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State of TN Sports, March Madness Recap, Onions! · Champions of Life

welcome to the champions of life podcast where 3 orangeblooded Tennessee alums discuss how there's always next year What's up everybody? Maybe a Hey y'all, for our Knox Billions, welcome back to the Champions of Life podcast.
This is Bobby and Joe.
And Laney coming to you.
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We're here to unpack a little bit about our beloved Tennessee volunteers.
An impressive third in year in a row.
Elite eight appearance.
An extremely disappointing third in a row.
Elite eight loss, just totally.
Drop the ball.
Hmm.
How would you rank the last three Elite eight Ousting that we had? What was the worst? Hmm.
What was it three years ago? Purdue.
Purdue.
Purdue Don't connect.
Yep.
Last year was Houston.
Houston.
They, obliterated us.
Chas Lanier, Maysack Ziegler.
Purdue.
We were close.
We were in there.
I'd say that's probably the best one and we still almost pulled it off as much as he camped out.
I can't say his name.
His name is Stricken from our household.
Not allowed to say him.
They're big man down low who camped out in the paint and never got a three second call.
Never foul anybody either.
Right? Which is incredible.
That's the theme in all these games is the crazy.
We can't blame the rest.
But it was bad.
I'd say that's probably the best we did.
I'd say this is one of the worst maybe.
Maybe in that order for me, Hmm, three years ago, Houston, and then this year.
I think I agree with you, but I would reverse it because for those of you active listeners of the podcast, you know me in real life and I cannot stand referees.
They're flawed people just like the rest of us, but my goodness.
And so that frustrates me more that we should have won that Purdue game.
We did everything right? Mm-hmm.
We outplayed.
Uh, but it was, you can't blame the refs, but it was essentially, it was not a fair fight, and you saw that.
Again, it's marketing.
You've gotta have key players in the tournament to draw eyeballs, but Michigan's potential national player of the year, I mean, he's going up for an up and under reverse layup.
It's a cool play, but you look at the replay, we didn't foul him.
And then you look at the replay.
They gold tended.
Yep.
And yet there's no call because you want that highlight to count.
And so to me, I would say the most frustrating loss would be Purdue Houston was a emotional letdown because we smacked Kentucky in the face in the Sweet 16.
We got ramped up for that and had a huge letdown against Houston.
We weren't ready to play.
And then, this one was just so ugly.
It was so bad.
And the one thing I'll say is I was a little disappointed, obviously, in the outcome, but I think it's like the first commercial break of the Michigan game.
They cut to Rick Barnes on like one of those quick little sideline interviews, and he is like, oh, what are you gonna do, Rick? And I mean, and he's like, well, I'm not, we're, we're not gonna change anything.
This is how we're gonna keep doing what we did to get here.
And I'm like, well, that's Rick.
Look at the, that's not gonna work.
Mm-hmm.
We gotta do something.
And the report's like, what about all the.
The shot's not falling or the foul.
He's like, well, we gotta, we gotta figure out how to quit fouling.
And it's like, Hey, Rick.
Mm-hmm.
Maybe go to bat for the guy.
They're the ones, right? So I, when, when that interview came and then we missed the next 18 shots in a row, that was confirmation that we weren't, we don't belong here now.
Huge.
Again, all three of those games, we had great players, Dalton, Chaz, and then the supporting cast zaka.
And it's a good roster this year, but all three of those rosters that we got smoked by in the Elite eight, those were far superior teams to what Tennessee has.
Yep.
In my opinion, here's what I'll say.
I agree with y'all.
Purdue hurt the most.
Mm-hmm.
Because you felt like with Connect, he could get hot and we could make it to the final four.
Mm-hmm.
And he didn't shoot the best that game.
I don't remember his percentage, but he did have an off game.
Plus the Zach Dy stuff.
I said his name.
I didn't mean to, it just came out.
So that one hurt the most.
Also.
That was Easter.
Do you remember? Yeah.
It was so like my entire family is, you know, there's 30 something of us, like everybody's locked in, nobody's moving, and it was just terrible.
Houston also, you mentioned it was an emotional game.
It was even more because you knew that was Ziegler's last game.
Mm-hmm.
Ack, not just Cha, but like these guys that had been core players for us for years, which is a phenomenon unfortunately that we're probably not gonna have ever again, maybe.
So that was also hard.
But then this one was just, I mean, you can see it coming after the first six, seven minutes of the game when.
I think they went seven minutes without getting a foul.
Mm-hmm.
