Big Orange Rewind | Selection Sunday | March 15th

Voice of the Vols Mike Keith is joined by Brent Hubbs as they break down the 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket and where the Vols will be dancing.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

What happened this weekend? What lies ahead? Analysis and insight from the inside. This is Big Orange Rewind.

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Presented by Calhoun's A Taste of Tennessee. Calhoun's is the perfect place to rewind after every Tennessee game.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

This is Big Orange Rewind with the voice of the Vols, Mike Keith and VallQuest.com's Brett Hubs. So glad you're with us. Big Knight here as it is Selection Sunday, Brent Hubs. And in just a few moments, we'll know where the University of Tennessee basketball team is headed to play in their 28th NCAA tournament. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Yes, and uh it's been a pretty good run under Rick Barnes to get to NCAA tournaments as well. Obviously, this team, this program coming off back-to-back Elite Eights. A lot of people projecting them as a six seed right now. We'll see what that unveils here in the next 30 minutes or so as the brackets are announced. But um a five or a six, you've seen them everywhere from Portland, Oregon to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So we'll see exactly what that looks like. But um this is a basketball place, and uh it's great to see basketball winning. It's great to see basketball being relevant uh in this time of year. As a 51-year-old human being, there was a large part of my childhood where this this day didn't mean a whole lot for Tennessee. But um, over the last uh 20 years, it's certainly meant a lot, and certainly under Rick Barnes, it means a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah, you felt like you were peeking in through someone's window for a while. Everybody else got to have all the fun, and now since 2018, Tennessee fans have gotten used to having the fun. Again, I mentioned it will be the Vol's 28th overall NCAA tournament appearance. Tennessee's all-time record, though, in the NCAA tournament is 31-28. So they played in 27 NCAA tournaments, but they've lost 28 NCAA tournament games. Do you know why? No, but you're gonna tell me, so explain. First ever appearance in the NCAA tournament was 1967. Ron Whidby and a really fantastic Tennessee basketball team, the SEC Champions go. They lose to Dayton. And there were 16 teams in the tournament at that point. They lose to Dayton 53 to 52. Dayton went on to play for the national championship. And then they had to play a consolation game. No. Yes. Which really what you want to do. Everybody's inspired to play that. And they lost to Indiana 51 to 44. So that's how you take two losses in the NCAA tournament. Fun factoid today. Well, you know, we've we've got them all. Time for the well, let me do this first. Okay. Uh want to make sure that you're texting in to join us for whatever you would like to discuss. If you have a question, if you want to just chime in, if you've got a statement that you'd like to make, some sort of comment, we'd love to hear from you. The ball network text line is 865-657-1278. 865-657-1278. And we would love to hear from you and have you join the conversation tonight. There will certainly be a lot more to discuss. Time now for the Rackley Roofing recap, a breakdown of Tennessee Athletics from the past week presented by Rackley Roofing, transforming the roofing industry with unmatched customer service, detailed documentation, and the highest safety standards. Rackley Roofing, the proud official roofer of the Tennessee Volunteers, starting with basketball, balls go to the SEC tournament, beat Auburn with a 20-0 run, lose to Vanderbilt, and so they were out at that point. Vanderbilt upset Florida and advanced to the championship to play an Arkansas team that had had two brutal games, including one an overtime game, and Arkansas handled them today pretty easily, certainly improving their stock. But to the Vols, one and one, it sounds like some of the bracketala just changed Tennessee based on the Vanderbilt law.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Yeah, it certainly does. There was some talk going in that those two teams were playing for a four-seed. Now, it feels like that's not necessarily the case with the latest projections that has Tennessee uh projected by many as a sixth seed. They are not the sixth seed in the East, by the way, as the brackets are being unveiled. Louisville is the sixth seed in the East, Duke, the number one seed in the East. So we'll see how it plays out. But it doesn't feel like Tennessee could necessarily move up to that four line unless they were playing on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Well, the the idea about the four line was that they were one of five or six teams that if they if they won that game and then they beat Florida and they went to the championship game or won the championship, they could have taken the final force.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Okay, there you go. You explained better than obviously I knew at that point. So um, you know, five seed or a six seed, a lot of people dropped him down to a sixth seed based on what happened. So we'll we'll see where it lands. I I don't think it was a terrible weekend. And here's my rationale, Mike. I I think it was great to get Nate A Mint back on the floor, just in general, and we knew he was gonna get going. Um he played really well in his in his first game. I mean, 10 straight points. He was dominant in the second half. I don't think it was a bad thing that he had an off day the next day. One, it helps him understand where he needs to get to cardio-wise. Uh, you know, having some adversity and little challenges coming back with that. You certainly wanted to win the game, you wanted to play better, but there's things for him to learn from that kind of outing. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world for Tennessee to go through the weekend the way that they did.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

And it's important to note, they really had discussion about whether or not he would play against Vanderbilt. And he very much wanted to play, but they came into it with the idea that they were going to be much more aware of his minutes. And when the team got together Thursday night after beating Auburn and getting ready for Vanderbilt, it was not a hundred percent that he was going to play. That's not just talk. So I think you're right. I I think for Amet, for Gillespie, uh winning two more games would have been great. You could have hung up another banner. It's it's a great thing. But for what you're about to do next, would it have been the best thing?

SPEAKER_02 6:26

No, I I mean, again, I I think that I don't think it's ever unless you're having to play your way in, and meaning you have to go win the tournament to get in, whether it's the SEC tournament or you're, you know, a mid-major and you have to win your conference tournament to get in. I don't think Todd Golden's mad his team got beat. I don't I don't think that bothers him. I don't, I don't think it bothers teams. If you're a lock to the tournament, I don't think it bothers you that you didn't run the whole table and win the whole thing. I, you know, everybody's gonna be talking about Arkansas, right? They're gonna be talking about they're hot and they're this and that. I could promise you, John Calipari would have just been fine if they'd have lost in overtime yesterday. Wouldn't have bothered him. Might have been an easier motivator for him this week to get his team ready to play. Not demeaning conference tournaments, but there there is there is a little bit of two sides with it.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

All right. So um Lady Vols will find out where they go if they make the NCAA tournament. Everything I have seen, they are projected to make it. Brent, what's the the kind of uh middle that you've come to in analyzing the women's potential bracketologists?

SPEAKER_02 7:32

I think they're in. Everybody, nobody says they're on the bubble of being out. Everybody's got them firmly in. The question is, are they at eight or a nine? Uh, some have had them projected to go to Los Angeles in the eight-nine game with the winner playing UCLA in in Los Angeles on their home floor. The latest projections today by some people have been that they're the eight-nine game and they would play in Stores, Connecticut, and the winner of the eight-nine game would go take on Connecticut in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Those are kind of the two places. I don't think they're gonna put them in a Texas bracket. Why would you want to have an SEC matchup in round two? I don't think they're gonna put them in the South Carolina bracket. Why would you have that in round two? That doesn't make any sense that way.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Sophie Starkey has been kind enough to uh come in from spring break, the final day of spring break to help us as uh we know the East Region, Buffalo, it's uh Louisville the six, South Florida the 11. They are paired with Michigan State, the three, North Dakota State, the 14. That's in Buffalo, Philadelphia, UCLA is the seven, they will meet number 10 Central Florida, Connecticut, the two. They will meet Furman, who is the 15. And again, that's in Philadelphia. In Greenville, South Carolina, Duke is the one, the 16 is Sienna. Am I reading that right? Sienna. And then the eight is Ohio State, the nine is TCU, so that's Greenville, South Carolina. In San Diego, St. John's is the five, Northern Iowa is the 12, Kansas is the four, Cal Baptist is the 13. So again, that's San Diego. That's what we know so far. So Tennessee is not going to Buffalo, Philadelphia, Greenville, South Carolina, or San Diego. Am I correct?

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Yeah, that's that's what it appears. I don't I don't think there's anybody else playing in uh, I mean, I think that's the the Philadelphia one was some talk. So it looks like the the Portland stuff is certainly a possibility out there. We'll see. I mean, they could they could land, you know, anywhere when it's all said and done, but it doesn't feel like they're gonna go to Philly, which some people had projected earlier today.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

So, well, I guess they still could, though, right? Well, it depends on how they bracket that out. I mean, you technically, yes, because they do the whole pod seeding. That's right. But Tennessee, because they're not a top 16 seed, is not involved in pod seeding, they could still go there, but they're not gonna place Tennessee there for proximity because they haven't earned a high they're not gonna earn a high enough seed to land one of those proximity.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

It would not it would not be a tip of the hat to the year they've had for convenience. It would just be dumb luck. Right. Okay, that's that's the best way to say it. Back to the Reckley Roofing recap. We've talked about men's and women's basketball. Lady Valls today bounce back off their first loss of the season in softball, as guess who's back? 23 herself, Carlin Pickens, helped deliver the Lady Valls to a four-to-one win and a series win over Mississippi State. One hitter, by the way. She gave up a home run, but that was it.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Everything else, a bunch of ground ball outs and strikeouts.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Well, I don't you think the team was just totally fired up just to see her?

