LSU is the worst team in the league - even worse than Ole Miss - coming into the game at a robust 8-18, they pulled off the "upset" beating Tennessee by 1 point. LSU made 2 FT's in the last 3 seconds to seal the win and a last second 3-point launch by Tenn missed the mark.
NOW can we all agree Tennessee is not a top 25 team? Looking forward to seeing the meltdown by the fans and for both services to have them outside the top 25 for the first time in about a century. I'm thinking about an 8 or 9 seed, if they are even in the tourney as of right now...
I personally don't think they should be a tourney team. They are in 9th place in the SEC, 7-7 in conference and 16-11 overall. Their best wins on the season are:
Oregon State: 23-3, 1st place in PAC-12
Syracuse: 21-6, 11-3 in ACC
Chattanooga: 20-7 overall. Lost by 2 to Tennessee, 48 to UCONN, 43 to Stanford and 28 to South Florida.
Auburn: 18-8 overall, 8-5 in SEC play
Missouri: 20-6 overall, 7-6 in SEC play
Note how ALL of these wins happened early in the season. The most recent "good" win was against Auburn on January 10th. If I'm on the committee, I'd place significantly lower emphasis on the wins over Syracuse and Oregon State because they happened so early in the year, and greater emphasis on their recent losses.
They have steadily declined as the season continues and are seriously tanking as the end of the year approaches. After winning their first 3 games separated by 5 or less, they have now lost 6 in a row decided by 5 points or less. Multiple times they have blown late 4th quarter leads. Today's was utterly ridiculous. 4 missed free throws in the last minute, leaving your worst free throw shooter in the game late, fouling the opposing team 80 feet from the basket with 3 seconds left, etc. Many UT fans and myself hope they don't get in at this point in an effort to get rid of Warlick.
Mind you, this this is a team that has:
2013 #1 overall recruit, McDonald's AA game MVP
2013 #3 overall recruit, 2014 NFOY at other program
2012 #5 overall recruit, 2013 NFOY by some media outlets
2014 #6 overall recruit, McDonald's AA
2015 #12 overall recruit, McDonald's AA game MVP
2012 #21 recruit, 2014 All SEC Freshman team
2014 #28 recruit, McDonald's AA
2013 #42 recruit, McDonald's AA
Compare this to #3 Notre Dame when you look at active players on their roster:
2014 #2 overall recruit, 2014 ACC FOY
2015 #10 overall recruit, McDonald's AA
2013 #18 overall recruit, McDonald's AA
2014 #21 overall recruit, McDonald's AA
2015 #26 overall recruit, McDonald's AA game MVP
2012 #33 overall recruit, McDonald's AA
2013 #39 overall recruit
Or #2 South Carolina
2014 #1 overall recruit, 2014 SEC FOY
2014 #7 overall recruit, McDonald's AA
2013 #28 overall recruit, McDonald's AA
2014 #35 overall recruit, McDonald's AA
2012 #40 overall recruit
2012 #46 overall recruit
Looking at this blindly, everyone would pick Tennessee's lineup. Holly has under-performed in her ability to develop talent, under-performed in her ability to build a cohesive team, under-performed in her ability to get players to buy into her system, and under-performed in her in game coaching abilit. Plus, she has no one on deck for 2016 and 2017. Dave Hart needs to get rid of her ASAP if the program has any chance of being a Final Four team in the next 5 years.