77-58.
Well, I mean aside from LSU which has run their record to 10-1 in the conference. Over in the SEC East it is a mess. Whether you want to call it parity, mediocrity or just plain suckitude, there are four teams pillow-fighting their way to see who can back into the top spot in the division.
There is a SportsCenter commercial with Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt where Kenny Mayne fires off puns that use the coach's name and team, only for Summitt to respond that she's got "this coaching thing down pat."
At least, that is, if Dennis Felton wants to keep his job as coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs blew a home lead against the only ranked SEC team, the suddenly struggling Tennessee Volunteers, falling, 86-77.
