I can't ever remember the University of Tennessee being good at hoops. Our biggest problem through the years has been getting talent, especially keeping in-state talent. Tennessee has barely 6 million people, and with Memphis, Vandy, Louisville, Kentucky and Georgia Tech all within shouting distance it has been very hard to get those kids to wear orange.
Bruce Pearl has done a wonderful job in the 3 years that he has been there. Even when Tennessee has had talent (Hamer, Yarbrough, Watson, Houston) no coach has been able to capitalize. Pearl has taken the talent left by Buzz Peterson and had great success, holding an SEC record of 35-14, including a record of 5-1 against the back-to-back national champion Gators. Not to mention Pearl brought Tennessee their first #1 ranking ever, earlier this season.
Currently the Vols are 27-3, #1 in RPI and #4 in the AP poll. Part of Pearl's formula for success is keeping in-state talent. Bringing Tyler Smith and JP Prince back to the state of Tennessee, after they had played with Iowa and Arizona (respectively), has resulted in Tennessee's first outright SEC title in my lifetime.
But alas, that is not all that is right with Tennessee hoops. Memphis is #2 in AP and #2 in RPI, while Vanderbilt is holding down the 16th spot in the AP and #7 in RPI. Tennessee and Memphis brought the 5th ever in-state showdown of #1 vs #2, with Tennessee coming out victorious in a tight win on the road.
With all this excitement we almost forget about the #3 Lady Vols. What more could a "football state" ask for from the hoops world?...How about men's and women's national titles?
March 9th, Note: Vandy's women are #21. In men's hoops, Belmont and Austin Peay won their conferences. The state of Tennessee will have 5 schools represented in the NCAA tourney.
1 comment:
Power to the jews (thats a shout out to Brucey). I want to see your all-time NBA team, but I don't want it to be some obvious list so I have been trying to think of a way to qualify what players you can choose so you have to justify each player. And the players have to have had reasonable chemistry on the court. Oh, and there has to be a sixth man that actually was a sixth man. Any ideas? Let me know cause I think that could be fun.
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