SPEAKER_02 10:45

Yeah, they played really good defense behind her. They had one tough play on a weird bounce ball uh in the infield that they they came back and picked her up on, but they they played really well in the field behind her, um, a couple of home runs, and then Ella Dodge with a huge uh bloop single in the seventh with two strikes to plate two runs to make that a 4-1 game. Really nice piece of hitting, really nice creativity. The pitcher for Mississippi State was trying to quick pitch her. She had all the momentum, it was a two-strike count. She was on the rubber, ready to go. Ella Dodge went to step in and then she called time. She got out, she paced around. Pitcher got a little impatient, walking around, just try to knock her off rhythm a little bit. She throws her a ball and then comes back with the next pitch, and she drives it in a little bloop single over Sega base into center field. Really nice piece of hitting, really nice gamesmanship in the box to try to break up the rhythm of the pitcher.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Baseball team loses the series at Georgia today, blowing a five-nothing lead and falling eight to seven. But how the balls fell to the Bulldogs, the end of it, if you haven't seen it yet, it's going to be on every highlight program everywhere. So just it when baseball comes on, just cut your TV off if you're a ball fan. Stone Lawless rocked one to left field, and Cole Johnson, a freshman, went up and took away what would have been a three-run homer in the top of the night. And so the Valls lose eight to seven. A heartbreaker in that regard, and a heartbreaker that the bullpen couldn't hold it.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Yeah, and you know, uh just they did not have their stuff. That was it was horrific conditions weather-wise. It wasn't great to play, and it rained the whole game, but it rained both teams. So, you know, Georgia throws seven pitchers at you. You think you know you can knock one of those guys out, make it make that five runs, seven or eight runs earlier, make that a seven-nothing game, eight-nothing changes the landscape a little bit. They just kind of their bullpen, Georgia's bullpen, just kind of they no hit Tennessee for about four innings and just kind of hung around until Tennessee's pitching, you know, let them down down the stretch.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

I think John Wilkerson said that in any other ballpark in the SEC, the ball that Lawless hit is way out. But Georgia goes deeper into left and left center than any ballpark in the conference. The left-hand hitter hitting to right field has a bigger advantage.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Which is what Grimer did on his home run to lead off the top of the ninth to pull Tennessee within one there. That was a shot over the right field side, which is a shorter porch there, as you mentioned. So, I mean, he hit it and he thought it was gone. I mean, he clearly thought it was gone, and the ball kind of hung up in the air. Great play by the left fielder. Again, I think the bigger takeaway is the disappointment that you didn't finish it uh when you had a chance to finish that one on a Sunday. You know, road series wins are hard to come by. When you get to get to that point, Mike, and you got a chance in the sixth inning with a 5-0 lead to put that thing away, and you can't you can't put it away. That was disappointing. Tennessee comes back, they'll take on Missouri this coming weekend, and their SEC home opener. The Lady Valls will go to Florida as the Gauntlet of Games continues for them. Another top 10 matchup. Mississippi State's a really good softball team, by the way. Mississippi State is now 25 and 4. That's a good team.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah. I mean, in in baseball and softball, who's bad? Nobody. I mean, really. I mean, there'll be there's a handful here and there.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

It's worse in those sports than it is in football and basketball. And I think it's been that way in baseball for a while. Softball's been a little more tiered. There's been kind of that top three, four, maybe teams. Now the depth in softball is uh at a place that it that it hasn't been to ever, I think, in this league. I mean, you you better show up ready to play every single night and the weekends in this league because it's brutal.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

All right, so let's go through the East Regional at this point before we go to break in the men's. Again, the women's will come after eight Eastern tonight. We'll be off the air, unfortunately, by then. For the men's East, Louisville is the sixth, they'll take on the 11th seed South Florida. Michigan State is the three, they will take on number 14 North Dakota State. Those are in Buffalo. In Philadelphia, the seven, UCLA will meet the 10 UCF. The second seeded Yukon Huskies will meet the 15th seed Furman. I think that probably means Florida's a one if Yukon's a two. Yes. Uh, Duke is the number one seed in the East. They will play in Greenville, South Carolina against the 16 seed Siena. Ohio State is eight. They will take on number nine TCU. There you have a chance to look at it. Number five, St. John's will take on number 12, Northern Iowa. And number four, Kansas will take on number 13, Cal Baptist. And those games are in San Diego. So that is the East Regional. We get a break. We're back to take your questions and get closer and closer to finding out where the Big Orange will play in the NCAA tournament. So glad you're with us for Big Orange Rewind, presented by Calhoun's A Taste of Tennessee. Big Orange Rewind.

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SPEAKER_01 16:32

Big Orange Rewind, presented by Calhoun, continues. So the West is set. We know who's out there. Portland, Oregon, BYU is the sixth. They will meet the 11th, either Texas or NC State. Texas. Yeah. Bubble team gets in. Bubble team gets in. Gonzaga three against Kennesaw State 14. In St. Louis on Friday, seven-seeded Miami beats number 10, Missouri. And number two, Purdue gets number 15 Queens College. Also in that region, let's see. Number one, Arizona gets Long Island, a 116 game. Villanova's the eight. Utah State the 9. Wisconsin and High Point play in the 5-12 game. High Point got a 12. That's pretty strong. Arkansas's a four seed. A four seed after winning the SEC tournament.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Well, there's probably a five going in, then that's what they get out of. Again, I don't think Sunday matters. I don't think Sunday matters. I'm conscious of the other.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

I don't think Sunday matters either, but I mean so Arkansas a four seed gets Hawaii a 13 seed. And then uh the other ones that we mentioned. So that's the West. So that's what we know so far. We know Georgia is an eight in the Midwest and will play St. Louis.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Alabama's a four in the Midwest, and they will play in Tampa. Georgia's playing in Buffalo, by the way. Alabama is going to play in Tampa as a four seed, and they get hot strike.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

I think Tennessee goes to Tampa. I don't know. We're going to find out here.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Getting ready to roll the bottom half of the bracket out.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Michigan, even though losing the Big Ten tournament today to Purdue, they are the one. I think that was set before today happened. Yeah, agreed. And again, it'll be Georgia or St. Louis against them. Texas Tech is a five. They meet Akron, who is a 12, and will continue to roll in.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Tennessee's going to Philadelphia as a sixth seed in the Midwest region. Okay. That's where the volunteers are playing at 22 and 11, and they will get the winner of Miami, Ohio, and SMU, who will participate in Dayton in the first four game. One of the first four games.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Okay. So there you go, going to Philly. But Tennessee has to wait to know. I mean, you'll scout both of them. They have a staff large enough to scout both of them, but still not the easiest thing in the world to not know who your opponent is. It would be advantageous in some ways.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

By the way, that's a Friday game for those wondering. Yes. The three seed will be Virginia. So if Tennessee wins, they will play the winner of Virginia, who is the three seed in Philly. And the 14 seed that Virginia is going to play is Wright State. So if Tennessee were to win, they would get the winner of Virginia and Wright State in a Sunday game. So Tennessee is in a Friday-Sunday uh opening weekend bracket. Um and they're in the Midwest region, is where that plays out.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

So Tennessee could play Miami of Ohio. They have an all-time record against Miami of Ohio of four and two. So that's that background. Um against SMU, they are two and oh all-time.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

And some people had projected in bracketology Tennessee and Miami of Ohio, but they did not project that as the one of the first four games. Are they 31 and 1? Yes. Yeah, they lost in the quarters of their conference tournament. Um, but they were unbeaten going in, and they lost in the quarters of that. By the way, Kentucky is a seven-seed. They'll get Santa Clara, and then Iowa State is the two seed in the Midwest, and they will get Tennessee State as who Tennessee State draws, as they get Iowa State, who's a two-seed.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Tennessee state really did a great job this year. When we saw them, there was a real feeling. I'm gonna get Sophie to bring me that when she's got it with the places so we can go through it. Thank you, thank you. Selection Sunday for sure. Tennessee's against in Philadelphia on Friday, 6'11 game with Miami of Ohio or SMU, as Brett just said. They will play the winner of the 3-14 game, Virginia and Wright State. The winner of the 6-11 game gets the winner of the 3-14 game. Friday uh in St. Louis, Kentucky and Santa Clara do battle. 7-10 game, Iowa State, Tennessee State, the 15 game. So the Midwest regional also Buffalo, Michigan, the one game against Maryland, Baltimore County, or Howard. The winner of that game gets Georgia, the eighth seed, or St. Louis, the nine seed. In Tampa, it's number five Texas Tech against Akron, number four Alabama against Hofstrom. I don't mind this.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Well, I mean that I mean Virginia's a good basketball team. Sure. I mean, but but here's the thing. When you're uh and it doesn't even matter if you're uh I mean, here's Virginia, we're just like, hey, we're a three seed. Okay, what's good? And then they look up and the sixth seed they would have to play would be Tennessee. Right. They don't love their draw, right? But but in the world we live in, and I think this is going to bear out, I could be wrong. There may be a sledload of upsets in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. There hasn't been the last couple of years. No. And I think one of the reasons is it's hard to hold, it's hard for the smaller, mid-major schools to hold their team together and be one of those senior laden teams like we saw from George Mason or um or be a team that's a really coherent team and and keep them together. And so what happens is you get a good score. And what's what's the best player in a mid-major team? What's his agent doing right now? His phones, he, I mean, he's fielding calls, right? I mean, that there, there's, there's what where are they available at? So it's hard to keep those teams together and and really become something and move forward. I think it's gonna be harder and harder to see Cinderella's.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

