Postgame thoughts: Ole Miss

We won, and that is a good thing. Our home winning streak remains intact (as does the Jacqui Pearl streak!), and we're off to a 1-0 start in league play. Both good things. Also, losing this one would've hurt us more than winning helped us. We MUST hold serve at home.

What upsets me is that I don't feel like the players decided the game by themselves. The officials dominated this game by not taking it over when they should have and by injecting themselves when they shouldn't have. The refs hurt both teams in this one. I'm not saying that they necessarily affected the result, but they undoubtedly affected the game, and not in a good way.

BAD non-calls
1. Chism's mugging on the dunk attempt
2. JaJuan's getting fouled on a layup late in the 1st half
3. numerous walks
4. Kennedy out of the box more than Pearl
5. obvious carry by Warren on a drive

BAD calls made
1. technical on Coach Pearl
2. out-of-bounds to Ole Miss in front of their bench late in game
3. making Ole Miss shoot 1-and-1 instead of 2 shots at the end
4. calling a foul on Tyler Smith where Warren initiated contact and Smith got a clean block
5. offensive foul on J.P. Prince


The non-call on the Chism dunk was probably the most egregious non-call of a foul that I have ever seen.

Can the Vols hold a lead? Do you think that we'll ever, you know, EXTEND a lead that we get? It just doesn't seem the hallmark of Pearl's teams, but hey, it makes for an exciting finish, doesn't it?

That's not to say that Ole Miss didn't earn every bit of their comeback last night. They did. This is not an isolated occurrence, though. Arkansas '06, Kentucky II '06, Auburn '07, Ohio St. II '07. When we get up big, I get nervous, and I wish I didn't have to.

Why did they get rid of the t-shirt gun? Not that I actually enjoy the timeout activities at TBA, but if you're throwing t-shirts, at least give someone a chance outside the first 15 rows, OK?

I'm a Coach Pearl believer, but I think it's time to pull in the reins a bit tighter on Wayne's threes. OK to shoot them when winning by 20. Not OK last night.

I am excited for the prospects of having crowds like last night's for each and every home game from here on out.

If we can win our next two games, I'm betting that we're going to be challenging Memphis for #1 in the RPI. Saw that USC got their three-point guy back from injury, though. Not good.

We could not stop Warren. Not Juannie, not Jordan, not Ramar, not Chris. His outside shot wasn't the same after that airball, though.

Don't you just want to crush Vandy? Yes, I'm looking ahead. It's OK, I'm not playing.