BigOrangeBasketball.comTennessee Basketball

You might think a coach coming off the most successful season in school history with a 31-5 record and the SEC championship might think he can relax a little bit or lose a little hunger.

But last Friday, just a few hours before his team would take the floor at Pratt Pavilion for its first official practice of the season, Bruce Pearl could be found standing on a table in the University Center on campus  firing up students with an impassioned speech about this year’s team.

Not many coaches in the SEC or the NCAA would do that, but then again not many coaches are Bruce Pearl.

Has anyone taken a look at the Vols’ team picture this year and noticed how much freshman center Philip Jurick towers over his teammates?

The 6-10 Jurick, standing alongside teammates Brian Williams listed at 6-10 and Wayne Chism listed at 6-9, looks at least 2-3 inches taller than both of them.

Perhaps the training staff needs to take another pencil to the wall with Jurick.  If Williams and Chism are truly 6-10 and 6-9 respectively, then Jurick has to be at least 7-0.

I didn’t think anyone could make Williams look small, but Jurick does. 

By the way, Pearl thinks his freshman center has some skill to go along with his size.  “Defensively and rebounding, he’s a force,” Pearl said of Jurick at his media day press conference.

The 2008-09 edition of the Tennessee Vols basketball team will be down two key players before it ever takes the floor this afternoon for its first official practice of the season.

It was announced yesterday that freshman point guard Daniel West will not be on the floor when practice begins this afternoon because of a potential eligibility issue.  Just last week, redshirt freshman Cameron Tatum underwent arthroscopic knee surgery which is expected to sideline him for several weeks.

This is not good news for the Vols, who are seeking to defend last season’s SEC championship.

Tatum was, and hopefully still is, one of the leading candidates to start for the Vols at a wing when the season begins, but his untimely injury, coupled with a recent history of injuries dating back to last season, could be real blow to Bruce Pearl and the Vols.

West was expected to backup junior college transfer Bobby Maze at point guard, and if for some reason West is not cleared to play, this would mean the Vols would have to play the season with only one true point guard.

Pearl has indicated that he has experimented with J.P. Prince at the point during informal team workouts this fall, but Prince is no point guard.  He may be able to spot the position for a few minutes during the course of the game, but he is not a long-term solution at that position.  And if Prince is forced into more time in the point guard role, this will take him away from his more effective role as a slasher at the No. 2 or No. 3 position.

It strikes me as odd that the university would just now be hearing about a potential eligibility issue regarding Daniel West on the eve of the start of official practice, but if this is an NCAA clearinghouse issue, that could explain it.  At any rate, let’s hope the issue is cleared up and West is allowed to play this season.  He’s a key piece to the puzzle for the Vols this season if they want to repeat as SEC champions and make a strong NCAA tournament run.

Ok, I mentioned in a post yesterday that I would announce my Vol All Century team at a later date, but I can’t wait to get started, so I will announce my first member.

I’m sure this comes as no surprise to hardly anyone, but it’s Bernard King, No. 53.

I had the privilege of watching all three of King’s years at Tennessee up close and personal as a young boy as my parents had season tickets.  In fact, I still have the ticket stub from King’s first game as a freshman with the Vols against Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Stokely Athletics Center on Saturday, Nov. 30, 1974.  King had 42 points in that game, and the rest as they say is history or legendary.

King went on to lead the SEC in scoring in two of his three seasons at Tennessee. (King finished second in the SEC in scoring during his sophomore season to teammate Ernie Grunfeld.) King led the SEC in rebounding in all three of his seasons.

He was a consensus first-team All-American in each of his three seasons as well as SEC Player of the Year.

The thing I remember most about King during his playing days at Tennessee was that he seemed to have his best games against the best teams…30+ points and double-digit rebounds versus Kentucky, Alabama, LSU, etc, was the norm.  In fact, King had a career 26 30+ point games during his career at Tennessee, most of any Vol.

When the UT athletic administration decided a couple of years ago to begin retiring the jerseys of Vol basketball greats, it was Vol great himself Ernie Grunfeld who graciously said if you’re going to start retiring jerseys you have to start with No. 53.

I think former Voice of the Vols John Ward said it best about King once when he said that “Bernard King was the most exciting player ever in the history of the Southeastern Conference.”

I can’t say it any better than that.

In a post yesterday, I mentioned that as part of the 100 Years of Tennessee Basketball celebration to be conducted this season, an All Century Team would be announced.  Fans will have the opportunity to vote for that team.

I would love to hear from blog readers as to who your All Century Tennessee men’s basketball starting five would be.  You don’t necessarily have to pick the team according to positions, i.e., two guards, two forwards and a center, just pick your favorite or best five.

