It's Basketball Time in Tennessee!!!!!!!!!!

So today is the day. Yes. Today is the exhibition opener for the Men's UT basketball team against Lemoyne Owen. For me, this is when the fun begins. Don't be mistaken, I am definitely a UT football fan and cheer for all things UT. But basketball is where it is at for me. I love me some UT basketball. So for the UT basketball fans out there, here is a little synopsis for what you should expect to see this season....

1) Tons of new players. This team is very inexperienced. They have five freshman and a redshirt sophomore that have never played a lick of Division 1 college basketball. So that is 6 out of the 11 scholarships on this team. A small bit of info on the new players...
#3 Marques Johnson - PG - A legitimate 6'-6", he plays very smooth at the PG position. Has a pass first shoot second mentality.
#4 Wayne Chism - C- At 6'-8", he is the second tallest player on the team. Has a very smooth inside game and hits the glass hard. Can also shoot the 3 ala CJ Black.
#12 Ramar Smith - PG - One of the most athletic PG's in the league as a FR. Can drive to the basket at will. Look for him to improve as the year progresses and he grasps the offense better.
#13 Tony Passley - SF - As a redshirt sophomore, Tony is the oldest newcomer to the team. A tough nosed player, he will make a lot of plays around the basket along with collecting many rebounds.
#25 Josh Tabb - SG - The least heralded of the Top 5 recruiting class, but the most impressive thus far. Understands the game very well and is a lock down defender. Always is pretty to have a lefty shooter as well.
#32 Duke Crews - PF - The most athletic of the newcomers. Can sky out of the gym for monster dunks. Slightly raw on offense but can be a pain around the basket blocking shots. Fits perfectly in Pearl's press.

2) Improvement from those returning. Major Wingate's dismissal hurt this team in a lot of ways, but those that return will try to help fill the void.
#2 JaJuan Smith -SG - Although he will probably start at the 3, he is still a SG. Probably the best on guard defender on the team. If he can become more selective with his ball handling, he will be a great player here at UT.
#5 Chris Lofton - SG - The reason JaJuan doesn't start at SG. Has improved his body and is working on taking the ball to the basket more this season. I just hope he doesn't cut off his 3 point shooting.
#15 Jordan Howell -PG - The most experienced PG on the team has been sidelined with a broken hand to begin the season. Many were impressed with his improvement over the summer. Look for Jordan to compete for the starting PG role when he returns to practice this week.
#23 Dane Bradshaw - PF - The glue of this team. As the only senior, Dane is once again playing as an undersized power forward. Look for him to help keep this team together thorughout the year and lead them to the postseason.
#34 Ryan Childress - C - The tallest member of the team and the most improved from last year. Has really improved his footwork and should contribute lots this season. Has also greatly improved his jump shot.

3)Steady improvement throughout the season. Although the season may start out rough, look for continued improvement throughout the season. Pearl will be able to finally implement his full court style throughout the season as he has a legitimate 11 deep that he can go with. He has tons of guards, and remember, college basketball is a guard oriented game.

4)A loaded schedule. Tennessee will paritcipate in the Preseason NIT where it could face North Carolina, Indiana, or Gonzaga depending on how far they advance. Tennessee will also travel to Ohio State to face the Buckeyes and their #1 ranked recruiting class. Lastly, Tennessee will host half of the elite eight in Thompson-Boling Arena when Florida, LSU, Texas, and Memphis all make appearances.

5)TV Galore. Out of the possible 31 games UT could play in the regular season(assuming two games in the NIT in NY,) 24 of those games will be shown on TV. And out of those 24, 12 will be shown on national TV, with 9 of those games appearing on the ESPN network. Three of those games are on ESPN's Super Tuesday. That's what happens when you have the season the Vols did last year.

6) More updates from me. I know I have been slacking in the blog department, but I'm going to be picking it up now that basketball season is here. Remember what the name of the blog is. This is UTBball Land. Go Vols!!!

Am I too intense?

As many of you know, I am an extremely competitive person, especially with sports. I really hate to lose at anything. But the worst is when I don't do my best and lose. See, I can handle it if I give it my all and I know I've done the best I can, and I still lose. Why? Because I know I was beaten by a better team, or person, and there is nothing I could do about it. So on to last night. Last night was the final game of the intramural football season. As many of you may know, Cody and I, along with Daniel, where coaching the girl's CSC team. This was mine and Cody's 4th year I believe at doing this. The three previous year's we were able to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, this year we were not able to make it. We hadn't practiced in the last two weeks, and it really showed last night. One of the main reasons why we had done so well in the past was, even though we might not have had the talent that some of the other teams had, we almost always knew what we were doing and that can go a long way. It can really surprise you how much coaching can help. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn here. Just making a statement. See Tennessee Men's Basketball team in '05-'06 if you don't believe me. Well, last night it just didn't seem like our team wanted to be there. I know they tried their hardest, but they just didn't look excited to be playing. But I guess the thing that made me the most frustrated was that we kept making bad mistakes, that if we had practiced wouldn't have happened. At one point, one of the girl's told me I needed to calm down and that it was just a game. Now, I hadn't been going nuts on the sideline at this point. I'm sure everone could tell I was frustrated, but I wasn't going biserk either. But I'm going to be honest. I almost lost it when she told me that. I just had to walk away. If I hadn't, then I probably would have gone biserk. Yes, she's right. It is a game. However, when only 5 people would show up for practice, because they had tests to study for or homework they had to do, then that's frustrating. Cody, Daniel, and I all have other stuff we could have been doing, but we took time out of our schedules to make it to practice. So it is very frustrating for us. Anyways, I guess that's the end of my rant. However upset I might sound, I still enjoyed the season and am glad I was able to coach all the girls. Good luck to all of you for the rest of the semester.

