John Calipari after his No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats fell victim to Tennessee:

It’s funny. Everybody will have ‘This is how you play them.’ You hold your nose, close your eyes and hope we can’t make any shots. Yeah, that’s a good way to play. But if we make shots, if we go 5-for-22, which stinks, you win going away.

Yeah, apparently it is a good way to play. Bruce Pearl has met you on six occasions. Each time, you had a clear advantage in the talent department. A few times (including both meetings this year and the first meeting in Memphis), you had a significant advantage in the talent department. Yet, you’re only .500 against him. Why not just admit that you lost and move on? It’s what a coach with class would do.

Based on your job performance to date when Pearl is in the same arena as your team, and the fact that the NBA is going to come calling for a couple of your players this year and Tennessee appears on the verge of the No. 2 recruiting class this year, you might be calling Bruce Pearl “Daddy” before too long.

Not bad for a coach who tells his team to hold their nose and close their eyes and hope you don’t make shots.

Basketball season is over for all local high school teams, as Oneida fell at Tellico Plains last night, 56-49, in the opening round of the Region 2-A Tournament.

The Bears will face Oliver Springs in the region semifinals. The Bobcats defeated Midway 44-37 last night.

Also last night, Harriman defeated Sunbright, 52-37.

The tournament shifts to Wartburg Central High School Tuesday for semifinal action.

(Source)

A cursory glance at the Kentucky message boards indicates that the News Sentinel’s headline writer is spot on. The officials hosed Kentucky? Seriously!? They had more than twice as many free throws as Tennessee before they intentionally fouled at the end. (The total was 27-13 before the two intentional fouls against Prince, after which the total was 27-17.)

Scott’s Lady Highlanders concluded their season last night with a 58-36 loss at Pigeon Forge in the opening round of the Region 2-AA Tournament. It was a nice season for Scott High, as Jackson Sharp is definitely building that program back towards where it was in the 1990s. This year marked their first trip to the region in a decade.

Tonight, Oneida’s boys travel to Tellico Plains as the No. 3 team from District 4, to face the No. 2 team from District 3 in the first round of the Region 2-A boys’ tournament.

Other girls’ scores from last night that affect local teams: District 3 No. 1 Austin-East defeated District 4 No. 4 Stone Memorial 54-48, District 4 No. 2 Alcoa defeated District 3 No. 3 Fulton 61-47, District 4 No. 1 CAK rolled by District 3 No. 4 Gibbs 51-39. In Region 2-A, Frank Snow and his Oakdale Lady Eagles, the No. 4 team from District 4, upset District 3 champion Tellico Plains 65-64, District 4 No. 2 Wartburg rolled to a 56-37 win over District 3 No. 3 Rockwood, District 4 No. 1 Oliver Springs defeated District 3 No. 4 Midway 52-36, and District 4 No. 3 Coalfield defeated District 3 No. 2 Harriman 61-48. So two teams from District 4 will be in the sub-state. Remember, this is the same district an Oneida team with no seniors competed well in all season despite not making it out of the first round of the district tournament.

Other scores of interest included Jackson County defeating Trousdale County 73-48 and Clarkrange defeating Gordonsville 63-45. Those two teams are on a collision course for a region championship showdown, which would be their fourth meeting this season. One of those two teams will win the state championship.

Wes Rucker: “The top 2 teams in the nation have 3 combined losses. 2/3 came in the Tommy Bowl.”

Unless this team can pull it together for a March run, they’ll end this season as a disappointment overall, but Bruce Pearl proves again today that he is a master at coaching teams to victory when they’re out-manned and out-talented. And is it an overstatement to say that he is a much better coach than John Calipari? Calipari is only .500 against Pearl, and every one of the games played so far has seen Calipari enjoy a notable talent advantage. The Vols were 20 points better than Kentucky today. In fact, they were up 19 before the officials took over the game midway through the second half. By the time the whistles stopped blowing, the lead was seven and Tennessee had lost all its momentum.

District tournaments continue in Wartburg and Crossville for districts 4-A and 4-AA this weekend.

Tonight, Oneida’s boys will face Oliver Springs in the semifinals at Wartburg Central. The Bobcats are the No. 1 seed in the district, while Oneida entered as the No. 4 seed. However, the Bobcats finished in a three-way tie for first (with Sunbright and Jellico) and won a coin toss to take the top seed, and the Indians were just behind the other three teams. In the regular season, Oz hit a last second shot at OHS to beat the Indians in a game that Oneida appeared on the verge of winning. In their second meeting, last Friday night in Oliver Springs, the Bobcats defeated Oneida, 56-52.

Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. The winner will face either No. 2 Jellico or No. 3 Sunbright Tuesday evening at Wartburg Central, beginning at 5 p.m.

