Now that the dust has settled, let's look at what Sweathog has done.

2005 - 2006:
Playing with Buzz Peterson's players, he managed to get a 2 seed. Helped immensely by having probably the best backcourt in the country. After a really good regular season, has a typical post season for the biggest underachieving program in NCAA history by barely winning their first round game (when Lofton gets away with a travel on the game winning shot), and flaming out in the second round.

2006-2007:
Gets the team off to a good start playing all of their tough games at home. Very poor on the road and completely useless without Lofton. Probably won't make the NCAA Tourney, and won't be ranked at the end of the season.

Recruiting 2007:
Very good class but didn't land a decent big man and didn't recruit any depth. Chism and Crews are okay and will turn out to be good players but Ramar Smith will be a total bust because he makes poor decisions, puts up dumb shots, and is getting poor coaching from Sweathog.

Recruiting 2008:
Only two commitments. One is a 6'5" shooting guard and the other is a 6'8", 300 pound center. Neither is ranked in the Rivals, ESPN, or Scout top 150, and UTLofton isn't ranked in the top 25 on any lists. There still doesn't seem to be a solution to the big man problem. Sweathog has managed to go through 3 recruiting classes without landing a decent point guard or big man.

Coaching:
Did a decent job last year but this year is a disaster even if their record is good. The only way they have to score points is on a Lofton score or on a rebound from a Lofton scoring attempt. They don't run an offense, and are allowed to take poor shot after poor shot by Sweathog. Sweathog's lack of coaching ability is being completely exposed with Lofton out of the lineup. They will be 14-9; 2-6 in the $EC, and out of the NCAA tournament by next Saturday.

Outlook:
After Lofton and Bradshaw leave after this season it's over for UTLofton. Their backcourt will be JuJuan Smith who is pretty good and Ramar Smith who is a disaster. They STILL don't have a decent point guard on the roster and Sweathog doesn't have a point guard coming in next year. This is what their roster will look like next year. I have included all players averaging over 5 ppg, plus recruits. Let me know if this scares anyone.

G - J. Smith 9.5 ppg
G - R. Smith 9.5 ppg
G - Tatum (UR recruit)
F - W. Chism 8.5 ppg
F - Crews 9.4 ppg
F - Childress 5.3 ppg
C - Williams (UR recruit)

By this time next year UTLofton will once again be restored to their rightful place as a near nothing in the world of college basketball. Anyone who thinks that Sweathog is a great coach who can turn a program around is extremely confused.

This shows how little I care about urnge athletics....but...who was part of the "best back court in the country" last year. I don't even remember. I guess Lofton was one of them.

southpaw1 Wrote:This shows how little I care about urnge athletics....but...who was part of the "best back court in the country" last year. I don't even remember. I guess Lofton was one of them.

C.J. Watson was the point guard last year.

Can't stand the vols, but the will make the tourney. They are 3-4 in the sec. 7 wins gets them in. Basically, they have to win 4 of their last 9 games, 5 of which are at home.

Their n/c losses are to Butler, UNC, and at OSU. They beat Memphis, OK State, and Texas.

The olny positive is their seed will probably be a 6 or 7, so they will have a tough second round game.