Well, that didn’t take long. One day after holding the first ever #1 ranking in its school’s history, the Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball team chocked away their prime position for the NCAA tournament. The Houn' Dawgs in orange lost to Vanderbilt on Tuesday night by 3 points 72-69 in an entertaining game that was worth the watch.
Now don’t get me wrong, I really like Bruce Pearl. I think the man is awesome when he yells across the court for the entire game, sweats through expensive suits and paints his chest orange for Lady Vols’ games. Bruce has true passion and an excellent nose for the game of college basketball. All that being said, how does Bruce not have his team ready to play? This was the classic “trap game.” You have a very talented opponent in their house just after you got done wiping the floor of with an in-state rival the University of Memphis who was ranked #1 at the time, and all this equals: DISASTER! I know this and so does Bruce Pearl, so Bruce, this loss was on you my man.
All that being said, I like seeing the Houns lose because that just about locks up a number seed for the Sons of Westwood with a win against Stanford and a decent run in the Pac-10 Tournament. The only other problem for my Bruins is I don’t see any more upsets tomorrow because Kansas, Duke, and Memphis are playing truly inferior opponents and all coming off tough losses. They all have something to prove and they will on Wednesday.
Keywords: Bruce Pearl, College Basketball, Tennessee