The girls bracket in District 4-A was decided last night. Regular season champ Coalfield fell to Oliver Springs in a shocker. The Lady Bobcats entered the tournament as the #5 seed, but defeated No. 4 Oneida on Wednesday, then narrowly defeated the Lady ‘Jackets last night. Coach Christopher’s team will meet No. 2 Wartburg in the semifinals. The Lady Bulldogs barrowly survived against Fred Snow’s No. 3 Oakdale Lady Eagles. That game will be played Monday at 8 p.m.

In District 4-AA, Scott High’s Lady Highlanders are going to the region tournament for the first time in several years after defeating Loudon at Stone Memorial High School yesterday afternoon. The No. 4 Lady Highlanders defeated No. 5 Loudon 40-39 to advance to the district semifinals, which also earns them a spot in the Region 2-AA. Also last night, No. 3 Alcoa defeated No. 6 Kingston, 55-51.

Scott will face No. 1 CAK today at 4:30 p.m. The Lady Highlanders lost to the Lady Warriors by only one in a Christmas tournament in Knoxville, but in two regular season games played later, CAK controlled the game. It’s a tough challenge for Scott this evening.

Alcoa will face Stone Memorial tonight at 7:30 p.m. The winners will meet in the championship game Monday at 6 p.m.

Scott’s boys concluded their season last night with a 62-47 loss to CAK. The No. 5 Highlanders had defeated the No. 4 Warriors a week earlier, but it was CAK that prevailed on the first night of district tournament play to earn a spot in the region tournament. Also last night, No.3 Loudon defeated No. 6 Kingston, 57-50.

The regular season has concluded for Tennessee high school basketball teams, and now it’s time to begin the Road to Murfreesboro.

The District 4-A Tournament begins tonight, with first round girls’ action. All games begin at 7 p.m. and are hosted by the higher-seeded school. No. 4 Oneida will host No. 5 Oliver Springs at OHS Gymnasium (weather permitting, of course).

The District 4-A boys’ tournament begins Thursday. After the first round, all games move to Wartburg Central, with the girls’ semifinals scheduled for Friday and the boys’ semifinals scheduled for Saturday. Championship games will be Monday and Tuesday of next week.

The District 4-AA Tournament will be played at Stone Memorial in Crossville, and is scheduled to begin Friday. Scott’s girls will play at 4:30 p.m., facing either Kingston or Loudon. Scott’s boys will follow at 6 p.m., against CAK.

Before a New Year’s Day incident involving four UT basketball players, the Vols lost just two games but didn’t beat a ranked team and struggled against some under-achieving teams.

After Tyler Smith, Cameron Tatum, Brian Williams and Melvin Goins were suspended, Tennessee went 4-0, including wins over then-No. 1 Kansas and then-No. 21 Ole Miss.

Since Tatum and Goins (and, most recently, Williams) have been reinstated, the Vols are 0-2, with a disheartening loss to unranked Georgia and a loss last night to No. 23 Vanderbilt.

Coincidence? Or not?

CBS Sports this morning quotes a source as saying that suspended UT basketball players Cameron Tatum and Melvin Goins passed drug tests after being arrested New Year’s Day on drug and weapons charges…and that both players are likely to be back with the team within two weeks.

Tyler Smith, who has been dismissed from the team, has apparently admitted ownership of both handguns found in the vehicle, while Brian Williams had the marijuana. That means all charges against Tatum and Goins could be dropped. (However, it appears likely that Williams will also be reinstated to the team at a later date.)

…a Tennessee team with six scholarship players defeated the top-ranked team in the land today. The Vols stunned No. 1 Kansas, 76-68, at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Bruce Pearl has silenced a lot of critics who came out of the woodwork after the arrests of four key players, and today’s win was a feel-good story for a university that deserved a feel-good sports story after months of turmoil. With icy roads prevalent throughout East Tennessee and the Vols widely expected to lose the game, it would’ve been easy to expect a lackluster crowd at TBA…tickets, after all, were going for as cheap as $10 on Craigslist. But the game was sold out, and more than 21,000 showed up to cheer on the Vols. Two games after the headline-making arrests, it is clear that East Tennessee has rallied around this team, and the team has rallied around one another.

Again, I’ll draw the comparisons between this team as it currently stands and Bruce Pearl’s first at Tennessee. This team doesn’t have the depth (an understatement, obviously) or the outside shooting that Pearl’s first team had (most importantly, it doesn’t have Chris Lofton), and as such, it probably isn’t going to win the SEC or go far in the post-season. But the common denominator between ‘06 and ‘10 are players who are written off by the rest of the SEC and the NCAA basketball world, but who want to be on the court and want to play ball. As another Tennessee fan put it rather aptly this evening, what we’re currently seeing is “addition by subtraction.” This team is better right now than they were before a car full of them were stopped by Knoxville’s finest on New Year’s Day. (Not to beat a dead horse or anything.)

The hometown coverage. And, Kansas’s hometown coverage.