Gary Parrish

I am admittedly NOT a Tennessee fan, having grown up a Kentucky fan all my life and going to Vanderbilt , I have always just gagged at the color orange, so my commentary is clearly biased. But, in my opinion UT players are simply not very well behaved on the court. For example, on national TV just minutes ago Wayne Chism hit a shot then pulled off his headband and screamed in the face of Vandy coach Kevin Stallings....predictably drawing a techinal. This is a microcosm of Bruce Pearl's "thuggish" program atmosphere. When they score, they wiggle, dance, chest bump, and pull their headbands off......He tolerates all of that crap; Billy Gillespie, Roy Williams, Coach K do not tolerate that crap. So people see this behavior, and read about this type of behavior in the UT hometown newspaper, and draw the conclusion that they are mouthy, and punkish....I don't know, maybe its me........but this stuff, plus weekly internet photos of Bruce Pearl with girls young enough to babysit my kids, it just isn't what I'd call a program to brag about. Reminds me a bit of Miami football in the 1990's.......Certainly NOTHING like the proud tradition Pat Summit has created in the women's program...you want to talk class, that's class......that's winning the right way. Bruce Pearl.....he reminds me of a New Jersey used car salesman.....only slimier....... 

If they want to change that perception, they might want to act with more class....as Patterson said, "When a guy drops 50 on your home court, you should keep your mouth shut". He said they talked crap all night long.....He had no reason to make that up....and no one from UT denied it......but this is an argument going nowhere.

My own Knoxville newspaper wrote about what Patrick Patterson said about UT players talking trash and running their mouths. First of all, why do I have to believe everything Patterson says? Who's to say I can rely 100% what he says? But, let's say, for the sake of argument, that what he says is in some way true. Let's say the Tennessee players did have something to say to the Kentucky players. I have a couple of points/questions about that:

1. Am I supposed to believe the Kentucky players are all keeping their mouths shut and not mouthing off? Some would say they would have the right to talk since they were winning. To that, I would reply that winning gracefully is a sign of true sportsmanship. Of course I don't know if they were "talking trash" as well, but I've been around enough 18 - 20 year olds to know that chances are, things were said on both sides.

2. Why is Patterson always whining to the press about the other team? Does he not realize he is coming off as a little boy running back to Mommy saying "They were mean to me!"? Last year at Kentucky he was upset that the UT players wore their earrings during warm-ups, like somehow or other that is some sort of big deal. So fine, be upset. Why don't you go to Tyler Smith and say, hey, we don't like earrings worn in Rupp Arena? Why? Because it's ridiculous, and he knows it. So instead he waits till after the game, and tells the press how he didn't like it. Then, after the game the other night, he feels the need to share with the press that the Tennessee players were "talking trash" to him. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like he is trying to make something out of not much, and play to the Kentucky fans who want to believe all their players are the Second Coming and everyone else's team is a bunch of criminals.

I have to wonder why the Kentucky faithful are so bent out of shape by the Tennessee players wearing headbands. It is really comical, because it always comes up. No one has as yet explained the problem to me. Does headband also = thug? I don't have to wonder why they hate Bruce Pearl, because that's easy to figure out; they think anyone who draws attention away from their program is the anti-Christ or something, and Pearl has certainly been able to do that the last few years, mostly by winning. So I guess name calling is the natural reaction to that, if that's all you can do. Winning yourself seems like a better response to me, and Kentucky certainly proved that the other night. So really, why can't you be a good sport about it? Kentucky won, Jodie Meeks rocked, and I said as much. Too bad some Kentucky fans seem to have trouble showing as much class as the Kentucky basketball program.

sddbaker,

Your own Knoxville newspaper wrote a column talking about UT players talking trash and running their mouths until time expired, even as we mopped the floor with their orange-clad, headband-yamika wearing fannies. They are exactly like their loud-mouthed, juvenile, skirt-chasing toad of a coach. Big on lip, small on results.

Maybe thug is the wrong word.....how about punk ??

I didn't realize that Tenn. was a mid major team or was even playing like one.  I'm sure there are quite a few Tenn. fans that would argue that point.

 

When you play basically a mid-major schedule, which is the SEC this year, it's easy to rack up the points.

Next week, the SEC will have 0 top 25 schools.

This is fun to look at...unless you bleed Orange of course:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas

ketball/gamecenter/playbyplay/NCAAB

_20090113_KY@TN

To add to madnessbaby1124 post:

"lmao are you serious? Meeks does the complete opposite he fills up the stat sheet, hes a good defender, an excellent passer, and a great rebounder for his size. Heres the stats 54points 8 rebounds 4 assists last night..."

...don't forget the ONE turnover in 39+ minutes.  That is most impressive part of last night, a single turnover while scoring 60+% of the teams points.  It's one thing for a top scorer to chuck up 30 shots or have no assists and handful(s) of turnovers, but to have 4 assist to 1 turnover and so few shots is, well, NUTS!

Dude. I was on the Stephen Curry bandwagon starting his freshman year when he went off against Carolina (or maybe it was Duke) on ESPN, but come on man...both are great players, but Jodie is shooting 52% from the floor, 91.5 from the line, and 44.4% from 3. Meanwhile, Curry is shooting just over 45% from the field, 85% from the line, and 36% from 3. Please do not state that Curry converts at a higher rate when that is simply not true.

JODIE MEEKS IS A BAD, BAD MAN. INJURIES IN THE PAST ARE THE ONLY THING KEEPING HIM FROM GOING DOWN AS ONE OF THE BEST IN UK HISTORY.

The POY award is all about hype.  Usually you have to be a great player on essentially a great team that gets a lot of air time.  This is probably part of the reason Teague from WF hasn't been getting enough attention.  I do find it somewhat amusing that a player with those scoring numbers playing for UK  wouldn't be getting national recognition.  It did seem to take this performance for most of the nation to take notice.  I do believe that was the greatest single game performance I've ever seen.  I watched JJ Redick consistently put up ridiculous games where he essentially couldn't miss but his best game was 41.  54 is just amazing and he didn't seem to be hogging the ball like what happens when NBA players score 50+ (in a 48-minute game).

Jack Givens 41 points in winning the NCAA would have to rank up there with Meeks performance.