And I can't remember how many fouls we got in that span of time, but we got a ton and they got zero.
Mm-hmm.
And it was like, wait a second.
Something has happened, but they're also elite, so it's not just the officiating, like they outplayed us and like every phase of the game.
The only thing that I took away, or I guess the hopeful thing I took away was that we were the last SEC team.
Mm-hmm.
Left.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Sure.
And.
Obviously to have Alabama put out was great, but to have Florida put out mm-hmm.
The way that they got, you know, the way they got beat and to see their players, with their shirts over their faces, that that was Yep.
That helped a little bit.
Right.
That's true.
If we're gonna get embarrassed, it helped that, at least Florida was out the weekend before.
Mm-hmm.
That's true.
We do have, Hey, we are, we're back to champions of life.
Yeah.
There's hope.
There was one play in the first three minutes of that Michigan game where um, we shot a three and you can watch Felix, he's making his way to the rim and you see the Michigan guy, he's got his back towards Felix, he's boxing out tracks where the ball is and then immediately does a 180 and two arms extends and just checks Felix.
So he, there's no chance he's getting to the ball and it's right in front of the ref.
And I was like, oh, well this is.
Now, obviously the rest didn't make us lose shots or missed shots.
They didn't make us lose possession of the ball.
That, and our defense was in absolute scramble mode.
Every time they penetrated it was just beautiful basketball on their part.
But when you've got that layered in, it's like, goodnight, we're done.
You already had, there was only, they already had two other number ones out on the other side.
Mm-hmm.
That's, and they couldn't have, they could not have a third one.
That's a great point for ratings.
They had a memo before the game.
Michigan's got a win.
And again, Tennessee doesn't have that elite star player.
It's not a super attractive team from like storylines and Right.
You don't have defensive player of the years anymore.
We don't have documentaries like the Fab Five.
No.
Yeah, it's, we don't have those legacies.
But there is like a, you would like to think somebody somewhere would be like, Hey, these guys have been driving for a long time.
Let's get 'em into the final court.
You know, let, let's swallow the whistle a little bit.
You would like to think that, but even, it was interesting, the announcers, and again, the announcers.
Or the announcers, but they had several calls where they were like, oh, well that would've benefited Tennessee.
They have to call it.
And it's like, wait, what, what does that mean? And then they even made the comment, they're like, if Tennessee doesn't get this specific whistle, they're done.
There's no chance.
Right.
So that's where.
As a fan of it, you get a little discouraged of like, well, if that is true, and a lot of people know it, we need to be able to adapt and have a system in place that regardless of the whistle, obviously one way or the other is gonna benefit you, but you can overcome it.
If you can't overcome a certain whistle, then what are we doing? And it felt like because of that whistle, we were scared to drive it.
I didn't watch the second half.
That was a wise choice, but just.
Where was our, cutting and driving the way teams do to us.
Mm-hmm.
I get they're playing good defense, but just go, don't look for the jumper.
Like take it all the way in for a layup.
Mm-hmm.
And I'm talking about like our wings and point guards.
Yeah.
Throw it down low, but if it's not working, go all the way in for a layup.
Yeah.
Do a high pick and roll.
Don't pull up.
Go out 'cause you're gonna get foul.
We just didn't do that.
Mm-hmm.
It's like we were scared.
I don't know.
It was, a different tendency.
It was not the Iowa State that, to your point, when we beat Kentucky and then we, lost to Houston afterwards.
Mm-hmm.
We were like a shell of ourselves after Ohio State, Iowa State.
Yeah.
So it beckons the question with everything going on the hill, we were operating at a high level at basketball, baseball, football, softball, women's basketball.
Obviously, I'd say a embarrassing loss in the Elite eight was our one shining moment for sports in 20 25, 20 26 season.
But obviously there's still a huge gap in the talent between a program like Michigan and a program like Tennessee.
I think we've seen that on the football field.
We just lost our national championship baseball coach, the women's basketball team is in.
Disarray.
So where do we go from here? Do we spend the money? Can we spend the money to get into the final four to the college football playoff? Where are we? What do we do? Rick just got, um, you know, he got Connect, he got linear, he had Jacobi.
Mm-hmm.
Some kind of random guy.
Maybe even a mid major guy coming out who's a sharp shooter.
We got a guy yesterday.
I didn't see that lung, lung blade or lung blood, something.
It's a different name.
But yeah, so that's good.
But we're losing a ton of points.
We're losing obviously, key players, so I don't know about basketball.
This is my bark.
