I am sick of Tennessee fans

[mred]

over at The Summitt complaining that ISU doesn't deserve to host a regional. Sure they do. They put in an application to host and they were accepted. That's all the "deserving" ISU needs.

Will Tennessee fans be complaining next year when they are hosting the regional? (All four regionals are on campus: Tenn, Stanford, Dayton, New Mexico).

[Bball Girl]

Only if they lose...there was a year when the NC was in Knoxville and Tennessee lost in the regionals.

Again, I've always loved Tennessee until I dealt with their fans at the 98 Final 4...they acted like everyone else should just go home....and until Tech played them in the Elite 8 (Tamika got away with murder according to DI coaches throughout the country) and until last year when Summitt ragged on her team after they lost in the regionals and Snow...she's the most non team player around. Those things have soured on me on the Lady Vols program.

They're just scared because they know ISU can take them!

[Big12Bear]

Let's see what excuses Summitt will have this time after ISU beats Tennessee. "We get some bad calls by the officials." "It wasn't anything Iowa State was doing. We just didn't execute."
"The better team lost."

I hope ISU takes down both SEC programs, Tenn and Vandy. Being at home might just be the deciding factor!

[Bark]

Welcome to the club, Mred. Tennessee fans always whine. Must be 'cause they take the lead from St. Pat. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif Most of the time it's directed toward UConn, but for two weeks ISU gets the honor.

The Cyclones have the stuff to finish them off, but they may be gone before, Notre Dame. It'll be great for the team that gets to eliminate them - national attention, recruiting, etc. Hope's its your gals if ND stumbles.

[swok34]

ha, someone posted here earlier that Tennessee is so pissed about having to face Vanderbilt that they are going to miss the freight train about to hit them called Iowa State.

[Jennifer]

that's to funny.
I've never been a Tenn fan, I'm sick of them thinking they invented wbb. Boy, Pat sure did looked peeved on the selection show. Wait, that's how she always looks. They will be fired up, but I hope someone knocks them (go ISU!).

I've always pulled for Uconn over Tenn, though Uconn fans are starting to get to me a little (not you Bark, and I should say SOME Uconn fans). Just that arrogance coming out. I guess that happens when you have a successful program.

Snow is the most overrated player out there, IMO.

[Jennifer]

I like this answer from Jeremiah:

Amy, Nashville: Since Tennessee's strength of schedule obviously had no bearing on the
seedings, does this promote scheduling weaker opponets throughout the year to get a higher
seed?

Maryalyce Jeremiah: An easy answer is no. But their strength of schedule did factor in
or they would have been even lower.

[Bark]

Yeah, some UConn fans are pretty arrogant.

The problem with the boneyarders is that there are so many posters. Over 100 different posters post each week and easily over 200 different posters in a season. They're mostly UConn fans, but also many from Tennessee, Stanford, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and a few from other programs like ODU, Purdue, etc. Some of these are notorious flamers that can really rile up the UConn fans.

There's always a percentage of arrogant posters, couldn't even guess a number, but let's say (for example)if the percentage of arrogant/stupid posters for any board is 2%, that means that the 98% of the "other" posters end up being associated with these guys. The bad posters are embarrassing and generally bad, arrogant, controverial posts lead to long and progressively heated threads. Monitoring posts is really hard, although Husky Nan does a pretty good job considering the volume she has to review.

Bottom line is that all schools have a percentage of arrogant fans and probably the percentage is nearly the same in most programs. UConn's bad apples are just more visible given the numbers.

(Just re-read my own argument) http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif
Oh well, this rationale may be weak, but I buy it. And in case you're wondering, I'm not a PR person for the CT Chamber of Commerce. I hope I'm just one of UConn's typical fans.