How the bracket is put together, if Tennessee were to win their opening game and then were to beat either Virginia or Wright State, I think there's a very real chance they play Kentucky again. Because Kentucky has Santa Clara. They can win that game. And then it's Iowa State, Tennessee State. Iowa State, nice team, good year. Kentucky can beat them if they play. And so you could have another sweet 16 matchup, potentially between Tennessee and Kentucky. Top of the draw, I mean, I I like Alabama to get to the Elite Eight. I don't, I don't see anybody there that's gonna well, I don't know. Yeah, Michigan could stop them. Um, but not automatically. There we are looking at it. The Midwest region, and um they would go to Chicago next if you advance to the region to the regional final or the yeah, the sweet 16 round. Right, sweet 16 and then Elite Eight. I don't know. I I don't see anybody in there that I say to myself, and I guess facetiously some Tennessee fans would say Kentucky, because for some strange reason, but they could beat him in the NCAA.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Well, I mean, here's the thing I'm looking at, and and I've I I know Miami of Ohio's story, and I've looked at their roster a little bit. They're not the biggest team. Um, they do have a they do have a big guard, okay, a a taller guard who's kind of not a big three-point shooter. He's kind of a more of a paint, you know, mid-range type player. To me, when I look at where Tennessee's at right now, that's that's the repair this week. When you say, what's Tennessee got to write? What ship do they have to write? What do they have to improve on? Look, Nate Man cannot go one for 13. You know, we know you can't turn it over. You got to shoot free throw better free throws better. All those are a given. But Mike, when I look at this team, if you're gonna make a tournament run, you're gonna run into some backcourt that's got a guard that'll put his head down and go to the rim. Tennessee's got to defend guards better, particularly dribble penetration by guards better if they're gonna advance in the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

We need to get a break, and when we come back, we'll take your questions via the ball network text line, your questions or your comments. 865-657-1278. This program is sponsored by our great friends at Calhoun's, nine locations around Knoxville. A taste of Tennessee, as we like to say. We had Calhoun before the show tonight. And it was a great taste. It was delightful, as it always is. More Big Orange Rewind next. Presented by Calhoun's. This is Big Orange Rewind. Tennessee is on their way to Philadelphia. The Volunteers are going to take on Miami of Ohio or SMU, two teams that will play a play-in game at Dayton to get the field down to 64. That will be the 11th seed that Tennessee will meet. And then the winner of that game would meet the three-seed Virginia or the 14-seed Wright State. So there is a lot to unpack there, Brunt Hobbs. There is a lot. There is a lot to unpack indeed.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Well, and I mean, I think the we'll we'll dive into a lot with Tennessee and a lot to unpack about Tennessee the rest of the way. I'm looking at this from an SEC standpoint, Mike. You've got Texas made the field, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt, Texas AM, Alabama. No Auburn, no Auburn.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Auburn did not make the field. Uh South Regional, Florida is the one. They will play the winner of Prairie View AM and Lehigh. And Clemson's the eight, Iowa the nine. Again, that's in Tampa. Vanderbilt goes to Oklahoma City. Commodore is seeded fifth. They'll meet the 12-seed McNeese. The four seed Nebraska will take on the 13-seed Troy. In Greenville, South Carolina, North Carolina is the sixth seed. They get the 11th seed Virginia Commonwealth. Illinois is the three seed. They get the 14 seed Penn. Oklahoma. Is it Oklahoma again? That's not right. That's okay. The seventh seed St. Mary's gets the 10-seed Texas AM. The two seed Houston gets the 15-seed Idaho. So yeah. The SEC got how many you say? I've got them with nine.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Got nine. I've got them with nine. So and just a rough look at the brackets overall. The east bracket immediately jumps out to me. Duke's a one. The two in that region is Yukon. And the three is Michigan State. I mean, to me, that's a pretty loaded bracket if Duke is the number one overall seed. In the West, Arizona's the number one. Uh Gonzaga's the three. Purdue is the two. If I'm Arizona, I don't mind that. I don't mind the way that region's set up for me. I think that's a region that could have some upsets in it. Missouri versus Miami in a 7-10 game, I think is really an intriguing matchup. Arkansas can certainly make some noise in that in that west region. In the South, Florida's the one. The two is Houston. The three is Illinois. That one may be as bad as the East. That one's rough. I like Tennessee's draw better. You know, and then when you look at Tennessee's region, as you mentioned, Michigan is the one, the two is Iowa State, the three is Virginia, and Tennessee sets as a six. I'm just looking at the top three seeds. Alabama's the four. Alabama's the four there. I just kind of looked at the top three seeds and sort of what jumped out at me.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Um wouldn't it be amazing if Tennessee played Alabama for a trip to the final four?

SPEAKER_02 29:13

That'd be fun. That'd be fun. Both those teams got there.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

And I'm reading it right. That could happen, right? Uh because Alabama's in the top. Yes. Yes. And Tennessee's in the bottom. That is correct. Thank you, Sophie. That is correct. Again, last four in. Get this. NC State, Texas, SMU, Miami of Ohio. And what are the numbers beside this? The 36, 40. Is that their Ken Pom or their, you know? Okay, that's okay. That's okay. She doesn't have the sound up. She can't tell. Last four out. That's okay. No worries. Thank you. I'm happy to have this. Guys, the last four out Oklahoma. Auburn. San Diego State. Indiana. Net ranking. Auburn. Oh, I'm glad that Bruce Pearl is seeding? Upset? Well. Angry? Listen. Frustrated? Mad? NC State 36th. SMU 37th. Texas 42nd. Miami of Ohio 64th. Those are the two the last four in. Of the last four out, Indiana 41st, San Diego State, 47th, Oklahoma 48th. Where would you guess Auburn? They're in the 20s. 38th. 38. So they were so there were two teams that had a higher uh that were not as good in net ranking as Auburn who got in.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Yeah, and that and that gets back to the age-old questions. What what really matters? Because because Auburn's gonna Auburn is gonna tout the schedule that they played. Oh, they did. And they played every. Did you see the press release? Yes, I saw the press release. And they did play a com they did play a hard schedule. I mean their non-conference schedule was a good schedule.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

But they also had a losing record in the conference. They did. And they they lost eight of their last 10 games in conference play.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Oh, I'm I'm not saying they should have gotten in.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

I'm just saying they went they went from four, fourteen and seven, five and three in the conference, to where they ended up finishing, which was 17-16 and 8-12 in conference games.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

I mean, I don't I mean, I have no problem with I have no problem with them that with them not being in.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

And I have no problem had they been in, but I just know Bruce on TV is probably not having a whole lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

No, I'm sure he's not. Oklahoma was a team that played much better down the stretch, um, but just not enough, you know. They needed to stay longer in in Nashville. I guess that they were gonna have to have a chance to play their way into the tournament. But um, that's a team that got better and and finished, you know, they they were a tough out late the way that they played, but it just wasn't enough for them.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

And they're holding on to their coach. Porter Mosier is gonna get to stay in their, uh, according to what you believe, uh their new athletic director is going to up their resources, which means, I guess, unsaid NIL money, right? Yes. Um, Tennessee men's basketball headed to Philadelphia for the first and second rounds of the 2026 NCAA tournament. It will be held at Xfinity Mobile Arena, which is uh 3601 South Broad Street in Philadelphia. The first round, March the 20th. It'll be Friday the 20th. Tennessee will play either Miami of Ohio or SMU. Game time is TBA. Um, encouraging fans to buy directly through the venue. And I've hit the venue thing here, and it appears to be Ticketmaster.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

So it's Ticketmaster for, and you're looking for Xfinity Mobile Arena tickets on the on Ticketmaster. And there you see it. Tennessee would get Virginia or Wright State, and then to advance to the Sweet 16, they would play one of the four teams on the other side of the bottom bracket. Kentucky is the seven seed, Santa Clara the 10, the second seed Iowa State, or the 15th seed TSU, who they played on November 20th.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Yeah, by the way, I misspoke earlier. I said nine teams, it's 10. I can't count. Math's hard for me. So 10 of the of the league's 18 got in. That's and uh and a year where the league is not perceived to be 16 teams. I can't do math again. I thought I did, I thought I'd gotten it wrong. Right, there's expansion, and I didn't tell anybody. I'm the new guy. So 10 of the 16 make the field. And a year where most people didn't feel like this was as good of a year in the SEC as it had been. All right, let's get a couple questions in. Okay, hopefully they're not math, because I've failed at that miserably here in the last five minutes.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Hi, Mike and Brett. This is from Jacob in Chattanooga. What's the funniest thing you have ever been told has happened at the ball network? I'm I'm no for me. Here's all I'll say about no. I say no. Here's all the question, but no. All I'll say about that is it involved the late Edwin Huster Jr., who was a very, very funny person. Would you not agree? Oh, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

I mean, the pranks that have been played through the years with the Vault Network people are pretty substantial. Pretty substantial and pretty spectacular.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

And he was involved in some of the greatest twins. Yes. But that's as far as we can go.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

Yes. That's I'm not going any. No. What's first rule of fight club, Brad? On to the next question. On to the next question. JP in Knoxville, is this a top 10 men's basketball team season? Is this a top 10 men's basketball season post-1980 for Tennessee? Ken Pom has it clearly as one of the top 10 teams in the Ken Pom era. This year's team, according to Ken Pom, would be postseason favorites over every Bruce Pearl team. I, you know, no. I I mean, I don't think I like this team, but no. I mean Tennessee's averaged 27 wins the last four years. They've been to the tournament. I mean, what about the team that beat Memphis and got to number one in 2000? Was it 2008?

