Hoop heartache
So yeah, about trying to pretend we know anything about any of these SEC basketball broods is an exercise in futility.
Hey, quick tangent, I know we all have catch phrases and word crutches that we go to way, Way, WAY too frequently. But that ‘exercise in futility’ is a well-built, Grade A phrase you know? It’s intelligent without being arrogant. It’s artfully descriptive without trying too hard. War Exercise in Futility.
Which leads us to the indifferent performance from the Auburn Tigers. The youngest team in America played like the youngest team in America in a dreck-filled first half.
There’s more to this too, if you ask me. Consider this: When Sharife Cooper returned, it energized a listless and point-guard-less collection of folks and gave them life. That spark led to an impressive run that had folks talking about NCAA tournament hopes. Then the realizations and reminders came to the players that the team self-imposed a postseason ban this season, so a late, Cooper-led charge was going to be devoid of a March reward regardless.
Do I think they will have flashes? Absolutely, especially against the Bamas and the Tennessees and UKs in games that have panache. But the conference grind? Not so much.
As for what happened to Barnes’ bunch, well, we bounced between that game and Ellen’s Game of Games last night. (Side question: Ellen’s Game of Games, friend or foe? I lean friend, and the kids enjoy it.)
Wow, that got lengthy, and I’m sure I made someone mad. Hey those are the cards, sharks. Where were we? Oh yes, the UT debacle.
A sickening second half allowed an above average at best Ole Miss crew to rally and best a Vols collection that is so wildly erratic that made the Dickensian duality of dynamite and dreadful sandwiched around the intermission is the microcosm of where Rick Barnes’ bunch is.
A team that loses by 26 to anyone (it was Florida) two weeks ago and crushes Kansas over the weekend is capable of just about anything, that bad or that good.
But the looks of distrust (and even disdain) between Vols to Vols and between Vols to coaches as the wheels fell off in Oxford was a clear sign to a much bigger issue with this team. A team mind you that had a very legit Final Four look ab out it through the first dozen or so games of the year and is still among the top eight-to-10 in terms of the odds issued in Vegas.
Auburn will have to find a way to stay interested. Tennessee will have to find a way to stay together.
Neither is easy, especially when the calendar says Feb. 3.