Thursday, January 6, 2011

5 Most Important Games

So its been a little slow around here the past few days. Not much new on the football front, basketball is on a mini-break till Saturday's tilt with South Carolina. So I was bored and looking through the schedule and was thinking about what were the most "important" games for Vandy to win. What do I mean by important? Well I think this CAN be a real special team, not just go to the tourney kind of team but threaten to win the SEC and go to an Elite 8 or beyond type team. But a lot of that is going to depend on how we play in the SEC and therefore I see these games not as "must wins" to get into the tourney or get a good seed but to prove to me, you, the prognosticators and maybe the team itself that they can beat anyone and go as far as they want in March. So with out further adieu here is my Top 5 most important remaining games.

1) Feb 12, UK at Memorial. Listen last years team was good. But one thing they lacked in my opinion was a signature win. If this team is truly going to be special well then they have to take care of business at home against the best team they will face all season. The fact that this is a home game on Saturday ON CBS just magnifies that fact. Finally, if Vandy wants to win the SEC East they have to at least split with UK. This is going to be the game of the year in the SEC.

2) January 15, @UT. Man, I am really just about fed up with Bruce Pearl and UT. I have to admit I was fooled by his funny appearances on PTI and the like. But that's all over. He cheated and lied about it and should suffer the consequences. So far he will only be serving an 8 game SEC suspension, which includes this game. ESPN will be in Knoxville for this and the women's matchup also against Vandy. I see this as a bad spot for Vandy. If we lose then "Coach Pearl's kid rallied for their coach and got pumped up for the atmosphere and blah blah blah." If we win well UT didn't have their coach and too much pressure was on them. Well I want to totally blow them out of the water and put to bed any chance of UT competing in the East this year. Also I want ESPN commentators talking about how talented our team is and not mentioning our "quirky" homecourt advantage.

3) February 19, @ Auburn. What? Auburn? They are terrible. You're right they are terrible. But they are also dangerous (as evident by beating Florida State the other night). And if Vandy wants to be an elite team then we can't have any "bad losses" in SEC play. Throw @ LSU in this mix as well.

4) January 22, St. Mary at Memorial. St. Mary's is a sneaky good team. We have a couple "Decent" non-conf wins but nothing to particularly stick our feather in (Marquette could be but isn't yet). We still need some padding in the non-conference department and this could be a good one. They are also a very talented mid-major which as evidenced by our last two tourney appearances, has been something that has given us problems. This is a good measuring stick in my opinion.

5) February 1, @ Florida. The O-dome is a tough place to play. Florida is a good team. I can see us really getting jazzed up for playing in Knoxville with ESPN there. Obviously playing @ Rupp will be exciting. But Florida is a mid-week game against a very talented team but not one of our top two rivals. Also depending on what we do @ UT we might need a significant road victory.

Agree? Disagree? Discuss.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you are dead on with the exception of the Auburn game. I'd replace that with our Friday/Saturday games in the SEC Tourney. We've never really performed well on that stage and it will most likely be imperative for a high seed in the big dance.

Seth said...

Good write up. The game at UT scares the crap out of me. Its a College Game Day game which is always money for UT. Im not saying Pearl is a bad coach but he is a much better motivator for the "big" games (something Stallings isnt known for... ex. UK @ home last year, Murrary St.)than he is coach. They beat Memphis at home last night but I still dont think they are that good. Look at Memphis's losses and wins, they arent impressive. Anyway, if Taylor explodes and JJ gets his shot back we should be good.

VandyGold28 said...

anybody going to game in knoxville? i'm trying to get tix.

Anonymous said...

Georgia is a lot better than people expect. Losing in Athens or home would be viewed overall as a bad loss even though they may not be a bad team..

Douglas James said...

Maybe by public opinion but the tourney committee will see it is not a bad loss if we lose to Georgia. Basically any loss to any SEC West team outside of Miss State and maybe Ole Miss will look bad in my opinion. Any loss to an SEC East team will not be looked at with the same scorn.