[Jennifer]

Bark, I visit the boneyard only occasionally, and on reflection, though I remember several 'arrogant' posts, I don't remember who posted them.
I do remember the posters who I like to read--they say intelligent, rational, well thought out things. The ones that come to mind right now are Old Coach, Phil, and Anyeyeball (not sure if this one posts there, but does post the wbb list and I used to see the handle on the AOL boards). So, when I see any of them, I'm more likely to read what they have to say. There's others, but I can't remember right now.
One of the later arrogant posts I remember was regarding Gillian Goring, how if she's the 'champion' everyone says she is, then of course she'd go to Uconn (can't remember exactly how it went, but it implied that for her to go anywhere else, she's not a 'winner' or 'champion' or whatever). Anyhow...I generally don't bother with the Summit.
I did follow Uconn a little closer when they had the couple of Okies on their roster. I saw Sauer play in HS (vs my HS Alma Mater-her team lost http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif ), and had read enough about Stacy over the years.

[hawkeye]

The look on Pat's face, when Vandy was announced as a #1 seed, was priceless. The face that said a thousand words.
Now one game at a time, GO ISU! Make the Big XII proud!

[Bark]

I just hope that the boneyard tenor never gets like the Summitt ... TN: We're the best every year 'cause we have X number of national championships, that no one is a better coach than ours, that the only reason we loss a game is that we have an off night, that every recruit should "die" to be offered a scholarship from us, etc.

With the Husky's recent years' sucess, it may be starting to happen, ugh. The UConn program has gotten a lot of sucess recently and that breads invincibility and reduces the risk of eating "crow" when arrogant. Next year, I hope we're more grounded. Sucess will not be easy.

You're reference to one of the Gillian Goring threads is a good example, another ugh.

Here's a pretty good grounding scenario: ISU gets to the final four by beating TN & Vandy at home in front of 13,000 wild fans of which Goring is one of them. She commits to ISU after the Vandy game. That would be sobering. (Mred, this really could happen in two weeks)

[dem]

Originally posted by Bark:

Here's a pretty good grounding scenario: ISU gets to the final four by beating TN & Vandy at home in front of 13,000 wild fans of which Goring is one of them. She commits to ISU after the Vandy game. That would be sobering. (Mred, this really could happen in two weeks)

Hey, do you have microphones hidden in Iowa State fans' houses or something? How did you know what we've been fantasizing?

[cycofan]

Allow me to play devil's advocate. Go ahead and flame me if you so choose:

How much would we be screaming in this hypothetical situation. Let's say that OU (a team that dominated the conference regular season) lost to OSU in the Big 12 tourney. Let's then presume that Baylor would have won the tournament. Baylor gets a number 1 seed, and then the committee seeds OU #2 in that same bracket. They would have taken our conference's two best shots at the final four and pitted them against each other. If you look at the numbers, the situaion would not be all that different! I think if we look at it from this angle, Pat Summit and TN fans really have a beef.

I will add that I grew up in the South, in the 80's a huge Lady Vols fan. I will always believe that Pat Summit is among the greatest coaches in the history of the game (men's or women's). The fact is, wheter we like it or not, the TN is the gold-standard by which all women's programs will be measured until someone overtakes them (UCONN is close). Those coaches, players, and even fans have earned the right to be a little arrogant. It is really no different than Nebraska football fans who earnestly believed they belonged in the Rose Bowl when the rest of the country did not.

I know that this is a controversial stance, but I feel strongly about it. I believe that Coach Summit and the TN fans have a right to voice their displeasure with the committee. Wouldn't you expect Coach Coale to do the same in my hypothetical situation above?

There....now I'll go put on my flame retardent suit before I read any replies! http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

[mred]

Originally posted by cycofan:
How much would we be screaming in this hypothetical situation. Let's say that OU (a team that dominated the conference regular season) lost to OSU in the Big 12 tourney. Let's then presume that Baylor would have won the tournament. Baylor gets a number 1 seed, and then the committee seeds OU #2 in that same bracket. They would have taken our conference's two best shots at the final four and pitted them against each other. If you look at the numbers, the situaion would not be all that different! I think if we look at it from this angle, Pat Summit and TN fans really have a beef.


No flame here. I think Tennessee has a legit beef with being in the same region as Vandy. I also think Tennessee earned a #1 seed over both Duke and Vandy. They can complain about those all they want. I just think they have no right to complain about potentially playing ISU in Ames, as they will have the same advantage next season.

