Waking up from a tough (not bad) loss

[caption id="attachment_210538" align="alignnone" width="624"] (Image via 247 Sports)[/caption] Losing is never easy. But if it's any consolation, imagine how this loss would have felt two years ago. We'd be a little frustrated, but still pretty darn excited–the fact that now we're just flat-out PO'd means something. It means that this program is at a higher level than it was before. That may sound obvious, but it's good to keep that kind of thing in mind, because now we expect more. As Stephen Johnson said postgame:

"We expected to win this game, we didn't fight to win this game."

Regardless of how you felt about Johnson's 10-of-20, 1 interception performance, he's got a point. There's not much need to rehash the mistakes from last night (Badet drop, etc) or anything along those lines, but if you want a more in-depth look at why/how we lost, check that out here and here. And, of course, coach Stoops' postgame comments will shed some light on the loss. Kickoff in Neyland Stadium against a beatable Tennessee is set for noon next Saturday. Onto other news:

NBA Cats update

• Karl-Anthony Towns was by far the best player on a mediocre team last night, dropping 33 points and pulling down 6 boards in the T-Wolves' loss to the OKC Russell Westbrooks Thunder. For OKC, Enes had a 20, 10 double-double. It's early, but at 1-4 I'd say we can  those T-Wolves playoff predictions on hold. This team will be good, but they're still pretty darn young.
• Rondo looked run-of-the-mill in the Bulls' loss to the Pacers last night, posting just 9 points and 5 assists. The 3-3 Bulls got off to a tear early, but have simmered down recently. I was skeptical preseason, and I must admit that I didn't see how Fred Hoiberg's offense fit w/the ball dominant Rondo, Wade, and Jimmy Butler. But things seem to be working a little more smoothly than I expected–Hoiberg isn't focusing on threes as much as he is on pushing the pace, which all three guards can do. Did you know Lamar Jackson once beat Rondo in a foot race?
• A little bit worried about John Wall as he sat out in the Wizards' loss to the Magic, still recovering from offseason knee surgery. The fact that he's just sitting out now for the surgery tells me that the surgery affected him more than he expected. Maybe I'm reading too much into a rest game, but it's something to keep tabs on with the Wizards at 1-4.
• Skal made his pro debut last night in the Kings loss at Milwaukee. Boogie had a rough go at it (15 points and just 4 rebounds) but Skal did pretty well for himself in 15 minutes, scoring 8 points and 3 boards. Not a bad debut.

NFL Schedule–week 9

Eagles/Giants should be interesting. With the Cowboys in charge of the surprisingly strong NFC East, the winner of this game should set themselves up nicely for a wildcard run. The loser will have themselves a might-big hole to dig out of.

Showtime "One & Done/Ben Simmons"

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="338"] USAToday[/caption] Showtime is airing a 91-minute documentary on Ben Simmons' year at LSU, the frustrations of going to school knowing that you could be making millions, and of course the kinda dumb one & done rule. You can watch it on Showtime at 5 ET or stream it here right now (I think).

So, there's an election in two days

But let's not think about that. Leave that to Nate Silver, or whoever. Let's think about the new Star Wars movie that's coming out in just 6 weeks. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fE_yHEerok[/embed] May the force be with you, BBN @LilbighornKSR