To preview the match-ups in the Big East/SEC Challenge, the RTC Big East & SEC Microsites are facing off in conversational analysis. Brian Joyce and Michael Lemaire take on Pittsburgh v. Tennessee.

#18 Pittsburgh vs Tennessee

Jamie Dixon's Team Has Struggled Defensively

1. The Florida Gators beat Stetson on Monday night for head coach Billy Donovan’s 400th career victory. However, the Orlando Sentinel says Billy the kid has a new nickname — Billy the Forgotten. Despite being the youngest active Division I coach to reach 400 wins, Donovan’s milestone victory was overshadowed and overlooked. Donovan is ready to move past this achievement and just get back to work.  “I think as it relates to fanfare, attention or exposure or things like that I just feel like that’s probably for other people to talk about. I just have a job to do,” Donovan said. “I have respect for Tom [Izzo], certainly what [Mike] Krzyzewski’s done, [Jim] Calhoun, [Jim] Boeheim and those guys, but I think if you’re coaching good enough players, you’re going to eventually win at that level.” Donovan would sure like to get win #401 on Friday when the Gators take on #4 Syracuse. That one might mean a lot more than win #400.
2. The SEC honored Ole Miss forward Murphy Holloway as the SEC Player of the Week. Holloway led the Rebels to wins over TCU and the University of Miami this week. Holloway scored 20 points and four rebounds against TCU, and came back with 13 points and 17 rebounds against Miami. He averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in this stretch. Florida’s freshman guard Bradley Beal took home SEC Freshman of the Week honors after he averaged 18.5 points and seven rebounds while leading the Gators to victories over Wright State and Jacksonville. Beal scored a team-high 22 points against Wright State. Congrats to both players for their outstanding performances.
3. Mississippi State played with their full line-up with the return of big men Renardo Sidney and Arnett Moultrie. Conditioning was again an issue as the Bulldogs ran away from North Texas. “I played them until they couldn’t play,” said head coach Rick Stansbury. “One of them was wanting to come out of the game and we just turned our heads and let him stay in the game. We gave up some points in that stretch but he (Sidney) needed that.” Moultrie finished with 20 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Sidney continued to struggle as he only managed nine points and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. Sidney will have to find ways to contribute without being a liability on both ends of the court because of his lack of conditioning. It doesn’t seem that Stansbury is ready to give up on Sidney just yet.
4. Kentucky coach John Calipari is critical of his team’s slow starts so far this season. On Saturday, Portland led the Cats 7-6 going into the first TV timeout four minutes into the game. “The first play was great,” Calipari said. “Then we had about five plays after that (that) were just sloppy.” Calipari’s plea for better play coincides with a big week for the Cats as they face St. John’s on Thursday night and a huge test against North Carolina on Saturday. Kentucky was able to overcome sloppy play against Marist, Portland, and Radford, but North Carolina will require a full 40 minutes of the team’s attention. Despite the slow starts, the Cats opened the week as the #1 team in the country.
5. Tennessee arrived back in Knoxville Friday night after a good effort in Maui. But head coach Cuonzo Martin didn’t expect a letdown against Oakland on Monday night. “We aren’t going to get caught up in any jet lag — Hawaii is in the wind,” Martin said. “This is an important game, and we’re going to have to be focused to win on the road.” Perhaps it wasn’t jet lag, but it could have been that the Volunteers were looking forward to a big game this weekend with Pittsburgh. Regardless of the reasons, the Vols dropped a big one to Oakland by the score of 89-81. Oakland is a strong team at home having won 41 of its past 43 home games. The Vols lost to the Golden Grizzlies by an almost identical 89-82 score last year.

Not much was expected from Tennessee this year. The media picked the Vols to finish 11th out of 12 SEC teams. If we are honest with ourselves, most of us probably didn’t think Cuonzo Martin’s team would do much better. However, with the toughness on display against Duke on Monday afternoon, it is safe to say that Martin is turning this team around much quicker than expected.

A quick glance at the box score indicates that the Vols led the rebounding edge by one. Looking at more advanced statistics, Tennessee had a defensive rebounding percentage of 75%. “We did a good job,” Martin said on his team’s rebounding effort. “Our bigs did a good job of rebounding and our guards got in there and grabbed a few rebounds.”