SPEAKER_02 35:45

Well, you had the team that they were, you know, he's playing Michigan State. Yeah, you know, with JP. That was that team with with they were a six-seat. Yeah, with, I guess, Lofton and Chisholm and JP Prince. And um that team played really well in the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Um that was the only other time Tennessee's been a six. They beat San Diego State by three. They beat Ohio U. They upset, they upset Ohio. No, they beat Ohio U. They beat Ohio State, who was the two seed, and then they lost to Michigan State in St. Louis realistically at the buzzer. I was there. Yeah. It was awful.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

I mean, so to answer his question, um, I would not say this is the best of the teams that have in in the previous 20 years. I would not put this team there.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

James in Paris, Tennessee. It doesn't matter where we're seated in the tournament if we can't make layups or free throws.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

Agreed. I mean, you've got to shoot, listen, you you've got to shoot free throws better, and they have to take better advantage of offensive rebounds and turn them into points. 23 points off 23 offensive rebounds is not enough efficiency, Mike, when you talk about um if you're gonna get 23 offensive rebounds, you better get more than 23 points off of it. You just have to have more efficiency than that.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Well, it also matters who is shooting the free throws. If Tennessee is going to advance in the NCAA tournament, they need a majority of their free throws to be shot by Jacoby Gillespie and Nate A-Men.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

Well, I tell you, I and this is not going to be probably talked about a whole lot because everybody's gonna talk about Aymant's return and they'll talk about what they didn't do, you know, against Vanderbilt. I I think the one of the big positive takeaways from Nashville was the offensive efficiency and the way Jacoby Gillespie played. Because it wasn't just jump shot Jacoby Gillespie, it was a lot to the rim. And I think this time of year, sometimes you gotta put your head down and go try to make a play. Get fouled or finish. I thought his aggressiveness going to the rim in two games in Nashville was a really nice development for a guy who hasn't played, hadn't shot it very well offensively for the last three or four games.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Well, and hadn't scored over 20, but once in the prior 10 games. Didn't you feel like his game was different in that? Well, you know, that was the first time he had a 50% or better field goal percentage in a game since the first Kentucky game here on January 17th. He hadn't had one game where he shot 50% from the field until then. So, yeah, I I think overall you you saw him get in a bit of a groove. And if they can get a Met back, the the question to me, I'll throw it out. We need a break. Okay. I'll throw, I'll throw out what the question is to me. I'll text it to you. Thanks. Yeah, at 865-657-1278. Big Orange Rewind is presented by Calhoun's. A look back, and what's next? Big Orange Rewind, presented by Calhoun's. This basketball postseason, enjoy and celebrate with the great refreshing beverages that support the University of Tennessee athletics. Light and crisp, truly hard seltzer, twisted tea, real brewed iced tea with the twist of lemon, Modello, brewed for full-time ball fans, cours like Choose Chill and Ball Lager from Yeehaw Brewing Company, distributed across the volunteer state by Cherokee Distributing. Remember, 21 means 21 and celebrate responsibly. Mike Keith, Brent Hubbs, Big Orange Rewind on Selection Sunday. Tennessee is in the Midwest Regional. They are headed to Philadelphia to play a first round game on Friday. Time to be determined. Opponent to be determined. Miami of Ohio or SMU will play in the first four in Dayton to decide who is the 11th seed and who comes on to meet Tennessee. And so we will see what happens from there. Now, what I was going to say before we went to break, um I think the most important thing, obviously, you've got to make free throws and layups. And I said I think it matters a lot who shoots the free throws. I mean, you got to get the right people fouled. Um, because I just don't see uh Amit and Gillespie are 80% free throw shooters. The other guys are not through a whole season. Right. So they're not gonna all of a sudden just start, and maybe they hit one more out of five than they usually would, which would be great. But those guys are you you'd be lucky if as a group outside of those two, you're gonna shoot 65%, maybe 67%, but probably not. Just who they are. We we know it through 33 games. I think what I'm most interested to see is what Rick Barnes does with the rotation. How he decides to allot minutes in the tournament now based on what is his most productive group of players at this point.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

You're talking post or overall? I'm talking overall. Well, you know it's gonna be Gillespie and Aben as many minutes as they can handle. Absolutely. And then the question becomes what do you do with that, with the other guard spot with Boswell, who had had a tough tournament. I mean, he he didn't he went.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Offensively, Brent, he's been slumping lately. I mean, he's shooting 20% from the field over his last five games. I mean, he's having a hard time.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Yep. Since the two big buckets and the win at Vanderbilt, from that moment on, he's he's not put the ball in the basket.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

And, you know, he was the team's leading rebounder through the first 11 conference games, and his numbers in rebounding have dropped a lot there too. And I'm not trying to, I mean, he's got to play. I mean, you want Bishop to play, but they've got to get they've got to get some more production out of him in that when it doesn't have to be 15 points a game. Man, if he could get you near double digits, that helps because he can shoot free throws better than some of the other guys. He can handle the ball some to take pressure off Gillespie, but they need some makes there.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

Yeah, they they need some makes. And again, that they've got to defend, you know, he's been their best perimeter defender. He's been the guy they put on the best perimeter players, and Tennessee's not defended the perimeter. It's not all him, don't get me wrong, but they've got to defend the perimeter better as well. So um I'm with you. I think that's the that is gonna be interesting. Where is JP Estrella? How much do they force the ball to him early and get him shot to get him going?

SPEAKER_01 42:35

I mean, that's a two that's a two-sided coin because I mean he can't draw fouls.

SPEAKER_02 42:38

Right.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

That's what I mean. He's got to stay on the floor. That's got to stay on the floor. I mean, because he was lucky that he got maybe the most incredible overturn that I've ever seen in my life in any sport when they actually realized he was fouled before he threw an elbow. I can't believe it. I I nearly fell out of my chair because it was so obvious that was what happened. Right. And it was like you're sitting here watching it. We were on the air, and you're you're watching this happen, and you're like, he got fouled. He was responding to, and that's what they came back and called it. That would have been his second, though, right at that moment.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

Yeah. I mean, he's he to have a chance to get in a flow offensively going, you're right. He, I mean, he's gotta he's gotta play without fouling.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

And well, listen, offense, not to interrupt, but he's one of the most skilled offensive big men in the country. I mean, did he miss a did he miss a baseline jump hook this weekend? I I mean, listen, he can shoot the basketball, he's smooth, he can take a shot from further than five feet away, which gives you the ability to kick it out to him. He can take a turnaround. I mean, he is a nice offensive player. He's a good passer. I mean, he can do a lot of different things.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

Yeah, we get a question here on our YouTube channel or a statement or a comment. Statement comment? Whatever. Talking about Amari Evans needing more time. Where does Amari Evans fit in rotationally? I wonder. That's my question.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

I wonder, do you go small? Do you go small so he's on the floor? Especially because Amet is bigger than the average guy who plays his position. So do you do you put Evans in there with Boswell, Gillespie, AMET, and whichever? And opposed. And go. And play more small. Yes. We need to get a break. We've got a lot more coming up. Love to have more of your questions at 865-657-1278. Miss any of today's rewind? Catch the full podcast with Mike Keith and Brett Hub. UT Sports.com. We are the Fall Network. Insider analysis. You know what happened. Find out why. And how. And what happens next? This is Big Orange Rewind.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

Presented by Calhoun's A Taste of Tennessee. Grab a taste after the next Tennessee game. Calhoun.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

865-657-1278. That's the text line. Brent Hubbs and I are running through as many of your questions and comments as we possibly can. We are live on the Ball Radio Network and the Tennessee Athletics YouTube channel. And if you're finding us there for the first time, please subscribe. Please be a part of this community as we continue to grow it with a lot of the programming that we have. Doing this show live on here tonight is a first for us, and we're excited. We certainly want to thank Calhoun, proud sponsor of the Balls, nine convenient locations in Knoxville and the surrounding areas. And we we thank everyone who has listened and communicated with us.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Absolutely. Keep them coming. We got plenty to talk about in this second hour of the program. Obviously, Tennessee, uh, the Lady Balls will learn um in the next hour where they're going to go, but we know where Tennessee basketball is going. And tomorrow morning, Josh Heipel and his coaching staff will hit the practice field for practice number one of spring practice as well. Tennessee baseball team not able to finish it off today in the rubber match. They lose the series at Georgia. They could not uh hold the lead. The Tennessee softball team. Interesting, Carlin Pickens, according to Karen Weekly, was scheduled to pitch four innings today. And the senior All-American went to her coach after her fourth inning and said, Can I continue to play? Did she say can I?

