Show Me My Opponent, 2022-23: Eastern Kentucky

which, crucially, is not Western Kentucky

This is the third member of a three-game slate on Tennessee’s schedule that is among the worst three-game runs ever held in Thompson-Boling Arena. I don’t know if you can actually blame anyone for this, but…well, c’mon. Give the people something to come see other than blowouts. Tennessee’s generally been good about this during the Barnes era, but for whatever reason they’ve got three teams ranked 269th or worse on KenPom back-to-back-to-back. It may be the worst three-game run of opponents Tennessee’s played period. (The only immediate contender is the Tennessee Tech-Saint Joe’s-USC Upstate run in the COVID year.)

Anyway, the good side of this is that kids and parents get to see the #7 team in the country play for cheap. Eastern Kentucky, coached by A.W. Hamilton, presumably gets a decent check out of it. Hamilton used to play a truly chaotic style of basketball - think scoring and giving up 83 a game his first season - but has reigned it in and tragically become relatively unnoteworthy. The wildest thing they do is hit 58.5% of their free throws. A.W., if you’re reading, get weird again, my friend.

BELOW THE LINE ($): the Trillbilly Baller’s Party