Cuonzo Martin is turning around the Vols much quicker than expected

Sometimes, there are several ways to look at a game’s box score. Tennessee was shooting just under 50% (26 of 53) from beyond the arc coming into this game. Duke limited the Vols to 0 of 8 from three-point range. Coming in, Martin’s team was shooting just over 53% (61 of 115) from the field. The Blue Devils held the Vols to just 41% shooting on the day. Give credit to Duke where credit is due. They executed their gameplan and won the game. However, on the bright side, consider that Duke shut down Tennessee’s offensive gameplan, and the Volunteers still managed to hang in this game. UT even held a five-point lead late in the first half. That is credit to Tennessee’s toughness and never say die attitude. And that attitude comes from the coaching staff.

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Brendon Mulvihill is an RTC contributor. You can find him @themulv on Twitter.  See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

The teams in Maui swap opponents to create an interesting rivalry game and a Tournament rematch, while the CBE Classic wraps-up as we head to Turkey Day.  Let’s take a look at what you should be watching in today’s action.

#13 Memphis vs Tennessee – 2 PM EST on ESPN2 HD (**)

Tennessee and Head Coach Cuonzo Martin Face In-State Rival Memphis All The Way in Maui

• Memphis and Tennessee take a Volunteer State rivalry all the way to the islands in the loser’s bracket of the Maui Invitational. In two games this season, Memphis has been manhandled on the boards by Belmont and Michigan. This could be problematic against a Tennessee team that is proving to be scrappy and capable of grabbing rebounds and loose balls. However, much like Duke, the Tigers have better athletes and more scoring options than the Volunteers. Josh Pastner’s team will have to do a better job picking good shots though, as they shot just 33% from the field against Michigan. Look for the Memphis guards to exploit the three-point shot like Duke did against the Volunteers early in the game.
• Tennessee went from hitting just under 50% of its three-point shots in its opening two games to missing all eight of its threes against Duke. Expect Memphis to put the same kind of pressure on the Volunteer perimeter defense with its athletic backcourt. Tennessee cannot miss easy lay-ups like it did against Duke if it expects to win this game. Michigan showed that Memphis can be exploited inside the arc and they must covert those shots.
• The Vols are certainly still trying to find their legs under new coach Cuonzo Martin and they will be facing another very athletic team in Memphis today. The Tigers will try to keep the game up-tempo to take advantage of its superior guard play. If they are successful at wearing out the Volunteers and defending the perimeter like the Blue Devils did, it will be very difficult for Martin’s team to defeat its in-state rival.

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They say that Aloha means hello and goodbye here in the Hawaiian Islands, but after an entertaining morning/afternoon session of basketball, we’re still busy figuring out what to say during all the in-between periods. Regardless of our problems with language, and despite the breathtaking beauty of the landscape outside the gymnasium door, there is some equally compelling, if not gorgeous, basketball being played inside.

Maui Never Disappoints, Inside or Out (KemperLesnik/B. Spurlock)

Here are some of our thoughts from the afternoon session, BGTD-style, here at the Lahaina Civic Center.

• Michigan picked apart Memphis in a way that well-coached teams do to athletic, undisciplined teams. In some aspects of the game — most notably, running the offense and crashing the boards, Michigan made the more athletic Tigers look silly in their approach. John Beilein’s team hit over 50% of its shots by selectively deciding when to drive the ball and when to pull up, and it worked to near-perfection. The Memphis defense at this point all too often tries to rely on its athleticism rather than principles, and with the precision of clockwork, Michigan found back door opportunities repeatedly as a result. Tim Hardaway, Jr., was excellent in both picking his spots (6-13 FG, but 9-10 FT for 21 points), crashing the glass (seven rebounds) and looking for others (five assists). He has the ability to put up those kinds of numbers every night out  — like his dad, he has the look of a star (“I got skeelz.”).

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Brendon Mulvihill is an RTC contributor. You can find him @themulv on Twitter.  See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

ESPN kicks off Feast Week with a trip to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.  The field is loaded and things get started today with several recent national championship teams.  Let’s dig into the action.