SPEAKER_01 46:55

I think she said, I want the ball together. I was getting ready to say, did that start with can or I am? Tennessee basketball, as Brent mentioned, headed to Philadelphia for the first and second rounds of the 2026 NCAA basketball tournament. They will play at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philly Friday, March 20th, at a time to be determined against the winner of Miami of Ohio and SMU. Second round game would be Sunday against either Virginia or Wright State. Due to the limited number of tournament tickets allocated to participating institutions by the NCAA, Tennessee's encouraging you to purchase your tickets directly through the venue. Again, you go to tickets for uh Xfinity Mobile Arena, and their tickets are on Ticketmaster. And so you can go ahead and jump in there. It is not a bad drive from here. It really isn't. What do you figure it is? You look it up? I can look it up. Yeah. By the way, Tennessee will sit in sections 123, 124, and 223 uh for the first round. And so uh we would love to have you uh be there in Philly with us. I can show you where to eat. I've been there before.

SPEAKER_02 48:17

It's about um 620 miles or so.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

So it's about So you're saying five hours.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

No, no, no, no. It's it's 10 to 12, depending on traffic. I will say this there are some there are some airlines who run direct flights out there.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

I mean, it's about what is it, like a drive to Jacksonville? Roughly Daytona, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

About like drive to Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Yeah, something like that. All right, to the questions. Josh and Farragut, watching Bruce Pearl talk about Auburn not making the tournament on the selection show is pretty soothing. Come on, Josh. Come on, Josh. That's his son. Of course, he's I mean, that's tough. You want everybody wants their children to do well.

SPEAKER_02 49:01

Yeah, they do, but you also have to understand kind of where you are at the end. Yeah, I understand. And that point, too. I understand. I mean, I mean, probably screaming at the director of officials from the third row behind your son's bench on on Friday. I mean, you you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Just kind of Well, the SEC teams that got in, Florida is the one seed in the South. Then we have two four seeds, Alabama and Arkansas. Vanderbilt is a five, Tennessee is the sixth seed in the Midwest. Kentucky's the seventh seed there in the Midwest. Uh, Georgia is an eight seed, and two 10 seeds, Texas AM and Missouri, and Texas is an 11 seed. They'll be involved in a play-in game. So 10 SEC teams get in. Interesting to hear the director of the NCAA, the selection committee's comments about Miami of Ohio. And that is apparently where Bruce Pearl was not happy. He was not happy about SMU getting in. Obviously, he'd already made some comments about Miami of Ohio that got him sent to Miami of Ohio to do an interview. Welcome to the media. Um, and that's what happens. Um, but the what the tournament chairman basically said, and I'm just gonna paraphrase obviously, is that Miami of Ohio was in. They were not lat, they were not the last team in, they were in. And they just didn't get a good what they call predicted seed or whatever. They're a play-in game, but they're in. So they were obviously 61 through somewhere 61 through 68.

SPEAKER_02 50:52

Well, I mean, they're they won 31 games. They played that, you know, it's their schedule.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

They play in the Mac, it's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

Yeah, I mean, I and I'm not gonna paraphrase him, but if uh if if anybody gets a chance and wants to hear some fascinating discussion about select the selection process, Frank Martin, who has been in the SEC and is not, he's been to a final four. Right. He had some interesting comments sort of about how all the process works. And uh you can find those on social media if you want to. But he kind of explained how he feels like some things have been set up for the power conferences, more so than in years past and that type of thing. But you know, that that that debate always is gonna raise. I mean, whether you got 68 teams, 72 teams, 64 teams, whoever's team 65, 69, or 73 is not gonna be happy.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

Well, and you and I have discussed this before. Strength of schedule, strength of victory, what your record is in the last 10 games. To a certain extent, it's beauty contest. And beauty isn't been in anything. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And so they like these teams better than they liked Auburn or Oklahoma. Had Auburn or Oklahoma made it, I would have said, sure, that's fine. They would have deserved it. They're good teams.

SPEAKER_02 52:14

Well, but but what's the difference? Yeah, when you to your point, when you get down to splitting hairs, okay, and you and you're, you know, you got two teams and you can make a case for either one of them, what's the deciding factor? It's the eyeball test. Sure. It's just the eyeball test. It's what do you fundamentally in your heart of hearts think of this team versus that team? Because you can only take the metrics down so far. At some point in time, it becomes do I think they should be in or do I do I think they should not be in? And because it's people doing it.

SPEAKER_01 52:48

It's not it's not machines. Right. It's just like officiating.

SPEAKER_02 52:51

Well, it's officiating, it's the college football playoff. You can say it's all these things, but at the end of the day, it's a group of people sitting in a room deciding who should be in and who shouldn't be in. Now, in the NCAA basketball term, there's a bunch of automatics, but when you get to the at-larges, then you're sitting there and you're looking at that, and it's largely beauty contest, eyeball test, whatever you want to call it. Because at the end of the day, the human element is the human element that's not going to go away in the selection process.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

Okay, Austin from Beardon says, are we happy with the Virginia-Iowa State draw as the potential two and three seeds, potential second-round sweet 16 matchup, or more worried about having to play Miami of Ohio SMU winner?

SPEAKER_02 53:39

Well, I mean Which has the is the bigger concern to you? Well, I think you I think winning your first one's always, you know, when you're not when you're not a one versus a 16, I think you're always worried about your first one. You're always worried about nerves, you're always worried, you know what I mean? How many of those games do you look up and it's a close game at the half, and then the heavily favored team may pull away? I think winning the first one's always a challenge. Um, but they're they're supposed to get harder as they go along. I mean, Virginia's a good basketball team. Virginia's a good basketball team. Um, you know, again, I when I look at Tennessee right now, the the thing that concerns me is which teams in Tennessee's path have really good scoring guards, not just shooting guards, scoring guards. Guys who can create offense off the dribble, off a high ball screen. They can get in the paint, they can, they can finish at the rim. Those people that you have to defend are the ones that concern me the most when I look at Tennessee in a matchup.

SPEAKER_01 54:41

Yeah, because it Vanderbilt didn't beat him with the three-point shot on Friday.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

I don't think anybody's beat him with the three-point shot really the last few games when you're looking at except for Duke Miles.

unknown 54:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:52

That guy not out of his mind. He was out of his mind. I mean, if you see a guy at guard start nine of nine, it's been a while. That's stupid, man. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

Yeah. It it is. But but here's the thing, here's the the deal that that is bothersome to me. It's T.O. Barrett had 28 points. Okay. And he didn't do it with a three-point shot. He did not shoot a three-point shot. Phylon, we've talked about how he closed that game out for Alabama. 13 in the final six minutes. Michael Johnson had 20 points, 14 in the second half. Okay. Tennessee won the game, but he's it's still a guard with 20 points. But he wasn't the difference in the game. I get you. Tyler Tanner here in Knoxville, seven of nine shooting, scored 25 points, had 19 in the second half. Yeah, bad. Uh Petiford had 28 points on nine of 18 shooting. If you add it up in the last six games, and then Miles had third. Yeah, I a guard has scored over um 20 points in those games. And inside the three-point line, those guards that I just mentioned, when you add Miles in there, 40 of 59, 68% from the floor, and they've shot 41 free throws. Those six guards in the last six games. That to me is the concern. Tennessee's got to find a way to defend on the perimeter better than what they have defended the last two and a half weeks.

SPEAKER_01 56:14

Well, they have to make people make shots against them. They have, I mean, some of the Duke Miles shots were contested. The majority were contested. I mean, one of them was from over 30 feet, and it was contested. Um, so the the thing about that, when you're watching that game and that happens, you say, fine, take that. But if that happens, that's the way it goes. Yeah, and that we live to play another day. And and uh the Tennessee coaching staff understands that good players are gonna make shots sometimes, but just make them make shots. Don't don't give them the layups. Right. And if they're gonna take it to the rack, make them put it up over somebody or go into some trees or you know, and there were instances. I mean, Tanner did not do that the other day, not consistently.

SPEAKER_02 57:03

No, he did not. But it's happen, but again, now some of those free throw numbers are a little bit skewed because you're fouling at the end of the game and a couple of that, but still 41 free throws for guards. For guards, I mean, that that's a that's a lot. Um, you know, almost seven a game by a guard in the last six games is a lot, is a lot of free throws. So Tennessee to me has got to defend that better. So when you talk about matchups, which he was asking about, the one the biggest part of the matchup would concern me the most is which team has the best scoring guards.

