It seems that the reign of Tennessee sports over the competition has taken a serious knockoff this year. The football team began the year with high hopes, a new offensive coordinator, a new quarterback, and a stout defense. At the end of 2008 we saw the exit of Phillip Fulmer and the entrance of Lane Kiffin, a 5-7 record, a homecoming loss to Wyoming, and a defense that ranked nationally in the top ten in almost every category-- what a waste the offense was so anemic. A school that is traditionally a great powerhouse in women's basketball has taken a hit this year, falling out of the top 10 in the ESPN/USA Today poll with three big losses. Now, the men's team that reached the top ranking for the first time in school history last year with a win over then-number one Memphis, has fallen from grace and out of the top 25 entirely. The rematch was Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena, and let's just say today's theme was that blue was a color of victory, not sorrow.
- Memphis wins rematch, takes down "Big" Orange
Memphis outlasted Tennessee 54-52, despite three shots in the final minute that could have sealed the game for the Volunteers. Similar to last year at the FedEx Forum, Tyler Smith had a shot from point-blank range with under thirty seconds left. Unlike last year, Smith missed the shot and the Vols were unable to secure another upset against the Tigers. One thing I noticed about this game, and all season, is that this team is very different from last year's edition, but it doesn't seem Bruce Pearl has figured this out. It appears that he wants this team to run the court like last year's, but they aren't capable of doing so. With more big men and less team speed, that's just not going to happen. We're much more suited to run a slow-tempo, controlled offense and as soon as Pearl adapts to that, we'll win the big games. Maybe we'll correct this come tournament time- assuming we make it to the big dance. We also need to learn to play some sort of defense. Simply standing in front of a man does not constitute enough effort.
The Duke Blue Devils seem like the team Tennessee aims to become, after they thrashed the helpless Maryland Terrapins 85-44 at Cameron Indoor. The loss was Maryland's worst since 1963. While ratings may not matter much to Jon Scheyer and the Devils, they will indeed be number one when the new rankings are released on Monday. Gerald Henderson, Duke's resident man-child, scored 17, Scheyer added 12, and sensational sophomore Kyle Singler tallied 11. Duke held Maryland to 28% shooting in a fantastic defensive effort, keeping them to just 15 points in the entire first half. This is a team that, in my opinion, is peaking entirely too early. They're blowing out every opponent. Characteristic of most Duke teams in the 00's, they start out hot and cool off immediately following the ACC Tournament, leaving every Devil fan heartbroken in the second-round of the NCAA's. On the bright side, at least one team will be ranked #1 during this Wednesday's showdown in Winston Salem against previous number one Wake Forest.
Continuing the "Blue" trend, #3 UConn ended #19 Notre Dame's nearly three-year home winning streak as the Huskies handed the Irish a 69-61 loss in South Bend, it's first in 45 games at the Joyce Center. Marquette (#10 in AP) defeated DePaul 79-70 and #5 Oklahoma beat #23 Baylor 95-76 in the weekends lone Top 25 match-up.
Kay Yow, the head coach of the women's basketball team at North Carolina State died early Saturday morning after a 22-year fight against breast cancer. Yow was inducted into 2002 and won 737 games in her 38 years as a head coach, the last 34 of which were spent at NC State. During he career, she compiled a 737-344 record, coached the 1988 US Olympic Women's team to a gold medal, four ACC tournament championships, 20 NCAA tournament bids, and a trip to the 1998 Final Four. An icon and ambassador of the game, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski described her as a "fighter until the end" in his postgame news conference. Yow was 66.
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