I know Pearl has had success wherever he's gone, but it just seems like with that talent, Tennessee should be much better. His system doesn't seem to benefit good players. I think he's better off at either a mid-major or lower tier power conference school that can't land blue chippers.

Wake clawing back into their game with Cleveland State- they ended the half on a 9-2 run but are still down 39-30.

SI

I need Wake to win and Florida State to apply the throttle in the second half.

Oh, and with that little look-in on Wisconsin, I'm reminded how ugly mediocre Big 10 basketball can be. Good Big 10 basketball is fine but that's just ugly- 19 points at the half.

SI

He probably only has 2, possibly three, legit blue chip sort of players right now. Tyler Smith is a quality player at this level, Chism can be (minus his shot selection & taking the occasional trip off), and Cameron Tatum appears on his way to turning into one.

Beyond that, Tabb is a role player, Maze too often looks like a joke as a power conference PG, Prince is an Idunnowhat but whiny bitch with zero court sense and a sense of entitlement comes to mind, Hopson there's still some hope for but I'm neither entirely sold on him nor ready to give up on him. The rest are role players at best.

What most had in common were good press clippings coming in but there's not much evidence that there as good as advertised. There's a good bit of general athleticism but the almost complete lack of court sense is downright disturbing, it'd be hard to recruit a group that appears to have a lower basketball IQ if you tried. And I believe there's still some character issues on the roster, if not in terms of criminal behavior at least in terms of work ethic.

What has me concerned is whether Pearl actually has the ability to coach players up to the next level, or to coax them into performing in spite of whatever flaws they have. If he doesn't then he needs to recruit players without so many of those flaws but I'm not sure his ego will allow for that, although if it doesn't then his fate is already sealed short of finding assistants who can cover those shortcomings. He's been awfully good for the UT basketball program, something I don't think there's any denying but the question that's becoming pretty obvious is whether there's any more growth forthcoming or if he's essentially already reached the peak of what he'll accomplish there and is actually already starting down the other side of the slope.

Maybe there is hope. The team you described above sounds exactly like the Florida Gators teams from 2001 til they won back to back titles.

well after going perfect in the afternoon slate of games, the evening games are looking pretty ugly for my picks. :(

While I agree with your assesment on those players, I still think it's weird he keeps missing with guys who everyone praises.

Hopson and Negedu were both blue chippers I believe. I know Hopson was a McDonalds' All-American and probably the best SF coming out of high school. I know they are both young and raw, but they just don't seem to have improved. I just wonder if Hopson had ended up with a real good coach if we'd be talking about him being one of the best freshman in the country.

And I don't follow them enough, but it seems like every year there is talk about the talent he has acquired. it just never seems like that talent develops into a great college basketball player.

I think Pearl will always be a guy who can get you to the tournament and win a game here and there. But I just don't think he'll ever be the kind of coach to get to a Final Four. I guess that's a decision Tennessee will have to make some day. Are they content with being a consistently good team, or do they have aspirations to take a risk at being great?

Wake Forest is looking so sloppy. I count 5 turnovers in the 2nd half already. Cleveland State has a 17-0 edge in points off turnovers. Just terrible. Teague looks completely out of control

8-0 run for the Badgers to start the 2nd half. Thank goodness.

Hell yeah. 13-0 run to start the half.

Hopson's shooting is inconsistent, in part because his shot selection is questionable. Only 1 game in double figures in their final seven, but 6 of the 8 prior to that. I think he was overrated coming in but there's still room for hope.

Negedu is a different matter, with a number of people wondering why he didn't see more time, didn't reach double digit minutes in a game after the first week of February and only 3 times in the new year. Whether he was in the doghouse for some reason or if there was something else going on I really don't know. He seems like a good energy guy off the bench & one that could get better as opposed to Brian Williams who, bless his heart, is a good story for the massive weight loss but just isn't much of an athlete beyond taking up space.


I'd say that's pretty on target. I don't question the desire to being great but there's definitely starting to be questions raised about whether Pearl is capable of getting a program to that level. It takes more than getting the fan base interested or being a very good p.r. guy for the program (and himself) and it remains to be seen whether he's got that capability.

That was nice of Wisconsin to show up for the second half of their game.

I have that one on the computer while Wake-Cleveland St is on tv.

