It seems that PWD has posted the e-mail I sent him the other day of the South Park College Coaches. He's only posted the ACC so far, even though all coaches of every conference were parodied. I'll shoot him a quick line so hopefully he can get them all up there; or at least the ones that are funny enough. You really need to see the one of Nick Saban.

Well, I said in the last post that I was tired of trying to post every day. And I was correct. For a while, work was just too much, I was traveling every weekend, and the added post-holiday blahshit was overwhelming.

The good news is I'm feeling very well rested and I've got a little bit of shit to say for the time being. Also, since PWD was kind enough to generate a lot of traffic to my corner of the internet, I kind of need to post.

So, here's my thoughts on the Men's Basketball team...

Everyone knows about Mike Mercer going down in the game against South Carolina. I didn't think the injury looked that bad on TV, but the way Mercer reacted made it come across much worse. Props to Coach Felton for acting like a good parent and running out there to give the kid some support while he was getting "readjusted" on the court. Now THAT was not a pleasant experience for him. The good news is the knee injury wasn't as severe as previously thought. I doubt he'll be back in time for next season, and if it were me, I'd hold him out anyway since we'll need a solid PG after Gaines leaves.

Of course, we need people to step up for right now. I think today in the victory vs. Auburn, we showed that we've got the kids to do it (but we have to cut down on the stupid fouls). Humphrey has been pushing for more and more playing time all year and I think he's always been good, but maybe was in Felton's dog house for some reason or another. Woodbury has shown tendencies to be a solid guy from 13+ feet and there's not much else to say about Takais Brown other than "damn..."

Truth is, the only problem I have with our team is that other than Takais, we don't have solid inside play. Dave Bliss has been quasi-consistent all year, but that's because he's been able to rest more. Newman also fits in that hot or cold category even though he has the heart to be the best. At this point, I can't stand the play of Singleton and I hope Albert Jackson can learn to be a Center in a hurry. He racked up a total of 2 minutes today in a game where we once had a lead of 21 points. You mean to tell me when we're up by 20, this kid can't get in there? He played only 2 minutes today. Something's up with that. Either he sucks or he's another Felton dog house resident.

Dantzler said it perfectly when he listed us as being on the good side of the bubble. Since the West is atrocious right now, I expect us to go into the SEC tourney and make it to the second round. If we win 2 more games and finish 9-7 and then move into the second round of the tourney, I see us as a lock. However, our schedule looks like this:

Ole Miss (away)
Mississippi State (home)
Kentucky (away)
Tennessee (home)

Road wins have been tough to come by all season in the SEC. Couple that with road games at Ole Miss (one of the hottest teams in the SEC, and subsequently the leader of the West) and Kentucky (b/c Rupp Arena is such an easy place to play at), and you're looking at possibly both being losses. Mississippi State on paper tends to be a hot or cold team and the good news is we get them at the house. My opinion is that the final game against UT makes our season. I think it's feasible to see us as an 8-7 team going into that game, and a win really helps our case. What doesn't help our case is that UT was blown out of the water today against South Carolina, who SUCKS, and UT beat the hell out of us in Knoxville. The good news is Vandy beat Florida today, which should certainly help our cause I would assume. Rivals and everyone else is saying a Vandy win hurts us, and I can see that too, but our resume needs quality wins (and losses) in a tough league. By us beating Vandy earlier in the year and then having Vandy beat Florida tells me that we're a good team. However, I don't choose the field of 65.

Anyway, it is all going to boil down to the SEC tourney. We could win one of the next four or four of the next four and if we lose in the first round to a lowly SEC West team, it's not going to help. If we only win one of the next four, but go three rounds deep, we might be fine.

Hopefully we can make it to the second day once the tourney rolls around. I think if we do that and win two more games, we're a lock. Let's hope Felton gets the wins because I do think he's a good coach and a good leader for those kids. He hasn't always said the brightest things regarding fan support, but he seems to be on a much better path right now.

Questions/Concerns? I don't care.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.