IIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTT’SSSSSSSSSSSS MONDAY!!!!!!!
And all of you fine Tennessee Volunteer fans (and weirdo fans from rivals) know what that means. It’s time to strap on your orange and white checkerboard crash helmets, hop into the cannon, light the fuse, and blast off through the clouds off Tennessee Vol-related thoughts wisping through my mind.
1) What a heck of a game in Tuscaloosa for the Vols. That place is typically hell on earth for the Vols to play at, and really, it’s been that way for all teams so far this year. The Tide were undefeated at home entering Saturday night. Chalk up one in the loss column for the elephants after Tennessee left town.
2) And it wasn’t our very own baby basketball Jesus in Dalton Knecht who carried Tennessee to victory. Rather, it was Zakai Zeigler continuing his comeback tour in 2024, leading the Vols with 18 points and 4 assists. He was great in the clutch as the Vols battled back from down 58-51 in the second half. His two three pointers and two assists helped the Vols surge ahead 70-65 with under four minutes to go, and they Vols never relinquished the lead from that point despite some scary moments. And man, Jahmai Mashack had some flat-out heroic moments with two big three pointers and a key steal and toss to Zakai Zeigler that lead to a second half and-one opportunity. A true team performance.
3) But hey, that doesn’t mean that Knecht didn’t have an effect on the game – or the crowd. Or the Alabama announcers even. After a Knecht jumper extended Tennessee’s lead in the second half, the hometown radio announcers made a comment about him lacking class after he allegedly jawed back at the Alabama student section on the way back down the court.
I saw this on YT this morning as well. This is probably my favorite part. It was Dalton’s drive and fall-away jumper in the paint. Listen to his comment after he hit it . By the way, Auburn did the same from Thompson-Boling but the video didn’t work the whole time pic.twitter.com/eqsK3XTvlS
— Ricky B in No Bama (@utstick) March 3, 2024
What a bunch of whiny homers. Makes the win even that much sweeter.
4) So what does it mean for Tennessee’s chances of getting a 1 seed? Well, it depends on who you ask. Joe Lunardi is apparently allergic to keeping Tennessee on the 1 seed line, although he claims now the difference is “razor thin”. However, Jerry Palm has come to the light, putting the Vols as a 1 seed in the West region. Which, of course, includes Arizona as a 2 seed. And that’s a pretty tough bracket, with Texas as a 9 and Kentucky as a 5. Not so simple.
But the Vols clearly deserve a 1 seed if they win their last two games against South Carolina and Kentucky, no matter what Joey Brackets thinks about it.
5) Jaylen Wright was a MONSTER at the combine over the weekend. A 4.39 40-yard dash time was the second among all running backs. He also had the second best ever broad jump by a running back at 11’2” as well as a 38” vertical leap. He also hit the fastest speed by a running back at the 10-yard mark in the last two combines by a running back per Next Gen Stats. Just insane numbers. He just made himself a good bit of money. Love to see that.
6) With so much else going on (and family stuff), I didn’t get to see much Tennessee baseball over the weekend, but they dispatched of Bowling Green in a truly incredible manner. Run rule wins in each of their three games. 11-1 in 8 innings on Friday, 12-1 in 7 innings on Saturday, and 16-6 in 7 innings on Sunday. An 11-1 start to the season. Truly outstanding stuff. The challenge will increase a bit this week, with Kansas State and Southern Indiana coming in midweek before Illinois comes to town for a weekend series. Then Alabama waits in Tuscaloosa on Friday March 15 to start SEC play. Lots of reason to be excited about what the Vols could accomplish in 2024.
Go Vols!