It's a nice pair of games to close out the evening

SI

Oh wow. And I hadn't seen but Siena made a run and that's now a 2 point game

SI

jesus christ Cleveland State... amazing.

Time out, Wake! Cleveland State on an 11-2 run and now up 15 with barely 7 to go

SI

Damn, they took me to Ohio State-Siena. So the computer is now having Wake-Cleveland State. Bye, Florida State-Wisconsin.

SI

So Arizona might be gift wrapped the Sweet 16, wonderful

Wake's almost to that "you have to play almost perfect from the 4 minute mark on and hope for a little luck to get back in" point

SI

Siena has life!

(Wake, not so much- down 15, don't have the ball, and the 4 minute tv timeout just hit)

SI

Sienna refuses to go quietly.

I could go for some overtime. I'm not tired yet and I have to be up and moving some servers tomorrow at midnight so, yeah, OT would work.

SI

Collison still has the lingering affect of a bruised tailbone. As for the the interior, we have probably one of the most physical post players in Aboya, he's just not very skilled. Can hit a jump shot to keep defenses honest, but somewhat limited offensively. Great defensive presence though. Our PF spot is meh. Keefe can rebound and shoot the three, but just too slow. Drago is a great outside shooter and is underrated downlow, but probably the worst defender out of the main 8 in the rotation IMO

That being said, I cant imagine UCLA will hang for the whole game. Just too much inconsistency

Go Siena, salvage one of my picks at least!

What it really means is that Louisville is being gifted a trip to the Elite 8

SI

Anyone see the usher just yank the John 3:16 sign out of some guy's hand behind the Siena bench at the end of regulation? Looked a little harsh.


Good game though, sloppy, but good game. I'd like to see the Big Ten do well, but I'm hoping Wisconsin comes back so I can take OSU losing! :)

Oooh looks like Wisconsin has come back against Florida State-another of my picks might be saved

Kudos to Siena and Cleveland State for keeping the night interesting, finally.

Wake will be my first Sweet Sixteen team out. Oh well. Saw some guy on the ESPN brackets has been perfect so far, but has Wake in the Final Four....that would suck.

Anybody noticing Wisconsin just down 1 with 1:29 left?

Maybe it's time to put that game on my computer. Cleveland State is up comfortably with only 2 to go.

SI

I've watched it. Seems like FSU gets a little lead and I think it's over and Wisconsin just keeps coming back. Good for them.

Make that Wisconsin by 2 under a minute

Holy crap, Wisconsin!

SI

The mmod delay is about 15 seconds behind. I turned it on just in time to see a guy hit a 25 foot shot with 1 left on the shot clock to take the lead for Wisconsin.

That's the highlight shot of the tourney so far

SI

Okay, what just happened in the Wisconsin game? Can't be cbssports to come up!!!

nevermind...thanks si

You'd think these coaches of these damn plucky underdogs would watch tape of teams in previous years.

That said, Siena is not doing the "OMG, we're down, shoot a 3 way too early" model so far...so...good on them for sticking to the gameplan.

that 3 for wisconsin to go ahead was a heartbreaker after 35 seconds of great half court defense.

Dear CBS, don't be so transparent. We know you love the big schools, but relax. It'll be okay. They'll win in the end.

Two overtimes!

SI

Hey, who said Big Ten basketball was bad. Finally getting to see two good games. Hope they win at least one.

What ever happened to the split screen? CBS used to do that about 10 years ago, especially with situations like these

SI

great end to the first round, this is awesome!

I didn't say it was bad- but I did say how much I hated ugly Big 10 basketball like what we saw from Wisconsin in the first half.

SI

Wake is out- our first big upset of the tourney!

I watched that game most of the night and Cleveland State was just in control all the way. Arizona shouldn't expect a pushover game or they're going to see the same fate as Wake.

SI

Jesus christ... Whoever hits the button to switch games needs to calm the fuck down.

I was missing that earlier myself, but split screen doesn't sell ads the way MMOD does.

Nevermind! Shot of the night!

SI

True. Went to the IU-Wisconsin game. Wisconsin played one great half, and one damn ugly half.

Still, love to see them pull this off. Give the Big Ten some love, and give the ACC a 3-4 record in the tourney.

Hmm ... maybe they'll put up six OT's between 'em.