Author Archives: Joel Hollingsworth

Gameday Today: Basketball tournament season is here

If you see only one Vols-related thing today . . .

. . . make it this fantastic SEC Championship photo feature from UTSports.com. Some really remarkable images of some really remarkable events in there.

Hoops

Tennessee had a pretty good day with SEC postseason awards yesterday. Rick Barnes won SEC Coach of the Year, and he was notified by his grandkids via an adorable video chat:

Grant Williams won SEC Player of the Year, and Lamonte Turner won SEC Sixth Man of the Year. Admiral Schofield, who’s won the SEC Player of the Week the past two weeks in a row, was also second team All-SEC in the postseason awards.

The SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament begins today, but the Vols won’t play until Friday. They’ll play the winner of LSU and Mississippi State, who play tomorrow. Here’s a hype video to get you ready:

We’re less than a week away from Selection Sunday, and the results of conference tournaments this week could impact both seeding and venue for the Vols. Will’s done the work of identifying what to watch this week if you’re hoping for Tennessee to improve its seeding and stay somewhere close to home for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

I was out of town the past three days in mediations, and my computer was not cooperating during my morning writing routine, so, in case you missed it, be sure to check out Will’s The Fate We Make post and DylanVol’s look at basketball recruiting.

Rick Barnes met with the media Monday and said stuff. Here’s the transcript, and here’s the video:

And here are a ton of VFLs congratulating the current team on the regular season co-championship and giving them an important reminder:


Other Vols tidbits

Tennessee baseball beat James Madison 10-1 and is now 8-5 on the season.

The football team has added grad transfer kicker Ryan Tice to the team. He’s from Michigan and has two years of eligibility remaining.

Here’s another thing Peyton Manning can do that I can’t: Quit Papa John’s.

All the best SEC Championship highlights, celebrations, tweets, and interviews

You can stop pinching yourself now. It really happened. The Vols won a share of the SEC regular-season championship last night by out-toughing the Georgia Bulldogs, 66-61. It was a win that welcomed back to Knoxville that old familiar championship feeling for which we’ve been pining for far too long. You know it’s true when they’re printing and selling Vols SEC Championship Tees.

Here’s a collection of all of the best post-game tweets, highlights, celebrations, and interviews, because basking in all that stuff is what you do after a championship. It’s in the manual. (Please add any we may have missed in the comments section.)

But before the post-game stuff, here’s a warm up:

The crowd-led Star Spangled Banner


Okay, so now for the somehow-even-awesomer stuff.

Highlights with homers


Highlights with SECN commentary

The view of the last few minutes from the stands

Celebrations

The immediate post-game interviews came next, but we’re going with the celebrations first:

Post-game, on-court interviews

Rick Barnes:

Admiral Schofield:

Post-game press conferences

Rick Barnes:

Admiral Schofield:

Grant Williams, Lamontre (yes, I did that on purpose) Turner, and Kyle Phillips:

Player tweets


Congratulatory tweets


And finally, what’s next:

The 2018 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament Bracket has the Vols playing on Friday, March 9 at 7:00 p.m. against the winner of LSU and Mississippi State.

And there’s this, from Ken Pomeroy:

Vols cut down the nets with a hard-fought 66-61 win over Georgia

The Tennessee Volunteers beat the Georgia Bulldogs 66-61 this evening to win a share of the 2017-18 SEC regular-season championship. While their win against Mississippi State last Tuesday may have been their most complete performance, tonight’s was probably their gutsiest and most grueling, as they had to endure a game-long battle with inconsistent foul calls, foul trouble, frustrating play stoppages, and a Georgia team that not only featured a terrible matchup for the Vols’ squad but a backcourt that was abnormally hot from the three-point line in the first half.

Almost nothing went right early on either side of the court. Georgia’s Yante Maten and Tennessee’s Grant Williams spent most of the first period trying to determine how the officials were going to call the game, and Georgia’s usually feeble perimeter attack managed to nail nearly 60% of their three-point attempts.

Meanwhile, Tennessee couldn’t hit shots, couldn’t rebound, and couldn’t get into any sort of groove whatsoever. It was like playing basketball on a beach. They went to the locker room down 42-34.

The Vols didn’t so much storm back as claw their way back in the second half. On the defensive side of the ball, they held the Bulldogs to three points in the first eight and a half minutes.