SPEAKER_01 57:30

Uh, question uh about Troy Henderson. If he needs surgery to fix his shoulder, is he going to get it now? We don't want to end up going into next season with what happened with Cade Phillips. Okay. Every shoulder situation is different. Shoulder surgeries, just like the one that Cade went through, it's essentially about six weeks in the sling, and then your total rehab time is roughly six months. If Troy Henderson needs surgery, even if Tennessee were to go to the final four, he would still have plenty of time. And Cade's back doing things now. Cade is three months removed from his surgery, and he's doing some things now. Um so you can't do everything. He couldn't take contact, but he can work on improving his strength and he can do a lot of cardiovascular things, he can do some basketball things. So if you do the surgery after the final four, that would still put him in early October before he would be fully cleared. And he could get cleared before that because he's young and young people heal better than older people.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

Yeah, and and I mean, based off everything that Rick Barnes has said, he's gonna have all season surgery. That's what Rick Barnes said a week ago. But Troy has made a decision. I want to stay and try to help this team through the tournament, and then we'll proceed from there.

SPEAKER_01 59:02

So that's what they're doing. And the other part of it, too, is um having lived through this, I can tell you there are situations where you can't make it any worse. And I'm in and you know that's been explored. Sure. And that's been looked at. So if you can't make it any worse, if you can stand the pain, if you can have them brace it up for you, if if he has the ability to give the team minutes, that's what he wants to do. Cade's situation was such that it was just continually getting worse. And remember this too about Cade. He plays in an area where you take a lot more contact than Troy Henderson does. So being beaten on, boxing somebody out yourself, playing good defense, whatever. Um once you get that to the point that it's just raw, you just eventually can't take it anymore. And the rehab and the treatment doesn't give you the ability to go forward. Plus, they made the decision in an area of the season where, as a group, they put their hats on and they said, We believe he can get a medical red shirt. And so that was the difference in that situation, in this situation. Sometimes those shoulders can be rehabbed to the point that you don't have to have surgery. It does happen. It's a matter of can you keep enough strength and can you deal with the pain?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

Yeah. And for Kate, it was a situation where he couldn't. He was at the end. And I mean, playing that position, if you can't raise both arms above your head and go get a rebound, it's hard, it's hard to survive in there. And that's he got to the point where he could no longer help and he could no longer manage through. Uh, and so that's and the red the red shirt situation all made it obvious and made the most sense for him to go ahead and have the surgery.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

This baseball season, every time the balls clench the weekend series, you win a 999 haircut from Great Clips. Visit GreatClips.com/slash UT baseball to redeem the offer. Valid only at participating Knoxville, Chattanooga, Tri-Cities, and Middle Tennessee salons. Offer available for limited time at participating locations. Great clips, it's gonna be great. More of your questions or comments on the Ball Network text line at 865-657-1278 as we continue with Big Orange Rewind, presented by Calhoun. Big Orange Rewind on the Vall Network.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:27

Sponsored by Food City, the official supermarket and tailgating headquarters of the Valls, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, complete coverage for every phase of life. Alumni Home, the ultimate volunteer shopping experience. By Farm Bureau Insurance of Tennessee, the official insurance of the Valls. Tennessee Insurance for Tennessee Life Co-op, proudly supplying your rural lifestyle in Big Orange Country. And by UT Medical Center, the official healthcare provider of the Valls and all of Vall Nation.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:29

The University of Tennessee men's basketball team is headed to the NCAA tournament for the eighth consecutive time that extends the program's best streak ever. All eight trips have featured a seed of sixth or better. Tennessee is the sixth seed in the Midwest region. The team will open competition this Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, and they'll take on the 11th seed. It'll be either Miami of Ohio or SMU. Those teams play Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio in the first four. So we know the Miami of Ohio story. They just finally lost in the MAC tournament, 31-1, 18-0 in the MAC regular season. SMU 20-13, 8-10 in the ACC. Raise your hand if you forget basically every day that SMU is in the ACC. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. All right. So interesting note about SMU that folks might not remember.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:36

Yeah, BJ Edwards, who's a Knoxville native, signed with Tennessee, played at Tennessee, transferred out. He went to Catholic High School. He's a senior on this team. He started 28 games. He's played in 28 games this season. Boopy Miller is a six-foot guard who played at Wake Forest. Then he played at Central Michigan and found his way to SMU. He's kind of been the guy in the backcourt that's kind of gone for them. Six foot, 175 pounds. They don't have a Mitchell Holmes is a 6'10 guy. Nigel Walls is 6'10, but he's a freshman. They got a couple of young guys who are big players, but overall, maybe not the tallest team in the world. Been a little bit inconsistent. They have not played very well away from home. They've been a great home team, won a bunch of games at home, did not play very well away from home this year in the ACC. And so, you know, we'll we'll see. I mean, there were overall they were three and eight away from home, two and seven in conference play away from home. They were 15-3 at home. Um but they have five guys averaging double figures. But again, Miller, the guard, has started 32 games. He's averaging 19.2 points a game. Uh Corey Washington's kind of their best post player at 11 points a game.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:55

Albert from Spring Hill, his comment on the Ball Network text line at 865-657-1278. Free throws seem to be an impediment for the balls. If they were hitting at a higher percentage as in previous years, they could play defense and offense differently instead of having to shoot prayer threes to close the gap.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:18

Yeah, I mean, I listen, here's what they're gonna do, and they get in those games. We saw it in their attempt to come back in the Vanderbilt game. They're gonna give the ball, they're gonna tell Jacoby Gillespie to try to get to the rim. They're gonna feed the ball to Nate Ament. And Nate A Mint, I mean, he had a double double and he made one field goal because he lived at the free throw line. He was 10-13. Is that what he finished at? Um terrific free throw shooter. They're gonna play through him, you know, when you're talking about closing gaps and he's talking about coming from behind. I I don't I don't feel like Tennessee is heaving threes to try to catch up. Um I certainly didn't feel that way against Vanderbilt. They have to shoot free throws better, but you said it best earlier. Earlier. Put put the guys on the line who shoot the free throws the best and run it through run it through them. That's not to say that some of your weaker free throw shooters, Jalen Carey, and some of the guys aren't going to get to the line. Sure. That's going to happen. And you hope that they they shoot it a little better. Akpar has been shooting it well from the free throw line. Better of late. But, you know, you're going to play it through Amit. You're going to play it through Gillespie.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:25

Both those guys are pretty good free throw shooters. Well, I I just don't think it's going to get fixed now. No, no. We are where we are. And so you you just sort of have to realize that in the situations in late game or in the last 10 minutes, you've got to go through those two guys on every possession because either they're going to score or they're your best chance to score, or they're your best chance to get to the free throw line and make them.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:52

And maybe that affects a little bit of your rotation down the stretch, trying to, you know, trying to come back. Do you play, do you put somebody different on the court than maybe you had? You you said it best in the in the last hour, I guess it was, maybe the top of this hour. The the fascinating part of this, now that you're out of, you know, you're you're playing for your season, you either you you know it's either over or you advance, and you have a day break in between. How's how reduced does the rotation get? How different does this team play? What what do they do differently than maybe uh they have done in the past? Do they play more small ball? You know, what do they do and with Amari Evans and all those things? Um, you know, that that's gonna be something certainly, and then part of that will be based on matchups, I'm sure. But what do you feel like gives you your best chance? What do you think is best for you and this team? Is it two post players? Is it small ball? Spread it out a little bit more. How do you want to play? How do you play that if you're Tennessee?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:45

Well, has it just become, excuse me, has it just become that the smaller lineup is your very best lineup, period? That where Evans has come from, that he just gives you so much, he's a good defender. He's a good man-to-man defender. He does not get lost a lot. He knows what to do with the basketball. He's not afraid to go score. And, you know, the minutes that we saw him playing in the absence of amets, he was an effective player. I mean, the the game against Vanderbilt here where he scored 24, he had one turnover. Now, he's not a great free throw shooter either. I think he will get better as he goes, but he can rebound, he can play defense the way Rick Barnes wants, and he gives you a shot of adrenaline on offense. And you and you've said it yourself too, Brett. They've had a hard time controlling guards. If you put another quick guy on the floor with Boswell, with Gillespie, A Mint's a 6'10-3, so you don't lack size because he's in there, and then you play one of the posts, does it, I'm just asking the question, does it give you the unit that that kind of sparks everything? And then if you're essentially rotating through with posts, then you have enough depth that you don't have to worry about fouls. And if you want to go two posts at some point, you can do that too. But do you think about that first and think about the two-post second, where all year it's been the two-post in AMET? Do you go smaller now because that's your best five?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:31

Well, and I think I don't know the answer. That's why Rick Bourne. I don't either. That's why Rick Bourne's going to Hall of Fame and I'm sitting here at a table babbling about basketball. But does it allow you, does it make it easier to switch one through five if you're playing a smaller lineup when you're talking about the high ball screen stuff? Because one of the concerns, I mean, everybody runs high ball screen, but really what you're seeing is you're seeing a lot of teams ball screen Tennessee to death on the perimeter. A lot of high ball screen action. How does Tennessee play that better? Do they play through the screens more? Do they switch it as much as they've been switching it? Do they alter the lineup that allows you to switch it easier? And does it put you in as much mismatch situations as it would be if you're switching one through five consistently?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:14

