Lack of interior presence concerns me a lot more than our poor 3 point shooting. Even when having position to rebound, the Vols athletic superiority allowed them to rebound over our backs without fouling, and defending against those few times we had shots inside the paint.

We looked small, so much so that I had to go back and look at our roster to confirm that we have sufficient height on the floor; we do, just insufficient strength and athleticism.

One positive …… these kids never seemed to quit.

All this said,if some shots fall early,it's a different game with the crowd then getting to impact it more. I ain't worried yet,but we have to be higher IQ about what we're doing in the half court.

You need a ton of chaos in the SEC and Big Ten. Then something stupid to happen in ACC.

2330859 said:

Actually they can both be right if you accept the notion that ACC officials are primarily focusing on the revenue and the recognitions that goes BCS qualification and the major Bowl selection …. the rest of the conference members will sort out their own bowl for themselves

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I think I am leaning toward official’s especially in the replay booth were incompetent. Officials are going to make mistakes on the field it happens sometimes at a bad time. Louisville in that regard were extremely unlucky.

What the 1st version of the playoff rankings showed you again this is a TV product. It doesn’t matter, you aren’t a brand you have a steeper hill to climb. Then if you aren’t in SEC and Big 10 you are climbing a cliff.

BYU, Army and Indiana undefeated are behind teams that lost. Why? BYU has 2 top 20 wins they should be in the top 5. IU should be in Top 5. Miami was top 4 who had they beaten? Brand it is all about the brand. At some point BYU and IU may get exposed but it was ridiculous to not have them in the Top 5 when they haven’t lost. Mississippi is going to get a lot of love but you know what they have 2 losses against teams outside the top 25. Watch how far they jump. Miami watch how far they will drop.

The margin for error for non brand teams and for teams outside the SEC and Big 10 ridiculously small.

UofLouisville said:

Seemed they were afraid of driving and trying to finish at the basket. Going to need more than a formula of shooting 3's to be successful. Also don't think we will see more than a few teams that can play that type of defense.

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Smith was the only guy that played fearless. May not see better defense but Louisville has to be better on defense as well or it won’t matter how hot they get from 3.

My biggest takeaway was Louisville wasn’t athletic outside of Pryor. Very average. Been a common theme for a long time.

TheRealVille said:

So would you still feel this way had Louisville lost by 22 to Kansas, Uconn or Duke? Tennessee has transfers but they also had three starters back from an elite 8 team.

Today it was just Tennessee is much better than Louisville. Cards tried to run what has been working but most every shot was contested. Cards also played excellent defense, but Tennessee made tough shots, many as the clock was running out.

This team is a live or die by the 3 team, and there's only one pure shooter and that's Smith. Without a post presence, this is the offense we're going to see.

Even in defeat, that game today was a night and day difference from the past two seasons. I can't believe fans really expected top 12 wins this early in the process. Not every good team the Cards will face will play as good as Tennessee did today. They're better and they were motivated so we got their A game.

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Yes, I would feel the same. Louisville got beat by 22 at home in a time where you can rebuild quickly. There is no sugar coating it. They spent a lot of money building this roster. It shouldn’t look like that period. Like I said it is one game.

I really don’t care what the head coach gets paid like Zipp. It is lazy to say fans shouldn’t have high expectations because they went cheap on a coach. The question is NIL. That can be a discussion. I have said it over and over you better have dudes or coaches have no shot. The only dudes I saw were on the other team. Louisville has lack dudes for 5 years. That is a fact.

I like Kelsey but if he keeps missing on dudes he will fail.

UofLouisville said:

I'm sure you'd rather they lose, period. Then maybe Jurich can be re-hired.

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The joke was directed at @TheRealVille

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TheRealVille said:

All week I was amused at some on this board predicting a win and collecting dollars

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Nice short sell on facts. I predicted that exact thing on media and the books predictions on that last hacks performance. +1,5 UL'S favor isn't what i was thinking would be predicted. Also not so glad you didn't want to think we couldn't win. Be a little more positive. Did you think we were going to lose by 20+? If the spread was +10 for tenn would you have thought different? And yes I predicted a win because I'm a Louisville fan. What would you expect.

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the artist FKA zipp said:

Actually most of the betting world thought this was a pick ‘em game. I guess the hype was national.

I’d also much rather lose by 22 than 35… 🤣

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I'm sure you'd rather they lose, period. Then maybe Jurich can be re-hired.

the artist FKA zipp said:

I was losing interest in men's college basketball a decade ago as the sport was changing. And then we went torched earth in 2017 in the mistaken belief that fan and financial support for U of L athletics was deep and could withstand a total reset. Huge mistake that we may never recover from.

The sad part is that it didn't have to be that way. And while it's possible to fix some of the damage, we're too committed to the failed approach that has brought us to this point.

Better to cut loose and fondly remember what once was...

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Well……bye