The Men's second round at the NCAA

A lot of time is spent understanding who you are going to be playing against, they just don't watch ESPN and go.....we can take them. Rewind, notes, rewind, notes and talk about how they setup their plays.....serious business

Of course, the boys from Virginia are doing the same thing, talking about the last game and how we played against LBS. Working on how to defend us, how to drive into the paint and so on......a cat and mouse game.

One thing about it, when the guys came on the floor they were met with a field of orange with an attitude, only once had the school ever made it past the second round and these folks wanted to get to the next level.

The team was ready as they met at half court before the tip off, one for all and all for one.....the words of Peyton rang out loud and clear....trust your teammates...believe in your teammates.

And so it started, with a two inch advantage to Virginia....

UT has a player named Lofton, and he has won a bunch of SEC awards...percentage of free throws, player of the week and is also known for shooting threes. Well, while Virginia double and triple teamed Lofton.......others on the team started to shoot threes.......and more threes....

You would have thought it was raining threes at one point in the game as it was close, but with great three point shooting they kept is with 6 points.

Everyone was popping in threes, now not everyone went in and that is where Chism comes in....get that rebound.

When they went out to block the threes, in came Lofton to stuff in down their throats....a nice balanced attack.

Smoky loves to roll down the court over the male cheerleader as they roll forward with Smoky on top........a crowd pleaser for sure......:)

So what do you do when half the family went to Virginia and half went to UT......just cheer and cheer loudly.

They were up and I was like....get it over with please....then they were down 6 and I was.,......come on block them out.......then they came back at the end up 4 with just a minute or so left.......and the coach was still working hard.

Now the one person you would want to have the ball in the last few ticks of the clock is Lofton.....and they fouled him and with 6 seconds left all he had to do was sink those two baskets and UT would be in the Sweet 16.....no pressure there....If you were able to watch the game, Lofton with about 30 seconds left had missed the free throws and air went out of the UT fans for about 4 seconds.......so here we are again, believing in yourself, believing in your abilities and making it happen.

They both went in and with the final buzzer, the UT Men's Basketball team was on it's way to the Sweet16 for only the second time in history.

The cheerleaders have spent the entire season working for the guys, cheering, yelling and to see them move on to the next level.....well they were just as excited and there were group hugs all around......it's not a team effort, it more like a family effort for these kids.

So as the Men move on to Austin, TX the Lady Vols having spent the weekend in Pittsburgh are moving onto Dayton, OH and we will be hooking up with them on Thursday as they move on to the Sweet16.

First round of the NCAA tournements.........UT Style

Since the Lady Vols were ranked in the top 4 and had earned a top seed in upcoming tournements we decided to travel with the Men's team for their first and second round in Columbus, OH. The really cool part of all this is that you get on a bus, ride to the airport, get off the bus, get on the plane and eat a nice dish of fresh fruit with a cool refreshing drink.....instead of beating yourself up going thru security and walking a mile and a half to the gate.

The band, cheerleaders, support staff and a few close friends were all on board when the team arrived and the coaches. Bruce has this thing, for luck, to go thru the plane and bump your fist with this and that included everyone from the pilot back to the last lonely memeber of the band....:)

Off we went into the wild blue yonder to Columbus and about an hour later we were unloading the bus again into a waiting bus. The trick here is getting on the right bus.......

Hey, they even have a Tim Horton in Columbus of all places and we took advantage of that place at few times......

Everywhere the team traveled it was with a police escort with is kinda cool in it's own way......sirens running....lights flashing....IT'S THE BIG TIME BABY.

Another cool part of traveling with the team is that you ended up getting on the bus at the hotel, police escort to the arena, right to the entrance, get off and walk right into the arena.......

There were enough TV trucks parked outside you would have thought that this could be the super bowl instead of just the first round of the tournement.

Each team is allowed a couple hours of practice before the game, to work out those last minute details, work on getting focused, and of course, for Bruce to work on the media....

And work they did, I personally like to listen and watch how they plan to take advantage of the other team. What to block against and so on...drills drills drills.

Of course, what is a college game without a pre-game pep rally and it was jammed with loyal UT fans and standing in the street.....

The one thing that people like Imus would never understand is this.......it's not about race, it's not about anything other then the team and trusting each other.

Long Beach State wasn't what you would call and top ranked team, but the tournement is setup to allow all team a chance at the national championship. I know that I love to see the underdog stick it to a top team, but then there is reality......

Bruce once said that we will lose some games, but not because we were out hustled. So every point, every move, every blocked shot all thru the game is like life or death......and not a walk thru the park.

In the end it was a walk thru the park....at least this time, but again this is college basketball and the highlight of the game, the part that had the 8,000 or so UT fans jumping up and down and screaming, wasn't so much the win, but the end of the game.

