Stepped away from the keyboard and just took a quick glance at the Louisville-UNC game. Yep. Exactly what I thought.

The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team played horrible Thursday night against Louisville in the Sweet 16. Horrible. There’s no way around it. The Vols looked and played horrible.

Their “offense” was a wreck. And their overall performance was almost painful to watch.

I usually stay out of any public debate regarding UT sports. But after following the men’s basketball team from a distance this season (read: I watched an estimated 33 percent of their games on the tube), I was shocked (and maybe even a little disappointed) at how poorly they played and were coached.

What’s the point of all that talent and a year’s worth of momentum if you’re going to run your offense like the world’s on fire? How many times in the first half did a Vol try and take the ball from baseline to baseline, and then either throw up some horrendous heave disguised as a shot or crash into a Cardinal defender, resulting in a charging foul?

It was also shocking to watch UT unravel so quickly. They looked like nothing more than a poorly coached high school team by the three-minute mark in the first half.

The Vols shot 25 percent (5 of 20) from behind the 3-point line and 33.9 percent (19 of 56) from the field.They were outrebounded 42-24. And they committed 26 fouls.

Ugly.

I feel for Vols fans. I do.

But you have to wonder: What in the h-e-double hockey sticks happened in that game? Moreover, what happened during their last eight games - beginning with the 72-69 loss to Vanderbilt on Feb. 26?

Also, it sure seemed like there was a lot of infighting and bickering going on between various players throughout the game.

But ... I cover another (lesser) school. I’ll let the pros and diehards knock heads about UT.

Back to work.