Memphis vs. Michigan – 3:00 PM EST on ESPN2 HD (***) (simulcast on RTC Live)

John Beilein will Loosen Up His Tie Against Memphis to Tip Off the Maui Invitational

• Memphis dominated an experienced Belmont team in their first and only game of the season thus far.  The Tigers shot a blistering 64.7% eFG, and they will be facing a Wolverine team that is allowing over 50% shooting from inside the arc.  Look for Josh Pastner’s team to take the ball to the hole frequently with sophomore guards Will Barton and Joe Jackson leading the way.
• While Michigan’s field goal defense is allowing teams to shoot over 50% from inside, they are forcing teams to turn the ball over on a superb 36.8% of their possessions (first in the nation).  However, Memphis only turned the ball over nine times against a tough Belmont team that is known for creating turnovers.  Like Memphis, the Wolverines have gotten off to a hot shooting start inside the arc (60.8%).  Unfortunately nearly half of their shots are coming from three-point land and they are only hitting 28.9% of them.  Wolverine guards Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Zack Novak, and Stu Douglas are going to have to hit some threes to prevent Memphis from just packing the lane on defense.
• This game hinges on Michigan’s ability to extend the defense and grab offensive rebounds.  Memphis allowed Belmont to grab too many of its offensive rebounding opportunities.  If the Wolverines can pull the Tiger defense out with a few made three-point shots and open up the lane, look for Michigan to cash in on the offensive glass.  If John Beilein’s team continues to miss from outside, though, it will be difficult to pull the Memphis defense away from the lane, which will allow the more athletic Tigers to own the inside.

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1. Kentucky was not especially impressive in its 62-52 gutty win over Old Dominion on Sunday. The Wildcats’ subpar performance brought out the critics who said that Kentucky is too young to dictate how it will win in every game, and the Cats aren’t tough enough to handle really physical teams inside. Even coach John Calipari can be counted amongst the critics of the Cats after their sloppy play in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off. For my two cents, the Cats have to take better care of the basketball. Freshman point guard Marquis Teague lost the ball six times contributing to 21 total turnovers for the Wildcats on the day. Sloppy play could be part of the reason that the Cats couldn’t get Terrence Jones more involved in the offense. He was 3-9 on the day, finishing with just six points. Jones has to get more touches near the basket, as he simply wasn’t a key component of Kentucky’s offense on Sunday.
2. Kentucky fans are known to overreact every once in a while, and many Wildcat fans have been quick to torch Teague for his poor play. UK fans are quick to forget how often freshmen John Wall and Brandon Knight turned the ball over in their first year, especially at the beginning of the season. Knight had eight turnovers in the Maui Invitational last year against Washington, and had as many turnovers in his first four games in 2010-11 (18 TOs) as Teague has through four games this season. Knight averaged over three turnovers per game for the season, while Wall averaged over four. All three players are super-quick and excellent in transition, but playing quickly can lead to sometimes being out of control. Teague will settle into his role running the Wildcat offense, just like Knight and Wall did before him, and just like he did in the second half of Sunday’s matchup with ODU. Teague turned the ball over only once in 19 second half minutes against the Monarchs.
3. Speaking of harsh critics, nobody is tougher on his guys’ early season struggles than Kevin Stallings is on Vanderbilt’s defensive woes. “We have to play better defensively,” Stallings said. “We’re a pretty good offensive team, but we suck on defense. Until we get better defensively, it doesn’t matter who we put out there. We’ve got to get better defensively. Period.” It’s true, but Vandy is without their best defensive player in center Festus Ezeli. “Festus ain’t here,” Stallings said. “He ain’t gonna be here Monday. He’s not going to be playing Friday or the following Monday. If they’re sitting around and waiting for him to come back, then we got more problems than just our defense.” Vanderbilt hasn’t held an opponent under 47% from the field in its first four games this season. If the Commodores can play consistently better defense, they have the offense to compete with just about any team in the country.
4. Arkansas received bad news when star forward Marshawn Powell went down in practice with what is being called a “serious” knee injury. “We don’t know if it’s a sprained knee or something worse in there,” coach Mike Anderson said. “He had worked so hard in the offseason to get himself in the best shape he’s ever been in. It’s a tremendous loss.” Powell was limited by a foot injury last year as his averages dropped to 10.8 PPG and 4.5 RPG. In two games this season, he was averaging 19.5 points and six rebounds per game, including a 20-point performance against Oakland last week. Powell will undergo additional tests on Monday to determine the severity of the injury. Regardless, the news is a huge blow to Anderson and the Hogs, as they could use the scoring and leadership that Powell provides for this young team. Arkansas lost to Houston by the score of 87-78 in Powell’s absence.
5. There is some debate as to how good of a Tennessee Volunteer team will take the court on Monday for a Maui Invitational matchup with Duke. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas says, “I don’t think people can reasonably expect great things this year given all the program has been through in the last year. But they have some capable players and they go as hard as anybody.” Memphis coach Josh Pastner, whose Tigers are also in Maui for the tournament, disagrees. “Everyone thinks Tennessee is going to fall off, I told everyone, ‘hey, they still have really good players,”’ Pastner said on Sunday. “Cuonzo Martin, can obviously flat out coach, there is no denying that, and he is going to get really good players.” Some of this could be typical coachspeak from Pastner, but Martin’s Tennessee squad will take the court on Monday for a first impression for folks outside of Knoxville. The Vols, picked to finish 11th in the SEC, beat UNC Greensboro and Louisiana-Monroe easily, but Duke will present a far more difficult challenge. The Maui Invitational has an extremely strong field this year, which could be advantageous for a Tennessee team looking to determine its standing amongst the nation’s best. UT will play either Michigan or Memphis (the loser of their game) on Tuesday, following its game versus the Blue Devils.