The game was in hand with 5 minutes to play, so the coach put in the players that are not the starter, and Tanner Wild is one of those young men.....Chism would works under the basket, instead of taking the ball the jammin it in the basket, he would pass it out to the non-starters. This way they could take a shot, and Tanner did with only second left in the game we got this chance.....to play in the NCAA tournement....to hit a three pointer in front of a pack house and screamin fans...

Just look at that smile....tells it all...doesn't IT????

The fans loved it, the players loved it....everyone but Long Beach I guess....

You would have thought he scored the winning point.....NO.....just reached a personal goal in his life

Of course, he got high fives from the fans as he left the arena floor, and people still cheered for 5 minutes after the shot........Tanner showed everyone exactly how he did it........as he should........isn't it great that you reach a personal goal in your life? What are your goals these days.....????

NCAA Women's bracket selections....here we go!!!

The night the selection was announced for the seeds in the upcoming NCAA Women's Basketball Tournement found the team over a Pat's house, looking like a group of girls, sounding like a group of young ladies just hanging out.

Talking and busting on each other along with the assistant coaches and different memebers of the staff along with Ms. Basketball herself.

Then the show started on the boob tube and a little concern began to develop as last year instead of being a top seed in a region, UT was a second seed and of course that meant a harder road to the final four. So this year, all eyes were on, not if, but where UT would be seeded.

Once it was announced that UT would be a number one seed this year, the pressure was off and everyone started to relax....well at least for the moment.

The brackets were full and everyone knew the chore ahead, but at least in the view of UT, it was a more level playing field this year. With LSU coming in with a third seed, Vandy and Maryland being ranked second. They knew the Connecticut wasn't the Connecticut of the past and someone could knock off either Duke with they attacked Bales. So the first round is set.....and it's off to Pittsburgh.

Day trading and learning to read charts or just being a kid???

With Elmo watching over his shoulder Drake is working on either becoming a daytrader and learning to read charts, you know the stoch is overbought and then rocks up to oversold and back down......yada yada yada. OR, maybe he is just playing on a white board. Only ELMO knows for sure and he ain't talkin.

SEC tournement DAY 2

The day started off with the same drill...out to the bus...wait for the team....drvie to the arena for a shoot around.....yada yada yada....but this day would end up not being a good day on Rocky Top.

A closed session practice that morning was something, as the place was dead quiet, no one was around except the team, staff and some security guards...NO ONE!!

Would you believe that there are places that some people just can't go.....but that's ok, I went around the arena looking for ice cream.

Some may think that Candice is treated different from the other players, well you watch to much TV for starters.....she has to do the same drills as everyone else does. Most of the time, she is the one out their leading the others

This team travels with ringers, they are assistants that study the other team down to their socks and with the help of the assistant coaches then work on what the coaching staff believes with be the key parts of the game. How do they box out people, how do they setup a drive into the paint and so on. The lady with her hands over her heads will work the knots out and make you feel like a rubber band on a moments notice.

Once the team arrived back at the hotel it was time for a couple of hours down time, then the pre-game meal. My favorite part of the day, in fact, and I'm telling you these girls can eat.

After the pre-game meal it was back to the arena for a warm ups and then the game, both team looked ready to do battle......

To me, one of the funniest thing I saw during the SEC tournements were these two signs, there were so many fans from UT it wasn't funny.....but someone actually made up signs that said...."Help, I'm surrounded by ORANGE." and "Rescue me from Rocky Top".....that is what happens when you buy tickets in the wrong sections....ROTFL

The cheerleaders were pumped up as the band started to play Rocky Top....a few second later the team came running out onto the floor in single file. The house was rockin.....as we sung Rocky Top

After the team comes out and start to run their final drills...both coaches met at half court....interesting this would be the last picture of the LSU (YES, I have had sex with players) coach before she resigned.

As the game started the fans where into it, but soon they would become concerned. As the game turned into a Candice against Fowler show........and...

Candice was unable to get past Fowler most of the game, which meant the other players could kept Sidney and Shanna at bay on those three points.....

The same question kept coming up all night....how do you stop Fowler under the basket since she took Candice out of the game early....HOW?

Fowler, who is about 4 inches taller then I am...and scares me stayed under the basket to attack anyone that went to come into the paint. She was hot on that lonely cold night in Georgia.......

Even with the best cheerleader that EVER came out of UT-Martin, it was a little to late as the game ticked closer and closer to the final buzzer.

In the end, Fowler was just to much for the Lady Vols and LSU stopped the run thru the tournement. It was just time to pack your bags and head back to the farm for another year. LSU ended up losing against Vandy in the final game.....oh well.