[Bball Girl]

No grief from me...no matter what I said, Pat Summitt has been a huge blessing to WBB.

But in the last few years, the program has begun to act like they resent all the competition they are now getting
....forgetting perhaps that they were once the new kid on the block to Texas, La Tech, ODU and others. I too have lived in the south and worked at 2 SEC schools...have seen Tennessee both at regionals and in the Final 4.

I was surprised at their seeding since they finished the year with a RPI and SOS of #1. I can only guess that losing to Texas in Knoxville and Vandy's success in the SEC Tourney really hurt the Lady Vols. But the deed is done, so now the Lady Vols need only to prove that they deserve better than they got. Of course they have a few teams standing in their way..namely one ISU who I believe can take them. Why...because ISU plays as a team game in and game out. Tennessee has stuggled with that particular aspect.

So while they may have a gripe at their seeding...what they're really griping about is that this is the FIRST time in years their regional has not been within a few hours drive. The rest of us have had to travel and deal with Tennessee in Birmingham, Tennessee in Nashville, etc. They get it back next year...but this year, they're going to Ames (if they get that far) and they'll find out that other fans support their teams too...I can't think of any more fervrant fans than those in ISU.

[cycofan]

I was very excited at the prospect of having TN come to Ames so that I could finally see them play in person. I was VERY disappointed to see them a two seed, because that means I will only get to see them play once (hopefully)! http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif I seriously think that ND has a legitimate shot at them, too. The Vols are playing with a chip on their shoulder which can be good for a team or awful for a team. Time shall tell how it affects this team!

Thanks for listening to my vent. The Lady Vols will always be my #2 women's team....so maybe I am just another one of those arrogant fans! http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

[dem]

Well, I lived in Oak Ridge and worked in Knoxville for a couple of years, so I have sympathies for Tennessee also. No doubt it is a stroke of bad luck, if nothing else, for the two top teams in the SEC to be pitted against each other and yes, if it happened to the Big 12, we'd be plenty upset. But the fact is (as Maryalyce Jeremiah explained) that the lowest #1 seed (Tennessee or Vanderbilt) is SUPPOSED to play the highest #2 seed (same two teams) -- anything else is unfair to the OTHER #1 seeds.

Now I agree that Tennessee had a better argument for #1, but obviously the Committee has decided to put a whole lot of weight on those last few games. (In fact, it is clear that the conference tournaments were decisive in many of the seeding decisions). So the argument is, should you saddle Duke (the third #1) with the toughest #2 (Vandy, in one case, or Tennessee in the present case)?

Well, okay, I guess I would have done that. But to be honest, I'm thrilled that Tennessee is (maybe) coming to Ames for a possible matchup with Iowa State. We've been waiting for that game for years. And while Pat might have a gripe about possibly facing Vanderbilt again, you have to remember that the SEC had EIGHT teams in the tournament -- and they all have to go somewhere. Eventually, some will meet up (as the Big 12 might in the West).

But bottom line . . . the SEC maybe took an unfair hit in that seeding decision. The counterbalance: the path to the Final Four for the Big 12 in Ames all of a sudden looks a whole lot tougher.

[JK]

As far as Tennessee is concerned, what freakin' difference does it make whether they are a #1 or #2 - - just so long as they aren't in the same region with UConn?!! IMO they are still the HEAVY favorite to win that region (although I'm sure hoping ISU gets through and beats their butts). The seeding committee kept them relatively close, so that their fans can make the trip. Vandy split with them in the regular season, then won the SEC tourney. Yes, I think Tennessee is the better team and probably deserved the higher seed, but as it stands, does it REALLY matter?!! For crying out loud, you cant have everything. The one year in who know how long we at Texas have a legitimate Sweet 16 contender and we get La Tech?! We could piss and moan about potentially having to face Baylor for a third time, or Tech and OU being seeded to face off again, etc. You know what? That's the breaks! Deal with it! If our teams are all that we profess them to be, it won't matter.

GO BIG XII -- KICK A$$!!!