1. Senior point guard Brad Tinsley’s minutes were limited in Vanderbilt’s shocking demise against Cleveland State on Sunday. The Vandy offense looked out of sync, and as a result, they were pressured into 21 turnovers. Tinsley was bothered by a hand injury that was aggravated during the Oregon game a couple of nights ago. “Brad’s hand has been an issue,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said in his postgame press conference. “I didn’t ask him how the hand was feeling (today).” It seems unclear whether Tinsley sat during crucial minutes of the game because of his defensive liability or because of the injury. This will remain a situation to keep an eye on. One thing remains clear, Tinsley will have to stay in front of quicker guards defensively in order to stay on the floor in the future.
2. Vanderbilt’s surprising loss has the critics out in full force. Some tabbed the ‘Dores as a team that didn’t belong in the top ten. And well, they won’t be for long. Gary Parrish of CBS Sports isn’t hitting the panic button just yet, because it is November after all. And the Commodores are without Festus Ezeli. Parrish acknowledges, however, that this loss doesn’t help the perception that Vandy is in fact overrated. A 71-58 loss to Cleveland State looks bad, but Vanderbilt has time to correct its mistakes.
3. Arkansas’ 83-63 win over USC Upstate started the Mike Anderson era for the Razorbacks, but the biggest storyline was the attendance in Bud Walton Arena for that game. Anderson’s first game brought in 10,500 fans, but he believes this is only the beginning. “This is a style of basketball that hasn’t been played here in a while,” Anderson said. “There is potential here, but we have to keep working. We are by no means where we want to be.” As long as Anderson continues winning and playing an exciting brand of basketball, the attendance numbers will continue to grow in Fayetteville.
4. The SEC had many outstanding freshmen take the court this past weekend, and they generally didn’t disappoint. The CBS Eye on College Basketball blog took a look at the first glimpse of the nation’s best freshmen, and all five SEC freshmen on the top 20 list scored in double figures. Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague impressed in a blowout win against Marist. Davis scored 23 points, grabbed ten rebounds and earned five blocks in a high flying display of athleticism. Florida’s Brad Beal scored 14 points, and Georgia’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope pushed the Bulldogs to victory with 15 points. These young stars are already looking good, and it was only their first game in a college uniform. Just wait until they become truly adjusted to the college game and their new teams.
5. It wasn’t all about the freshmen this weekend though. Some sophomores were turning in impressive performances as well. Tennessee is looking for a scorer in the Cuonzo Martin era, and they may have found him. Sophomore point guard Trae Golden lit up UNC Greensboro for a career high 29 points in a game where he was 10-14 from the field with six rebounds and nine assists. His performance has Martin and the Volunteers excited that they may have found the offensive weapon that they so desperately need. But if we’ve learned anything from this opening weekend, it is still very early and a lot can change over the next few weeks and months.