On offense, Tennessee wasn’t exactly operating at full throttle, but they were able to gradually make progress, and they narrowed the lead to a single point when the clock hit 13:44 in what will forever remain one of my favorite plays of all time:

From there, Tennessee kept things close until they were finally able to take the lead on a Lamonte Turner three-pointer with 6:23 left to play.

At that point, the Vols had gone on a 21-11 run and seemed to be threatening to really take control. But Grant Williams chose that time to go on a fouling spree, getting a cheap one at 5:17 and following it up by fouling a three-point shooter at 3:58. With no room for margin, he picked up his last foul at 3:33 when he fell underneath the basket and happened to be on the ground when a Georgia player landed on him, giving him his fifth. Because Williams was one of the primary keys to the slow-motion comeback, Tennessee appeared to be in trouble. They were down by one with three and a half to go and now missing one of their two best players.

Maten then drove the point home by hitting a three-pointer to put the Dawgs up 61-57, but Tennessee’s Turner matched that on the next possession and once again narrowed the lead to one.

And then, finally, the game was iced by Jordan Bowden, Kyle Alexander, and Admiral Schofield. Bowden got fouled and hit both of his free throws to put the Vols up 62-61 with a minute remaining, and on the next possession, Alexander stole the ball. Schofield hit a jumper, and the Vols went up by three. leaving Georgia with 10 seconds to attempt to tie the game. They missed their shot, Alexander nabbed the rebound, and Schofield sealed the deal at the free throw line. Vols win, 66-61.

Schofield and Williams led the team in points with 23 and 22, respectively, but nobody else but Turner (who had 9) even sniffed double figures. Alexander did have 9 rebounds.

This had to have been one of the toughest contests for the Vols all season long, but they held up and came out on top. That bodes well for the postseason, as this team has shown it can win whether you make them play pretty or ugly.

Tonight was about as ugly as it gets, but when the clock hit all zeroes, it was about as pretty as it gets.

Vols SEC Championship Tees

After being picked in the preseason to finish 13th out of 14 teams in the conference, the Tennessee Volunteers are the 2018 SEC Champions, and what better way to celebrate than with Vols SEC Championship tees?

Yes, Tennessee secured the regular season co-championship with a grueling 66-61 victory at home over the Georgia Bulldogs this evening, and yes, we have two regular-season championship tees to commemorate the occasion:

Order now, as we expect them to go quickly. The official tee that you saw the guys wearing on the court after the game can be backordered on a pretty quick turnaround.

Who would have thought back in November that Rick Barnes and the Tennessee Volunteers would be cutting down the nets after finishing the regular season tied with Auburn for first in the SEC? Especially when the media thought Tennessee would be one of the worst teams in the entire league and when the league turned out to be one of the best in the country? But the guys beat an excellent Purdue team in the Battle for Atlantis, gave another excellent team in Villanova all they could handle, and then simply continued to get better and better and tougher and tougher as the season progressed.

It’s a welcome breath of fresh air after an extended period of hope-deferment on Rocky Top. Think about it. Is there anything in your closet that bears both the words “Tennessee” and “championship?” It’s long past time to get those lofty words back into our closets. Football may be coming, but basketball is here. Right now. Today.

So, don’t just enjoy the fact that the 2017-18 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team is the regular season SEC co-champion.

Relish it.

And while you’re basking in the reward for hanging with a team through its ups and downs, get yourself a shirt that will remind you not only of what happened today but also of what the future may hold.

After all, you’re going to need something to wear starting next week when the real madness begins.

SEC regular season championship TV channel, tip times, and online game-watching party

As Will has already mentioned this morning, there’s a lot of really good basketball today. Most importantly to Vols fans, of course, is the two-team race between Tennessee and Auburn for the SEC regular-season championship. If both teams win or both teams lose, they are co-champs, but either team can have the banner to itself by winning with the other losing. Auburn hosts South Carolina at 3:30, and Tennessee hosts Georgia at 6:00.

Will posted the Vols game preview yesterday, and you can hear him talking about it on the radio right here:

If you’re looking for an Auburn-South Carolina preview, check out College and Magnolia for the Auburn perspective and Garnet and Black Attack for the South Carolina perspective.

This will be our game thread for both games.

Auburn-South Carolina

Tennessee-Georgia

Go Gamecocks!

Go Vols!

 

Gameday Today: Hoops sharpens the scissors, football working like heck

If you read only one thing about the Vols today . . .

. . . make it this one from Will: This One’s for the Scissors.

