IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTT’SSSSSSSSSS MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!
And you all know what that means. Time to don the swimming caps, climb up the ladder, and swan dive into the pool of Tennessee Volunteer-related thoughts sloshing around inside my head.
1) Holy moly, this team can be so, so good when they’re on. And a lot of that has to do with Zakai Zeigler when he’s cooking. Zeigler was a magician with the ball in his hands on Saturday during Tennessee’s 86-51 win over Texas A&M in Knoxville. He had 9 points with 14 assistants and no turnovers in the game, slinging the ball all over the court, including one almost the length of the court between multiple defenders to Dalton Knecht for a highlight-reel score. He also had 13 assists in Tennessee’s win at Kentucky earlier this year. When he plays like he did in those games, Tennessee is a very tough team to beat.
2) The game was tied at 24 in the first half. The Vols ended the game on a 62-27 run. That’s so ridiculous, it’s hard to put into words. It’s even wilder that this can happen when the team with 51 thoroughly dominated the team with 86 just two weeks ago. College basketball is such a wacky sport.
3) The Base Vols have started their year off right. I was busy for a lot of the weekend, but I saw that Tennessee got by Albany on Friday night 8-5 and then absolutely massacred them the rest of the weekend, winning 12-0 by mercy rule on Sunday. They also mercy ruled ETSU 16-0 on Wednesday, whom they one hit, and they squeaked by UNC-Asheville 3-2 on Tuesday. Plenty of good tune ups, and more will continue in the week ahead when High Point comes to town for a mid-week game before a weekend series with Bowling Green. Another mercy rule win would be nice, but now I’m just getting greedy.
4) The NFL combine kicks off this week, and a handful of former Volunteers are taking part in Jaylen Wright, Joe Milton, and Kamal Hadden. This could be the NFL stage where Milton shines at his brightest. It would be hard to imagine most NFL scouts don’t know about his athleticism by now, but his speed and arm strength (provided he throws, which he should) should turn a lot of heads and perhaps earn him some mid-to-late-draft consideration from teams looking for a low-risk/high-reward pick. Wright has gotten some pre-combine love from pundits, and that love could spread to team executives and scouts if he puts on a show in Indianapolis. We’ll see soon enough.
Go Vols!