Can I just say for like all of UT sports going forward, I would just love us to beat Vanderbilt again and be consistent in that.
Yep.
Which sounds disgusting to say.
Yep.
But baseball was just swept by them.
Obviously.
We were embarrassed in kneeling by their football team, lost in basketball.
Like it's rough.
The women I don't think they killed us the last time they played, but yeah, you can't even win our state.
You're right.
We can't, we're not the best team in the state anymore.
No, in any sport.
But you would argue we have.
The advantage, talent wise, resource wise, and coaching like our coaches are all better.
Yes.
May minus maybe the baseball side.
Yeah, that's fair.
Yeah.
I'd say Corbin is I their women's coach.
I would take their women's coach over Kim Caldwell basketball.
You'd take their coach over? Over Rick.
No.
If you're the ad where, where do you make changes then at Tennessee? Like is it just getting better talent, more talent, more better talent? Paying more.
Indiana proves if you pay more money, it doesn't matter what your school name is, like you can win a championship.
Yeah.
That's what Indiana did.
Yeah.
Last year in football.
It's also what Miami did.
Mm-hmm.
That's fair.
There's a reason why they were both.
That's fair there, right? So like yes, at the end of the day we have to, but I, at the same time, I hate that.
I don't want that to be the answer.
Right.
But I feel like it is.
I think you have to build it wisely because look at Kentucky's basketball program, whatever it was, $24 million roster.
They didn't buy culture and it showed that all those guys are mercenaries just came to play.
Look at, um, basically everything Texas Tech has done, they had a, fantastic football and basketball season this year because they got big oil money.
Yep.
And they went and spent like crazy, but they fell apart at the end.
I mean, and I know topping got hurt in basketball so that that hurt them, but.
You see the same results.
And so my thought is if you've got quality coaching like Rick and like, um, you can maybe bri like the culture piece there.
I feel like it at our respective programs minus maybe the women's basketball and team, they're falling apart.
I think there's so much stuff going on there I don't even know.
But the other ones, like the program that Tony has built.
And then left, and then football and basketball.
It feels like if you spend the money, you can get a lot of those guys with the right balance of culture fit, but, and I feel like Nate Min is a great, like we spent money on him, a supreme talent, and he fit the culture.
We just didn't have enough.
Right.
Do we need three of those guys? Yeah.
Yes.
Like Duke's got like six deep of those type guys.
Mm-hmm.
On their team.
Yeah.
Speaking of Duke, did y'all see the ending? Maybe one of the craziest endings I've ever witnessed? Absolutely.
I didn't even watch the game.
It was a highlight.
I saw later on that I was bummed.
I didn't see it live.
I watched the last eight, nine minutes and I mean, I was like, Ugh, duke, here they go again.
You know, they've got it.
And then it was shocking.
I mean, my mouth was hanging up and I was like, what? Did they just hold the ball? Yeah, you don't have to do anything with it.
Right.
It was unbelievable.
So the coaching piece of that game was brilliant on both coaches' parts, in my opinion, because Yukon knew that, uh, a tied possession, they're getting the ball back.
Duke knows if they hold onto the ball, they'll just come up, they won't foul, they will take the ball and they will lose possession of the ball.
So both coaches have gotta be coaching that.
And so, you know, UConn is practicing this full court press.
They know those two guys are wide open down there, and it's all or nothing.
And so when they converge on, uh, um, Boozer, yeah, boozers got two options.
Hold the ball and hope and pray they foul you or Chuck that thing.
And he went with Chuck it, which was the, I think was the right thing to do.
Just Yukon was better prepared and they were ready for it because if he holds that ball, he's a little bit undersized.
There's two guys converge on him.
It's entirely possible you get a jump ball situation and it's going to Yukon.
They can run an inbound split.
They did suck him into that play.
They did, but how tall was the guy that he's thrown it over? That was their big, that he's thrown it.
Yeah.
Like that's not, but if you get it over him, the game's over, you're gonna the final four.
That's true.
What happened is the bounce pass dead in basketball or the fake, like, go high, get him up.
And then that's what we were taught.
Right? He's a freshman.
Right.
So there's maybe a little bit of that, but you learned that in high school, middle school as the announcer would say, the onions for that guy, I mean, amazing shot.
Thank you.
Amazing.
You heard it, right? Yes.
Did you hear okay onions? There were two commercials where he says onions in it, and I was like, see, I knew it.
You were right.
You called it.
Yes.
I meant to say that earlier.
I'm glad you brought that up.