Hoops

After all, it is March, and few things are more fun than March basketball.

Rick Barnes, though, is still All Business:

We’ve already covered yesterday just how big tomorrow’s game against Georgia is, so today we’ll just add that Admiral Jelly Ace Boogie Schofield has been waiting for this game since the last time the two teams played.

I’m posting this just because the picture is adorable:


Football

Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst has committed to playing for the Vols this fall as a grad-transfer.

Reportedly, Butch Jones’ picture isn’t the only one being removed from the Neyland Stadium Jumbotron next week. They’re all coming down, although word is that another of General Neyland is going to be substituted for his current one. Rumors of the other two include Al Wilson and Jason Witten as candidates.

Mike Griffith has an in-depth (34+ minutes) video interview with incoming running back Jeremy Banks.

The Vols’ football strength staff is going to collectively earn $250k more than Jones’ prior staff. If dollars are an upgrade, cool.

247Sports has an in-depth look at the linebacking corps for this fall.

VFL John Kelly is taking VFL Alvin Kamara’s advice to just be himself at the NFL Combine.

Lady Vols

The Lady Vols banked in a last-second three-pointer to beat Auburn last night and advance in the SEC Tournament.

 

Lady Vols advance on a last-second, banked-in three-pointer against Auburn

The Lady Vols basketball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament last night by beating Auburn 64-61 with a thrilling last-second banked-in three-pointer from Rennia Davis.

Holly Warlick looked and sounded like she could barely believe it:

 

Jaime Nared led the team in scoring with 17 despite having to leave early after a hard fall on a layup attempt. Mercedes Russell had a double-double (her 45th) with 12 points and 15 rebounds, partially on the strength of a 10-for-10 night at the free throw line. Davis and Meme Jackson also had double figures in points.

Both teams played full-court press for much of the game, which led to a combined 39 points, and the teams traded the lead the entire game.

The game-winner came just after Auburn tied the game at 61 with 13 seconds left. Tennessee tried to draw up a play for Anastasia Hayes, but she had to throw out of a double team to Davis, who banked in the game-winning three-pointer with half a second remaining.

The Lady Vols play 2-seed South Carolina tonight at 6:00 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.

Grad transfer Keller Chryst commits to Tennessee

Former Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst announced on Twitter last night that he has committed to Tennessee, and he used an awesome picture to do it:

GoVols247 confirmed the news with Chryst himself.

Chryst will graduate from Stanford this June with eligibility remaining and plans to enroll at Tennessee soon thereafter. His decision comes on the heels of an official visit to Tennessee last weekend.

The third-best pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2014, Chryst redshirted as a freshman for the Cardinal and then played four games (0 starts) as a sophomore, 12 (6-0 as the starter) as a junior, and 7 (all starts) this past season before giving way to KJ Costello after a 5-2 start.

Chryst, whose father Geep is the tight ends coach for the Denver Broncos and whose uncle Paul is the head coach at Wisconsin, will compete for the starting quarterback position immediately against redshirt sophomore Jarrett Guarantano, sophomore Will McBride, and incoming freshman JT Shrout.

Tennessee earned Chryst’s commitment on the power of its new coaching staff, as Chryst, immediately after his official visit this weekend, specifically mentioned running backs coach Chris Weinke and offensive coordinator Tyson Helton as part of a group of “guys from all over that have a good background and football history.” That the Vols will be running a pro-style offense in the SEC was also factor.

Check out Chryst’s 2017 highlights. If you’re like me, you’ll find the play at 1:15 amusing.

See? He LINES UP UNDER CENTER AT THE GOAL LINE TO RUN THE BALL LIKE YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO . . . oh, wait, he threw a touchdown instead. Okay, that works, too.

Gameday Today: SEC Championships and bracketology updates

If you read only one thing about the Vols today . . .

. . . make it this column from VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs, giving props to Rick Barnes for not only doing something special but also doing it the right way.

SEC Regular Season Championship

The last game of the regular season for the Vols basketball team is sold out. It’s not just that it’s the last home game of the season or that it’s senior night for James Daniel III or even that Tennessee’s attendance has been pretty good this season (9th in the country with an average of 15,779.)