1.  Yesterday was 2012 National Signing Day, and unfortunately the SEC didn’t fare well as it did last year. The league only landed one five-star recruit, Kentucky’s Archie Goodwin, according to Scout’s Evan Daniels. In Daniels’ conference breakdown, the SEC finished last out of the six power conferences one year after bringing in the most talent. Kentucky landed an additional top 30 prospect in Willie Cauley, while Florida was the other big winner grabbing two top 100 guards — #39 Braxton Ogbueze and #87 Michael Frazier. Auburn hauled in a surprising four-man class, good enough for third place so far in the conference rankings. There are still plenty of unsigned prospects available, so most teams will continue rounding out their classes during this signing period.
2. Mississippi State played another hard-fought game against a mid-major team, but went down 68-58 to Akron. The Dogs shot 34.5% from the field, and failed to get much production from Renardo Sidney. Sidney seemed winded throughout the game, and most troubling for Bulldog fans, he again sat on the bench during crunch time. Head coach Rick Stansbury did not play Sidney in the final four and a half minutes of last night’s game. “We were trying to fight from behind defensively,” Stansbury said. “They went small. You knew the answer to that.” Sidney’s production is a big key to the Bulldogs’ success, but it looks like he is coming undone at the seams well before even his biggest critics would have predicted.
3. Tennessee Volunteers head coach Cuonzo Martin has not only been impressed with his team’s hard work on the court, but praised their behavior off the court in his latest press conference. “They’ve done a good job, especially from the first day until now of just taking care of business on and off the court,” said Martin. “Doing the right things in the classroom, being consistent in going to class — which shouldn’t be an option, but just making sure guys go to class every day, with their tutor assignments — making sure they’ve been better.” Win/loss records are ultimately what head coaches are measured on, but it is refreshing to see a head coach who seems to genuinely care about his players’ well-being and success off the court.
4. We all love statistics. Admit it. There’s nothing better for basketball-crazed fans like ourselves than to sit down and analyze graphs and charts of tempo-free statistics. Luke Winn at Sports Illustrated (with the help of David Hess from Audacity of Hoops) noticed a gap in the statistics for defensive rankings for players and teams, and they have taken on the monumental task of measuring five championship contender’s possession by possession defensive prowess. Great stuff here, and one of the five teams analyzed happen to be the SEC’s Vanderbilt. The gist of the article is that Vandy needs to step up its’ defense with a need for “turnover creators and defensive rebounders. Vanderbilt ranked 308th nationally in turnover percentage last season (17.5), and 168th at protecting the defensive glass (67.9 defensive rebound percentage).” If the Commodores are to make a run at the SEC title or anything past the round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament, improvement will have to take place on the defensive end of the court for Kevin Stallings‘ club.
5. The SEC announced its 2012 SEC Men’s Basketball Preseason Awards on Wednesday. Thirty-two different players received votes, while seventeen players were honored. Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Vanderbilt each had three players named to the First or Second Team. Vanderbilt led the way with three All-SEC first team selections with reigning SEC Player of the Year John Jenkins along with teammates Jeffery Taylor and Festus Ezeli.

The Make or Break series will tell us what we need to know about each SEC team by looking at the three most important non-conference games on each team’s schedule. Depending on the outcome, these three games could make OR break that team’s season because of the strengths it shows or weaknesses it could expose. The next team in the series is the Tennessee Volunteers.

The end of the Bruce Pearl era took with it seven seniors and two underclassmen (Tobias Harris and Scotty Hopson) who declared early for the NBA draft. After all the dust settled, new Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin is left with one starter from last year and one heck of a rebuilding project ahead of him. Martin rebuilt Missouri State University in his first head coaching position, and he will need time to rebuild things in Knoxville. Things will not come easily for the Vols as they play one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country. Tennessee plays Duke in the Maui Invitational Tournament (and additional games against a loaded field), at Memphis, Pittsburgh in the Big East/SEC Challenge, the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies and that’s not even mentioning games at Oakland and at College of Charleston, both of whom are teams that beat UT last year. It will be a long road for Martin and the Vols, but playing competitively in this murderer’s row of top shelf teams will be a good start.

Martin isn't the only new face in Knoxville...

The three key non-conference games that will make or break the Volunteers schedule this season:

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