National reporter takes another shot at Tennessee basketball ahead of Sweet 16
The Tennessee Vols are set to take on the Florida Atlantic Owls in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night. Tennessee advanced to the Sweet 16 via a physically dominating win over the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday. The Vols' physicality in their win over Duke has been debated heavily over the last few days. Many […]
The Tennessee Vols are set to take on the Florida Atlantic Owls in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night.
Tennessee advanced to the Sweet 16 via a physically dominating win over the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday.
The Vols' physicality in their win over Duke has been debated heavily over the last few days. Many national pundits felt that Tennessee was too physical against the Blue Devils.
One of the national media members that threw shade at the Vols for their physical gameplay against Duke will likely be familiar to Tennessee fans.
Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde hasn't had many good things to say about the Vols over the years.
Forde wrote a column last summer, for example, that slammed Tennessee fans over the recruiting violations that went down under Jeremy Pruitt. Forde revisited Tennessee's failed attempt to hire Greg Schiano and suggested that Schiano Sunday was the root of the Vols' downfall under Pruitt.
Pat Forde has his sights set on Tennessee basketball
During the Vols' win over Duke, Forde took an unnecessary shot at Tennessee forward Uros Plavsic, calling the amateur athlete a "hack" in a tweet.
Vols head coach Rick Barnes didn't agree with the criticism from the national media about Tennessee's physical playing style.
“You know, really, I don’t put any thought into it. I haven’t heard (it), not really. I think playing good, hard basketball, it’s not something nice to look at," said Barnes this week. "I know our guys played hard. I know Duke played hard, too. Again, I’m on the Rules Committee and the referees did what they thought was right. And I thought they officiated the game the way they felt it went. But from our perspective, I didn’t see anything dirty from either team.”
On Tuesday, Forde managed to get in another shot at Tennessee.
The national columnist ranked the 16 teams left in the NCAA Tournament and he placed the Vols, a No. 4 seed that spent most of the season ranked inside the top 10, at No. 15.
The only team that Forde has Tennessee ranked above is Princeton.
Forde refusing to give the Vols credit isn't anything new — he's been taking shots at Tennessee for years. But it's still shocking to see such a prominent figure operate with such bias. I don't what Forde has against the Vols, but it must be deeply personal.