Well, let's put it this way: if you're gonna try to ball screen Amari Evans a whole lot, the screener's not really gonna enjoy that. Yeah. I mean, he's gonna be physical enough to take on the screen and he can switch. He's quick enough that he can switch. He can play against a bigger player, too, because he's a long athlete. He's a heavy athlete and a long athlete who can run. I mean, if you have that lineup on the floor, you have a lot of speed.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:41

You do have a lot of speed. You do have a lot of speed, and you have another guy who's not afraid to go to the basket on the offensive end of the floor. Put the ball on the ground and go to the rim, draw some fouls. You know, he's made some plays at the rim.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:55

Well, the and the other part of it too, get it up on the rim, and you got a chance to get an offensive rebound or a tip-in or whatever. I mean, Tennessee was hesitant to take some shots at different points that were there. And you just can't be at this time of year.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:12

No, and again, I said it earlier. If if you're gonna if you're gonna offensive rebound as effective as effectively as they do, you have to get more offensive production out of it. It has to be a more efficient number at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:25

Yeah, I mean, I think it's great with the offensive rebounds. I'm not disagreeing with you, but I I think that's great, but they've lost several games this year where they have out offensive rebounded the other team. Because that they don't do anything. They don't do enough with it. Well, they don't make shots. Right, yeah. They don't finish it. And that's what you have to do. Uh Jacob from Chattanooga, I've enjoyed these podcasts. Big Arms Rewind, the Mike Keith show, and the Monday meeting. Will they be back next season? Well, Jacob from Chattanooga. Um, in some form, I would think. I mean, we haven't gotten our renewal notice yet. We haven't we haven't already gotten picked up for season two, like Yellowstone Marshalls yet. Um, but yeah, I mean, we'll be doing something next year. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:13

I just show up when you tell me to be.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:14

I know. That's how that's how I work. All right. You tell me to be here, I'll be here. So this is uh from Kevin and Carnes, who says, okay, messed it up there. With the exception of this weekend series in Athens, Georgia, I've been at every inning of ball baseball and nearly every game in both Knoxville and Arlington. Someone has asked me, hey, where is John Wilkerson's booth? Can we get him a ball network banner similar to what you use in football? He definitely upholds the proud tradition of the network. And while I'm being needy, can we this is what he says. I'm just re I told you. I mean, you listen, you send in right here 865-657-1278. I'll read your grocery list. It's like being an anchor man. Um, while I'm being needy, can we spare a few pixels on the Lindsey Nelson Stadium scoreboard for a pitch count? Um, I'm not gonna read that. Uh thanks, guys. Kevin and cards. Let's let's just say there's someone who sits around Kevin and cards who would like to see that happen. I get a lot of questions about pitch count. I get a lot of questions about radar gun on the TV broadcast. I don't know. I'm not involved in baseball, so I don't I don't know that. Here's John Wilkerson's cell novel.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:31

Maybe John should get a banner with a picture of him to hang out to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:34

That would be awesome. I think that would be great if John did have a banner like that. Um, I know in some places you couldn't do it because there wouldn't be room. Right. But yeah, that would be great. We would I mean the the baseball broadcasts are absolutely 100% part of the ball network. So yeah, that would be that would be a great thing. You know what John does need, though? What's that? A Hardee's Collector Cup. If you love the Tennessee Valls like John Wilkerson does, look for the new Valls Collector Cup at participating Hardee's locations. Rep the big orange, sip your favorite drinks, and receive 99 cent refills for the year. Class up your combo with the Valls Collector Cup today. Only at Hardy's proud sponsor of the Valls. More, a big orange rewind coming up, and we are presented by Calhoun. Continues, presented by Calhoun. Tennessee on their way to Philadelphia to take on the winner of Miami of Ohio and SMU in the first four. Those two teams will meet in Dayton, Ohio Wednesday night. Tennessee will play on Friday at a time to be determined. Ticketmaster, the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. That's where you want to be looking for tickets if you're going to go to Philly. Brent says it's 620 miles from Knoxville. Yeah, thereabouts. It's not bad. A lot of people fly there too. There are some direct flights out of Knoxville. Yes. So Tennessee in the Midwest region, top seed is Michigan, number two seed Iowa State, number three seed, Virginia, who Tennessee would probably meet if they win their first round game. Probably meet them in the second round. Fourth seed is Alabama. And again, Tennessee is six. How can we listen to your show online later at some website? I keep getting interrupted by weather warnings on the radio. Understood. First thing, this the weather thing tonight is no joke. No joke at all. If you're west, middle, or east, it doesn't make any difference. So, you know, I'm not trying to be the weather guy, but I I know people who do. Um, and they do it for a living and do it well. And this thing, you know, has been called a megastorm overall for what it's going to produce throughout the whole country. So so be aware. Anyway, you'll be able to get it at utsports.com tomorrow or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. So how was that? That's good. That's a good answer. That's a good answer. Uh Lady Vols find out their fate, top of the hour. So we'll see what happens there. Unfortunately, we'll be off the air by then, so we won't get to share that with you. But we can share that spring football practice starts tomorrow. It does. And it's very interesting because the team is coming off spring break. They have been with Derek Owings for roughly six and a half, seven weeks. So they did all the workouts. They get a week off, they're back. They go four straight weeks before the orange and white game on April the 11th. The quarterback thing is going to dominate all of the talk. While I don't think anyone expects a complete answer to what's happening, don't expect that Josh Eippel will do the post-game interview at the orange and white game and say so-and-so is the first team quarterback. There is a lot to be gained here. And George McIntyre has an advantage. The question, I think, first and foremost is what does he need to do to augment that advantage? Don't say gain weight.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:38

No. I mean, I think for for George, you got to go out and go get it. And I know that sounds goofy, but you're not. No, it doesn't. You're not, don't consider yourself playing with the lead. Okay. You're not making the turn at the lead with the lead here. You're going to hear Joey Halsley, because he talks about this every spring, but you're going to have Josh Heipel talk about it too. And the term they use is rip it. They want these guys to go turn it loose. Don't be checked down Charlie. You know, don't be conservative with the ball. Now don't put it in harm's way. But but cut it loose and let it go. And I think sometimes if you're perceived to be the incumbent or the or the favorite to win it, it's easier to get in a mentality of don't make mistakes, to, to draw yourself back to the pack, so to speak. He's got to go win it. Because Faison Brandon's got nothing to lose. He's been here a hot minute, right? And I mean, he'd go and go out there and play and cut it loose. And I think, and I don't, I don't think George will have a problem with this, but I do think you have to be careful of where's the line of being aggressive versus being too conservative, particularly in this offense in the spring, because the challenge for those quarterbacks is going to be to turn it loose.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:50

Well, I think if you think about this conference, the quarterback has to be a playmaker. Has to be. And that sounds cliche, but you think about Gunnar Stockton. I mean, he comes into this year and everybody's like, who is this guy? He's like six feet tall. He, you know, he's not like the guys they've had. Hey, he won the game right over here across the parking lot at Neal and Stadium with the big plays he made with his legs. You know, he threw he threw some balls at key times. He threw into coverage, but he knew he had to let it go at certain moments. His desire to be a difference maker, even though he wasn't, you know, an award winner, but I think that's the mentality you have to have. You're not a caretaker, you're not a point guard playing football. You're that's not a real thing. That in the SEC gets you six and six.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:46

And and I think George's best skill as a playmaker is his decision making. And how quick. No, I think for George moving forward. Oh, for George. What his best skill, and he's he's athletic. I'm not suggesting he's not athletic or anything like that. I think his best skill as a playmaker can be the decision making, the quick reads, get the ball out of your hand, right decision, put it in the right place, be the playmaker that way. And I think that's where he's got to play to his strength, you know, out of the gate. Um, you know, I I think I think Faison Brandon's extremely accurate with the ball. He's 6'3, he's bigger. He may be a guy who's a little more, you know, runs around a little bit more, whatever. Play to your strength and be a playmaker. When you hear playmaker, a lot of people think it's just running around. Right. There's various ways of being a playmaker. And George's greatest strength, I think, or one of his best as a playmaker, is the delivery of the football and on time with his reads.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:42

Well, sometimes a guy who's a statue in the pocket takes basically a seven-step drop, not that many out of a shotgun now, but you know what I mean. Somebody who is only a threat to run once in a while can be a playmaker. Because if you can deliver the football to talented guys like what you've got, and man, he's got a lot of targets to work with. He's got one of the best running backs in the SEC returning. He's got a good addition in the backfield that I'm excited to see. Um, I think overall, you know, Ethan Davis is it gives you a chance to do something special at the tight end position. The offensive line returns mostly intact. Um, if if he can go do it, or if Brandon can go do it, I think Tennessee can be very successful offensively with a young quarterback. And man, if that works, what that could potentially establish is huge.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:41