All right, so let's close it out with who do you think is winning on Saturday? Who's playing Monday night? I'll say this and shame on me.
I will have revisionist history on Tuesday if I need to.
But as my guy, Mike, shout out, Mike said the national championship is Arizona and Michigan.
Those are by far the two best teams.
Yes.
I mean, they've been dominant.
They've been absolutely dominant.
I would give the Edge to Arizona.
I think they've been really good.
I obviously as a Tennessee fan, I'd like to see Michigan kind of validate our stomping, but uh, I think really.
You'd rather see Michigan win.
Wait a sec.
That's shocking.
I wanna see Arizona Cream, Michigan.
I do too.
Well, yeah.
I wanna see a WA dunk all over Michigan.
Yes, I do want a Waka to avenge us.
I cheer for him.
Yes.
But I, there's a part of me that's like, well, we, okay, well, at least we got stomped by the eventual national champion.
There's a little bit of that, of like, no coping mechanism.
But Charles Woodson, come on.
You can't cheer for Michigan in any way, shape, or form.
Come on.
Sam, if you're listening, I'm sorry.
And the Spygate wasn't that Michigan? Yes, absolutely.
They cost US national championship.
They cost Peyton the Heisman.
Come on.
I have obviously struck a nerve and you have, I don't think, I don't think you're wrong.
I think I'm wrong.
These are fine words.
Yeah, I think I'm wrong.
Yes.
I'm going.
Arizona, Yukon National Champion is Z.
That's what I have in my bracket.
Same thing.
I think I had them beating someone else, but I had Arizona winning.
Maybe it was Arizona versus Duke.
Is that right? I Duke.
Is that the way they work, listeners? Yeah.
I think Joe's gonna win the RNS practice.
He is.
Maybe he's number one right now.
Yeah.
If they win, right? Yeah.
But if Michigan wins, I don't win, right? No.
Okay.
You've got Arizona, I think Yukon beats Illinois.
Yep.
I don't know.
I mean, I could go either way there, but I hope Michigan gets smashed.
Yep.
I hope that was their peak.
You know, Michigan's peak.
They don't have anything left.
Yeah.
Arizona beats 'em, but yeah, UConn, Arizona, which again, this is again, sorry, I'm derailing this, but the college sports landscape.
You had the, old guy at Michigan for years.
He's successful.
Phases out and they bring on Jawan alumni.
Howard comes back, revitalizes, they're automatically competitive again.
He has two stinkers of a season and he's gone.
And they get this guy from FAU.
Yeah.
And now they're amazing again.
Wait a second.
Was this the dunk city guy at FAU? Uh, wasn't FAUI seven or eight years ago? All they did? No, that's Florida Gulf Coast.
Okay.
Yes, I know exactly.
It was like all they did was for LOBs and dunk all the time.
Yes.
And they won.
They were like a Cinderella different team.
He, I think he took FAU to an Elite eight.
Two seasons ago, three seasons ago.
Anyways, obviously I'm prepared for our podcast.
I got all the information.
But anyway, it's almost like they've gone through these three phases where they were like, elite stunk, and now they're elite again.
To me, I don't understand, like, is it a capital thing? True.
I don't think there's a ton of guy, like their center came from UCLA transferred over there.
I, it's not the weather.
It's the money.
The money.
It's the money.
It's the money.
So come on, Danny, find us.
It's the money and the cheating.
They've proven that they've proven to be cheaters.
Okay.
Can we, when the, the next one, can we do one on, if you were the athletic, like if you were to pick one coach right now from the tournament, like would it be someone like the Iowa State's coach? Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Who's looking for, is it uh, north? No.
Who's looking for a coach? Big program.
Well, Gainey just went to NC State.
Okay.
But North Carolina was, yeah.
Yeah.
They're still looking, yeah, because Hubert, they parted away with Hubert.
Yeah.
Self bill self stayed on at Kansas.
Yeah.
Nebraska guy staying Right.
I think he said, Bert, don't talk to me.
Michigan State, he's staying.
Yeah.
Be interesting.
Is Donovan gonna stay? I think they were trying to get him in the NBA.
Yeah, they're trying.
Oh, surely.
North Carolina again, why would you want to come back to college at this point? I don't know.
If I was an up and coming coach, I'd be scrapping as best I could to be an assistant coach on an NBA team.
So I didn't have to recruit and do NI L'S junk.
And just, there's contracts, there's lawyers, there's agents, just, yep.
All right.
Well.
That was our elite sports analysis from the logistical world.
Go balls next time.