Post by linkster on Jan 18, 2021 15:54:25 GMT -5
I know this jumps over the Butler game but I need more than 2 days to talk about all I dislike about the rivalry and how the media handles it.
On the face of it this is a game between a marginally ranked team that has lost twice to unranked teams and another team about which the question is whether they are the best team in the country or the third best. But let ESPN explain how it's really a fulcrum game for both teams.
www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30727067/why-uconn-tennessee-women-college-basketball-series-matters
Reasons the game is still relevant (according to Voepel):
The 10-year anniversary of "We Back Pat" - Why is this relevant? We Back Pat is not a UConn-Tenn issue. Sure, Geno supports the cause but so do 100's of coaches from all over the country.
Paige Bueckers on a national stage - This has nothing to do with Tenn. Bueckers is worth the price of a ticket in any game she appears.
It's a chance for both teams to prove something - UConn has already played and beaten a team ranked all season and well above Tenn. Beating the Vols proves nothing new for UConn. Tenn beating UConn would be a big deal for the Vols.
Going deeper this is ESPN's short descriptions of the the rosters:
"Tennessee's upper-class standouts, senior Rennia Davis (14.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG) and junior Rae Burrell (16.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG), are key to everything the Lady Vols do. What will we see from sophomore threats such as Jordan Horston (9.5 PPG, 4.0 APG) and Tamari Key (7.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG)? Tennessee also has a freshman starter who has played a big role in Marta Suárez (6.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG)."
"How good are the No. 4 Huskies? Beyond Bueckers, how impactful is their expansive freshman class, which now includes 2021 recruit Saylor Poffenbarger, who joined the program early? Juniors Christyn Williams (14.6 PPG, 3.4 APG) and Olivia Nelson-Ododa (16.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG) joined Bueckers last week in ESPN's updated rankings of the top 25 players in the country. Were they too low or too high? Will they provide leadership in what should be the Huskies' toughest road challenge thus far?"
Notice that Tenn has "key" players and a "big role" freshman. UConn is loaded with unproven question marks, from unproven freshman Bueckers to the other players listed in the ESPN top 25 who may or may not belong on that list. LOL Never mind that the same person writing that list is writing this article. And Voepel gives the impression that many of the best games in the rivalry came in 2005 2006 and 2007.
Impactful players in the series? How about Lobo? How about 1995?
The article does have some good points. "There is always the possibility they could meet in the NCAA tournament, although that hasn't happened since the 2004 national championship game." They stop there, never questioning why, in 15 years the 2 teams have never even been put in the same region? One can argue that in any given year it would be unlikely for them to be seeded in the same region but 15 years? Come on. Even Callahan or whoever is in charge would be stammering over that question.
Everything Voepel says about the Vols is positive and supportive. For UConn she has a litany of questions about their ability to win. Why doesn't she just say what she thinks instead of making a list of possible ways for UConn to lose? Because ESPN feels the need to keep the Summit myth alive so they can resurect it every time UConn and Tenn is mentioned.
Finally, why is it always Geno's comments that get discussed? Not in this article, but in others, the public accusation of cheating that Pat made gets mentioned but it always stops at the accusation, and so it hangs out there to be believed by the Vol faithful. Why did ESPN just accept the answer, "ask Geno, he knows". Such a statement would be unacceptable for any other coach in the NCAA and deserved an investigation and one of the coaches should have paid a price. But no one did and so the myth of Saint Pat and Evil Geno was allowed to continue "for the good of the game".
On the face of it this is a game between a marginally ranked team that has lost twice to unranked teams and another team about which the question is whether they are the best team in the country or the third best. But let ESPN explain how it's really a fulcrum game for both teams.
www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30727067/why-uconn-tennessee-women-college-basketball-series-matters
Reasons the game is still relevant (according to Voepel):
The 10-year anniversary of "We Back Pat" - Why is this relevant? We Back Pat is not a UConn-Tenn issue. Sure, Geno supports the cause but so do 100's of coaches from all over the country.
Paige Bueckers on a national stage - This has nothing to do with Tenn. Bueckers is worth the price of a ticket in any game she appears.
It's a chance for both teams to prove something - UConn has already played and beaten a team ranked all season and well above Tenn. Beating the Vols proves nothing new for UConn. Tenn beating UConn would be a big deal for the Vols.
Going deeper this is ESPN's short descriptions of the the rosters:
"Tennessee's upper-class standouts, senior Rennia Davis (14.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG) and junior Rae Burrell (16.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG), are key to everything the Lady Vols do. What will we see from sophomore threats such as Jordan Horston (9.5 PPG, 4.0 APG) and Tamari Key (7.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG)? Tennessee also has a freshman starter who has played a big role in Marta Suárez (6.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG)."
"How good are the No. 4 Huskies? Beyond Bueckers, how impactful is their expansive freshman class, which now includes 2021 recruit Saylor Poffenbarger, who joined the program early? Juniors Christyn Williams (14.6 PPG, 3.4 APG) and Olivia Nelson-Ododa (16.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG) joined Bueckers last week in ESPN's updated rankings of the top 25 players in the country. Were they too low or too high? Will they provide leadership in what should be the Huskies' toughest road challenge thus far?"
Notice that Tenn has "key" players and a "big role" freshman. UConn is loaded with unproven question marks, from unproven freshman Bueckers to the other players listed in the ESPN top 25 who may or may not belong on that list. LOL Never mind that the same person writing that list is writing this article. And Voepel gives the impression that many of the best games in the rivalry came in 2005 2006 and 2007.
Impactful players in the series? How about Lobo? How about 1995? The article does have some good points. "There is always the possibility they could meet in the NCAA tournament, although that hasn't happened since the 2004 national championship game." They stop there, never questioning why, in 15 years the 2 teams have never even been put in the same region? One can argue that in any given year it would be unlikely for them to be seeded in the same region but 15 years? Come on. Even Callahan or whoever is in charge would be stammering over that question.
Everything Voepel says about the Vols is positive and supportive. For UConn she has a litany of questions about their ability to win. Why doesn't she just say what she thinks instead of making a list of possible ways for UConn to lose? Because ESPN feels the need to keep the Summit myth alive so they can resurect it every time UConn and Tenn is mentioned.
Finally, why is it always Geno's comments that get discussed? Not in this article, but in others, the public accusation of cheating that Pat made gets mentioned but it always stops at the accusation, and so it hangs out there to be believed by the Vol faithful. Why did ESPN just accept the answer, "ask Geno, he knows". Such a statement would be unacceptable for any other coach in the NCAA and deserved an investigation and one of the coaches should have paid a price. But no one did and so the myth of Saint Pat and Evil Geno was allowed to continue "for the good of the game".
