The CheckerBoard

Great post and I agree with most of it. However, if you give Cuonzo credit for all of the big wins he has (Flordida multiple times, Vandy last year, Mizzou this year etc..), it's only fair to criticize him for the big losses he has had. That's all I'm saying. +1

Well, you may blame CCM for this, too, but my frustration is with the lack of mental toughness, not the Xs and Os of how we adjust our ball screens on offense or defense.

There was, both last year and this year, a cho..., er, "failure to handle the pressure when the heat is turned up" tourney issue, especially with McRae and Golden. Last year Golden had the bum knee as an excuse, but what's the excuse for this year? And McRae's excuse for tanking when it mattered most against a good, not great by any means, AL team?

A couple of Pearl's teams were overconfident in the SEC tourney, but those of us in St. Louis remember Hopson, Prince and Co. finding their level of pressure. We had MSU beaten, period, and inability to handle the pressure was the reason we lost. I was there when we had UNC beaten under Jerry Green with a FAR more talented team and lost.

Golden is good to very good, until the pressure ratchets up; McRae has been consistently very good of late, but only for the last 10-15 games. Truly GREAT players rise to the occasion. Both last year and this, we needed all of our good players to play good to very good to win against good teams. Great means doing it consistently, away from the home gym, in a win or go home tourney environment.

That's why (a history of doing so) a tie goes to KY, Duke, UNC, IN, etc., any year one of them is on the bubble. If we want it, we have to go take it. Here's hoping I'm wrong, but unless all the other bubble teams lose, I don't see us getting into the dance, just because we have the better resume. The selection committee has too much of a history of shafting teams like us.

I believe CCM, personally, is mentally VERY tough, but if teams always take on the personality of their coach, where is the tournament-type mental toughness? We lost this game MENTALLY, not by poor X and O coaching. We won't be sitting at home or losing in typical depressed fashion in the NIT, because we don't have AL's athletic talent, IMO. It will be because of mental collapse.

A "must win" regular season game is far different from a tournament game, with a ton more pressure in the latter.

Sorry to let my frustration show through, but as a long time fan, it's humiliating and embarrassing that even when we had the Ernie and Bernie show, a university of our stature has as good of a regular season history as we do, but can't get it done come tournament time, with no NCs, no Final 4s, and only one Elite 8.

That said, I'm not ready to fire CCM, as some seem ready to do. Today aside, he's been doing an overall good job with what he has. Hubbs is a beast, and we're a lot harder to guard if Maymon is healthy and Stokes comes back (which he should). Maybe Maymon is the answer next year to the consistent mental toughness issue?

Vols' Skylar McBee: "A lot of other (bubble) teams haven't played the schedule we've played, and they don't have the wins we have."

We did not get outcoached today---the Vol players did not make layups or foul shots when they had the chance. You can only coach so far. Then it is up to the players to perform and make shots. This did not happen today.

I agree with him completely, of course, but it's sad that what could have been a lock for the field with a win today has now reduced us to grovelling before the committee, trying to lobby our way in with media soundbites.

I have zero faith in the selection committee to do any better job of seeding, location assignment or choosing bubble teams than I do in the BCS.

We oughta get in, and we deserve to get in, but I'm not gonna bend over without looking around first between now and the selection show.