Checking In

So not much has been happening in the last couple of days. Monday night, I watched the Prison Break which I had taped. I go on and on about that show, but it really is a good show. You never know what is going to happen. Especially in this last show. It jsut catches you off guard. Unfortunately, they are taking a 3 week hiatus and won't air an episode for another three weeks, so I might encounter some Prison Break withdrawals. Tuesday nights has now shifted focus onto a tv show on CBS. "The Unit" airs on Tuesday nights at 9:00. It features Dennis Haysbert, who starred in 24 as President Palmer, as Jonas Blane. He is a leader of an army unit that only answers to the president and their existence is only known by the president. The show features the actions of Blane and his team, along with the struggles that their wives go through back on the army base. It really is a good show. I caught onto it this past summer when it would come on on Friday nights before Numb3rs.

Meanwhile, I have been looking at Halloween costumes lately. I really love Halloween. It has to be my favorite holiday behind Christmas. It just allows you to dress up and be crazy, because everyone else is doing the same thing too. Danny, a yp at West End, and I are planning a Halloween party for the weekend before Halloween, so I have been checking out different decorations and things as well. I am really looking forward to the party. I haven't decided on a costume yet, but I have 4 different ideas. Two are pre made, and two would have to be put together. Also, price has a little bit of a say in it as well. Anyways, just thought I would check in. And I will be sure to post some pictures of the costume I decide on, cause I'm sure it will look good.

Suspenseful Monday

So yesterday was crazy. I had two really suspenseful moments in one day, now how often does that happen? First, the CSC Pirates had our 4th game of the season last night. We played the Business school's fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi girls. They had currently only lost 1 game, so they were still playoff eligible, unlike us since we have 2 losses. So fast forward to 5 minutes left in the game. We stop AKPsi on a crucial extra point attempt to keep the game tied 13-13. We proceed to drive the ball down the field and, with 1 minute and 45 seconds left, have the ball 4th and goal at the 2 yard line. We are stopped, and turn the game over to our defense. I'm hoping for a sack and a safety, but the AKPsi girls proceed to get a first down. To our surprise, the AKPsi girls are trying to score, when a tie is just the same as a win for them. Big mistake there. A couple of plays later, the AKPsi girl throws a ball that hangs a little too long in the air and Susie jumps in front of the receiver to intercept the ball and returns it to midfield. So with 30 seconds left, we have 30 yards to score and 2 timeouts left. We call timeout and set up our offense. We decide to go no huddle and tell the girls what stops the clock and what doesn't. On first down, Kelly, our QB, scrambles out to her right for a good 12 yard gain and runs out of bounds with about 20 seconds left. On the next play, Kelly hits the center for about a 5 yard gain, getting another first down, and temporarily stopping the clock. The clock runs an extra second however, and while Cody is telling the ref to add an extra second, I'm yelling out to get set and I call out our play. The ref starts the clock before the extra second is added and I yell at Kelly to snap the ball. The ball is snapped with 8 seconds left, and Kelly looks for an open receiver. With no one open, and a heavy rush, Kelly takes off to her right again. I look at the clock and there is only 3.5 seconds left running so I tell myself this is probably the last play of the game, because if she gets tackled, we probably don't have enough time to call timeout. Cody is already next to the ref ready to call timeout just in case. I watch Kelly run and dodge a defender, and as the clock strikes zero, she rolls into the endzone between two defenders. Pandamonium quickly ensues. Cody, Daniel (our other coach), and I are all running and jumping on the field. The girls surround Kelly and celebrate. Pure adrenaline is now running threw my body. What a great game!!!!!

So after the game, I arrived home to watch the Monday Night Football game. I was particularly interested tonight, because, 1)I like to consider myself an Eagles fan, and 2)I needed a huge night from Donovan McNabb and the Philly defense to win in fantasy football this week. I trailed by 46 points going into last night with only those two remaining on my roster and none on my opponents. Donovan made me extremely proud by rushing for 2 TD's and throwing for 2 TD's, and I had the game won until the last couple of minutes. I had computed in my head that I had scored 47 points that night, with 36 of those coming from McNabb. Once McNabb was pulled, I knew that my defense had to make a stand against the Green Bay offense and not let them score. Based on how defenses are scored, if Green Bay kicked a FG I still would have been ok, but if they scored another TD to score 16 points, then I would have lost 2 points, and thus lost the fantasy game. So for those that watched the game, you know why I was nervous. Philly was called for pass interference in the endzone with less than 2 minutes left in the game. The ball was then moved to the 2 yard line. Green Bay ran the ball three straight times, and were denied 3 straight times. At this point, I'm going nuts and yelling at the tv for Green Bay to kick the FG, but alas, they don't listen. So on 4th and goal, at the one inch line, here is my fantasy game. Alas, Philly stopped Green Bay on 4th down, and while the Philly defense is going nuts because they stopped Green Day from scoring, I'm going nuts because I just won my fantasy game. I tell you what. I crazy night.