For every coach who turned mid-to-low-major success into major success – Matt Campbell, James Franklin, Dan Mullen – there are coaches who aced level one but struggled with level two: Scott Frost, Justin Fuente, Charlie Strong. You never know.
Author: Will Shelton
Purpose and Patience
The common denominator in conversations I’ve had with friends and family today: will we have the patience for what comes next? Is there any other way to be? I guess that’s always been the allure of Gruden, Freeze, Pearl’s return, and other Tennessee fairy tales: the corresponding myth of the […]
Combined Pursuits: The SEC and a #1 Seed
The Vols, we think, are back in action tomorrow against Vanderbilt. Tennessee lost a date with South Carolina on Tuesday, then lost the reshuffled trip to Nashville, but we’re hopeful we’ll see the Vols and ‘Dores in Knoxville tomorrow (6:00 PM, SEC Network). The SEC left the final Saturday of […]
Equally Unheard Of: Defense & Balance
Ten games in, we’d normally be 33% of the way through the regular season. But depending on whether Tennessee’s game with South Carolina gets rescheduled, we’re more like 40-42% of the way home this year. Either way, we’ve got enough data to draw a couple of meaningful conclusions about this […]
On Hendon Hooker at Virginia Tech
In the midst of what feels like perpetual uncertainty, a surprise: the Vols picked up a transfer portal commitment from Virginia Tech quarterback Hendon Hooker. I live in the Blacksburg “metro”, and have spent nine of the last 15 years in southwest Virginia. I’m by no means an expert on […]
In Search of Weakness: We found some!
It makes sense, especially in pandemic times, that just when you’re feeling most confident about your team, you’re brought swiftly back to earth. Tennessee’s 71-63 loss to Alabama dropped the Vols from sixth to eighth in KenPom, though the Vols now have the best defense in the nation in those […]
In Search of Weakness: Quick Whistles
The Vols did their thing against Missouri, leading by 19 in the first nine minutes, 25+ for stretches of the second half, and 20 at the final buzzer. It wasn’t close, but it could’ve been closer in one regard: Missouri got to the line 30 times, but only made 18 […]
Tennessee 73 Missouri 53 – Defense: Everywhere. Offense: Everyone.
Okay. Missouri was undefeated with wins over Oregon, Wichita State, and Illinois. They’re ranked 12th in the country. And Tennessee jumped them 23-4 in the first 8.5 minutes. The Tigers never got within single digits. Defense: everywhere. Offense: everyone. This is Tennessee. Missouri shot 36.4% from the floor, 3-of-16 from […]
Tennessee vs Missouri: Plan C
Big, big game tonight. Cuonzo’s teams make a good living off of frustrating their opponents. When it happens, it can really happen: his second Tennessee team beat Kentucky by 30, his third beat Virginia by 35 and won five straight by 15+ points at the end of the regular season […]
Tennessee, Missouri, and Top 15 Showdowns
How rare is what we’ll see at 9:00 PM ET on Wednesday night? In all the excitement of Tennessee’s hot start, we find ourselves asking not only if the Vols can win the SEC outright…but do so by such a margin that the quality of the rest of the league […]