You know, and I think the other thing, too, the tweaks they made to the offensive system, and you sat down with Coach Eippel in that film study about it, puts receivers in a position to be better playmakers, provided the quarterback delivers the ball because it's a lot more on-the-move type stuff. It's work in the middle of the field. It's not so much the straight comeback stuff, you know, comeback routes out wide. It's getting them into the same spots on the field, but getting them there in a different way and give them more grass to work with. So I think that's part of this as well, because you're now letting your playmakers go make plays on the perimeter at your receiver spot if your quarterback delivers the ball properly.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:20

The middle of the field's a big deal, Ed, because so many quarterbacks in the basic system that people run in college today. A lot of those quarterbacks don't throw in the middle of the field. They don't want to. Everything is outside or quick screen or fly pattern or whatever, uh, because that's where you get more space to throw to. The middle of the field, it has to be accurate or it's getting picked. But if you are able to take the middle of the field, that shows the people at the next level that you have good decision making and that you're that you're not scared. And you can't play quarterback at any level scared.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:04

That's correct. And that I think that's gonna be part of the messaging this spring at that position, which, as you mentioned, will dominate it. There's some other offensive questions that I think are gonna be intriguing to see. Um, I think they'll have an answer for the the departure of Chris Browser, but I think what the right side of the offensive line looks like, what's your best combination over there? Is Jesse Perry an inside guy or an outside guy? Uh, what does Ori Williams, the transfer from LSU, look like as a tackle? How does David Sanders adjust to left tackle? So there's some questions there for sure. I think the other question is, what does the tight end position look like behind Ethan Davis? I think this is a big spring. I'm not saying you shelf Ethan Davis because he needs the work, but you've got to go find his is Design Brain your answer? You know, is he, is he, can he be physical enough? How big of a step does he take physically to being that? Outside of that, what does your tight end spot look like? Because you kind of thought you're gonna have Jack Van Doors layer back and he was gonna be kind of your heavy. And then, you know, Design could be the more of the route running type deal. What does that position look like behind Ethan Davis? I think this is an important spring for that position group.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:13

Because historically they played four tight ends, um, generally through two or three on offense, and then the the number three and the number four certainly play virtually every specialty.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:26

So, you know, do you they played a ton of 12 personnel, two tight end sets? What are that where do they feel like that that formation is off general become one of those guys? Carson General, yeah. I mean, Carson General. I mean, that I think that's I think that's an interesting deal. They've got the transfer coming in from UT Martin, uh, who's played, and and obviously transfers have have succeeded there. What does Cole Harrison look like? Um so I just think finding sort of bodies who you believe can help. Maybe not a not a pecking order coming out of spring, but you come out of spring and say, hey, I feel like I've got three tight ends who are going to be capable, or four, whatever that number is.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:05

The eye test part of it will be interesting to see what the tight ends look like after a month and a half of Derek Owen. Because sure every one of those guys needed to get bigger and stronger.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:17

And it starts with Ethan Davis. Sure. And he would be at the list.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:20

Him going all the way through spring practice would be good because I mean the the number one thing about Ethan is he just can't get hurt. Right. I mean, I think he's an all-star if he plays 12 games.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:32

I do. Yeah. I think he has I think he has plenty of capability. I mean, he he can he can do a lot of things. And physically, I think he can get, as he gets stronger and gets better in the in the blocking part of it, you can use him any down in any situation, but you're still gonna be able to flex him out and motion him out. I I think when you talk about the evolution of these shifts and trades and motions, all those things, he can factor into that for sure. Um, as you see them, then they motioned to tight end a good bit the last couple of years, but I think you could do a lot of things with him because of the matchup problems he can present.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:07

Get a break and be back with more of Big Orange Rewind presented by Calhoons, a taste of Tennessee, official sponsor of the balls.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:16

Today's Big Orange Rewind, sponsored by First Horizon Bank, Big Bank Solutions, Small Bank Spirit, the official bank of the Valls. Swaggeries Farm Sausage, quite possibly the best tasting sausage in America. By the Tennessee Fund, join the My All campaign today at IWillGivemyAll.com. Rackley Roofing, the official rooper of the Valls. And by Ford, visit your local Ford dealer, proud sponsor of the Tennessee Volunteers.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:13

Presented by Calhoun's. Tennessee is on their way to Philadelphia. As the number six seed in the Midwest region, they will meet either Miami of Ohio or SMU. Those two teams play Wednesday. The winner of that game will play Tennessee on Friday at a time to be determined. A programming note to Big Orange fans for the NCAA men's tournament. If you live outside of the range of our network, download the Varsity Network app to listen to the Vall Radio Network coverage of Tennessee basketball during March Madness. Westwood 1 and the Varsity Network bring you every moment of March all the way to Indianapolis. That's where the Final Four is. Just thought I'd throw it in. The only place to To audio stream the NCAA men's tournament all postseason is the varsity network app. Download the free varsity network app today. So do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:12

Okay. Because we need to hear some Chris Lofton. Chris Lofton. We need to hear some Chris Lofton.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:18

I think Chris Lofton is a little bit excited. I think I think he is uh he is way excited. I've been really proud of him. He has um he's really taken to this. He's working to figure out what his style is and how he's gonna do it. I mean, for somebody who had never done it before, to see him putting in the time he's putting in, you certainly uh you certainly appreciate that because you know he's he's been very diligent. And uh John Wilkerson did a lot for him, and he's had a lot of his friends who are in broadcasting who have given him good advice, the Dane Bradshaws and uh Ron Slays and people like that. I mean, people genuinely love Chris Lofton.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:03

Yeah, and rightfully so. And it's been fun to listen to him throughout the season, get more and more comfortable and kind of finding the rhythm. And that's the hard, that's the hard part for anybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:13

Whether you in basketball, you don't know when to talk. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:16

Because in football, there's a break between every player. Right, you know, so there's a natural place. But in basketball, it's very hard to get in there.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:24

It's very hard to get in there, and you may have some some deep thought, and suddenly Tennessee's throwing the ball to the other end and Jacoby Gillespie's going for a layup and you got loud guy talking over you. Um which, you know, I mean, which is what you have to do. That's right. I mean, but that's the hard part if you've never if you've never been in it. But his insight, I I thought he had his best game of the year on Friday against Vanderbilt. I didn't think he was close because being able to talk with him, um, in particular, with the timeout taken right at the end of the first half and him outlining what he thought Coach Barnes was saying in that moment, sort of bringing us in the huddle, um, being in these, you know, situations to hit shots, you know, in these last minutes and what you're trying to do and some of the defensive thoughts. I mean, he has uh an insight like few others, and that's one of the reasons we wanted him to join us. And uh, we know Tennessee fans love him, and I'm excited to hear him from Philadelphia on Friday.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:25

Yep, it should be a lot of fun for everybody. And again, you gotta have the varsity app if you're outside of the Vault Network listing area to listen to you guys, and everybody should download that so that they can check you guys out and listen to you. It's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:35

It is a good thing. The varsity app is uh is a very good thing. Where do you think the lady balls get sent? What is Brent Hubb's prediction about where the lady balls get sent next hour in the NCAA tournament?

SPEAKER_02 1:30:46

Uh I mean, uh it's it's either going to be Los Angeles or Connecticut, one of the two, but I my guess is probably Connecticut. That's where I'll I'll I don't know why, but that will be my one. It will go as the eight or the nine. They'll go as the eight or the nine in either one of those two regions. They've been largely projected to go to UCLA for a couple of weeks now, week and a half. Today it kind of shifted to Connecticut. Why? I don't know. Does somebody know something in that world, perhaps? I mean, kind of the lattice. Does anybody ever really know anything? But here's the thing like Tennessee's in Philly, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:18

First time we heard Philly was in a bracketology late last night, heading into this morning, and it's right. Well, but is that just somebody guessing, though?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:27

I don't know, but I mean it came out of the blue hours before. But this is one of the few things I know about that just seems to never leak.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:36

Yeah, I mean, I don't know. They seem to get a lot right. Well, they get a lot right, but they get a lot of spots right where people go.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:42

Well, they do, but it's never perfect, but they get a lot of it right. But this is not, I mean, Joe Lenardi's supposed to be the best one, and he didn't have Tennessee right. I mean, I'm sure he had a lot of other things right. So, I mean, the point being, I don't think he's being fed the. No, no, no, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:57

No, I don't think anybody's being being fed that. But what but so we'll see. We'll see what it looks like. But if you get it right, I'm gonna ask you. I'm gonna say, how did you know, Brent? I've got great great insights into that bracket. That's me.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:10

Who are you talking to, friend? I've enjoyed it. I have. It's been a blast. Thanks to Calhoun's for sponsoring Big Orange Rewind all season long. I'm Mike Keith. Have a great night, everybody. Big Orange Rewind.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:28

Presented by Calhoun's A Taste of Tennessee. Calhoun's is the perfect place to rewind after every Tennessee game.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:36

Rewind one more time to this weekend's action. Catch the podcast at utsports.com. Big Orange Rewind. We are the Fall Network.