The official team will be announced Feb. 14th at halftime of the Vanderbilt game.

It has been announced that the Tennessee vs. Middle Tennessee game on Nov. 21st will be televised by CSS.

With that announcement, that leaves only one game, the Dec. 29th home matchup against Louisiana-Lafayette, as the only game this season not planned for television.  Of course, as mentioned in an earlier post, Nashville Comcast cable subscribers will likely not see the Nov. 15th game against UT-Chattanooga, the Nov. 18th game against UT-Martin, the Dec. 3rd game against UNC-Asheville and the Dec. 20th game against Belmont, because all four of those games are scheduled to air on SportsSouth which is not carried by Comcast in the Nashville market.

It is also possible that two of the Vols’ games in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando might only air on ESPNU. However, if the Vols make it to the finals of that tournament, then all three of their games in that tournament would air on either ESPN or ESPN2.

Bruce Pearl gave an update today on one of potentially the most important players on this year’s team, in my opinion, Cameron Tatum, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last week.

“We’re confident that Cameron can come back and pick up where he left off in a few weeks,” Pearl said. “Cameron is very talented.  If he can get healthy, he’s very talented.  He’s very gifted offensively,” said Pearl.

I continue to believe that a healthy Cameron Tatum is very important to the overall success of this year’s team.  Pearl even said today that Tatum, if healthy, was a strong candidate to start at either the No. 2 or No. 3 position.

In the few times I have seen Tatum play since he has been at Tennessee, he has been quite impressive.  With a healthy Tatum, I think the Vols will be extremely formidable.  He’s a potentially explosive offensive player, and he’s been in the system a year already, which could also prove to be an important factor, given the lack of experience the team will have as a whole this season.

I would really like to see a lineup with Tatum and Scotty Hopson on the wings.  That would be fun to watch.

Pearl announced today that a record 16,600 season tickets for the upcoming season had been sold already.

Three home games are already complete sell-outs…Kentucky, Memphis and Florida.

Single-game tickets for the remaining games not already sold out will go on sale Wednesday morning.  I would suggest you gobble up the remaining tickets to the Vanderbilt game, in particular, since that is the game in which the Vol All Century Team will be announced.  That should be quite a night at Thompson-Boling.

During Bruce Pearl’s media day in Knoxville today to preview the upcoming basketball season, he announced that the university would be celebrating 100 years of Tennessee men’s basketball this season.

Included as part of the celebration will be a naming of an All Century Team that will be announced Feb. 14th at halftime of the Tennessee-Vanderbilt game.  This should be interesting.  I’d be interested in comments from readers as to who your top five All Century Team of Vols would be. I think most of us would probably agree on two…maybe three, but I would be interested in seeing your thoughts.

I’ll announce my top five at a later date, but this will no doubt be a fun exercise.  Let me know what you think.

Tennessee head basketball coach Bruce Pearl proclaimed during his press conference in Knoxville today to preview the upcoming season that “we will compete for the SEC championship. I’m confident this is a basketball team that will have what it takes to defend our championship.”

This, as Pearl also pointed out, despite the fact that he lost five of his top nine players from a year ago, including All-American Chris Lofton and All-SEC guard JuJuan Smith.

Pearl also pointed out during his season-opening press conference that of the 13 players on scholarship this season, seven will be newcomers.

“We’ve accomplished more this fall than any team I’ve coached,” Pearl said, of this year’s squad.  “But we’ve had farther to go than any team I’ve coached.”

Despite fielding the most inexperienced team that he has coached entering his fourth season at Tennessee, Pearl says, at least at this point, that he likes his team.

“I like our depth. I like our athleticism. This team is doing a much better job in the classroom and off the court. This team has trained as hard as any team I’ve had.”  However, Pearl also acknowledged that “this team probably has farther to go than any team I’ve had” with five true freshman, one redshirt freshman and one junior college transfer, comprising this year’s roster.

Pearl had this to say about  the team’s offensive personality at this point…”we’ll be fine playing fast. Can we play half court offensively? I’m not sure because of all the new pieces.”

Pearl also commented about his thoughts on whether this team will press more than last year’s team. “We’re longer, but we’re not quicker.”

And about team defense and defensive rebounding in which the Vols finished in the bottom half of the SEC last season, Pearl said “we’ll be a better half court defensive team and a better rebounding team.”

And Pearl was quick to remind the media about one thing today.

“If there’s one thing you’d say about Tennessee basketball, it’s got a brand, and that brand is that we’re the aggressor,” Pearl said.