It’s that the Vols are in the running for an SEC regular-season championship. Whether they earn it depends not only on whether they take care of business against Georgia at 6:00 p.m. Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena, but also what Auburn does on their home floor against South Carolina the same day. And in case you’re thinking that a regular season championship doesn’t mean much to a team in a tournament sport, well, Lamonte Turner would like a word, please:

“We are definitely playing for a championship,” Turner said after scoring 12 points at Mississippi State. “That’s big. Coming into this game, we knew it was a must-win if we wanted to even have a chance at winning a regular-season championship. Yeah, it’s big for us.”

So yeah, both Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield implored Vol Nation to attend this weekend, and the fans responded.

Always listen to Ace Boogie. It will be only the third sell-out of the season, the other two being the North Carolina and Kentucky games.

SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament

Regardless of what happens Saturday, the Vols have at least locked up the coveted double-bye in the SEC Tournament, meaning they get to rest on Wednesday and Thursday and won’t play until Friday. If they earn the 1-seed, they’ll play at 1:00 p.m. ET on Friday, March 9, and if they are a 2-seed, they’ll play at 7:00 p.m.

Behind Tennessee and Auburn, the field is a heaping pile of poisonous snakes:

The NCAA Tournament

Regarding the Big Dance, the Vols are currently slotted firmly in as a 4- to 2-seed in the Bracket Matrix, with the 3-seed being the most prevalent.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Vols as a 3-seed in Wichita against Charleston and in a bracket with Nevada, Purdue, West Virginia, and Virginia.

CBSSports also has Tennessee as a 3-seed but playing against TCU in Dallas. Others of note in the Vols’ portion of the bracket there include Purdue, Clemson, and Kansas.

And SB Nation has the Big Orange as a 3-seed in Dallas against Murray State and in a bracket with Rhode Island, Purdue, Wichita State, and Xavier.

It seems that everybody is anticipating a Tennessee-Purdue rematch. Except for USAToday, who has the Vols as a 3-seed against Charleston in Dallas and in a bracket with Houston, North Carolina, Arizona, and Xavier.

Other Vols tidbits

The football team is getting to work:


Grad-transfer quarterback Gardner Minshew has chosen Alabama (raise your hand if you think an ECU QB is going to beat out both Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa), which means that Tennessee is likely now all-in with former Stanford QB Keller Chryst.

WVLT is reporting that the removal of that picture of Butch Jones from the Jumbotron is scheduled to start Monday, much to the relief of way too many people way too worried about the wrong things.

The Lady Vols open play in the Women’s SEC Tournament tonight at 7:00 ET against Auburn and are embracing expectations:

 

And look at that, the Vols baseball team is now 6-3 after a 9-1 victory over Arkansas Pine Bluff yesterday.

Gameday Today: Jelly’s wild night in Starkville

If you read only one thing about the Vols today . . .

. . . make it Will’s post about the Vols basketball team putting it all together at just the right time.

Vols hoops dominates Mississippi State

So yeah, Tennessee basketball put all of the pieces together (same link as above) and played excellent basketball against a Mississippi State Bulldogs team fighting to stay on the bubble and beat them 76-54. It must have been the shoes.

The player of the game once again was Admiral Schofield, whom Wes Rucker called the Magnolia State Manimal. That’s appropriate, as Schofield flexed his entire skill set last night, including his muscle:


But State coach Ben Howland credits not just Schofield but also Grant Williams and says Tennessee is hard to beat partly because “they have those two bulls.”

And the rest of the guys are really beginning to come into their own as well, including Yves Pons. By the way, can you imagine having to do an interview with media while you’re still learning the language? Here, this will help you imagine that. (That’s a video of Pons’ post-game interview, which I would have embedded but for the auto-play feature I couldn’t turn off. But be sure to watch it.)

After that, this happened:

Also, Arkansas beat Auburn last night, so the Vols are now tied for first in the SEC with one game remaining. Tennessee has Georgia at home Saturday, while Auburn has South Carolina at home.

Highlights:

And post-game commentary from the SEC Network:

And wonder of wonders, Rick Barnes was again actually saying nice things about his team after the game:

Maybe it’s just that he’s finally satisfied that his players are going to evaluate and criticize themselves now (this video also features Schofield talking about peanut butter and jelly):

Other Vols tidbits

The Vols baseball team beat Middle Tennessee 5-4 yesterday.

Trevor Daniel, Rashaan Gaulden, John Kelly, and Kahlil McKenzie are all scheduled to participate in the NFL Combine this week.

VFL Scotty Hopson has signed a 10-day contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

ESPN’s Chris Low has a really good in-depth feature on Jeremy Pruitt’s challenge of rebuilding the Vols football team.