For the first time, Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl has a team made up of players he personally recruited.
The smoke-and-mirrors approach Pearl has used to get by over the past three seasons is no longer necessary.
That's not to say Pearl won't miss guards Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith and Jordan Howell - he will, they were the winningest senior class in UT basketball history.
But the Vols' lack of size on the perimeter limited Pearl's defensive options and prevented UT from utilizing any zone.
That will change this season, as Pearl said the Vols will implement some zone coverage into their defensive arsenal.
A reporter asked Pearl after UT lost to Arkansas in the SEC tournament if he considered switching things up on defense on the perimeter.
Pearl, who rarely shows his frustrations in the media, went off.
"What do you want me to do?'' Pearl said, referencing the Vols' shortness at guard.
What Pearl has done is recruit a 6-foot-6 shooting guard in Scotty Hopson. Ready for work is 6-5 Cameron Tatum, who redshirted this past season.
What UT loses in quickness, it more than makes up for in size and overall athleticism, hence, the ability to play zone.
"The whole zone thing has to do with losing three 6-1 guards and picking up 6-5, 6-6 guards,'' Pearl said. "We're getting longer and bigger.''
And the 3-point line is being moved back, so challenging opponents to shoot threes isn't as daunting.
"I think man-to-man will still be our base,'' said UT assistant Steve Forbes, who Pearl considers his defensive specialist. "We just have to decide on a consistent way we want to play zone and stick with it. You have to work on it every day, and you have to be committed to it.''
Pearl said he has asked his players to start working on some of the zone concepts right now, even in their unsupervised workouts.
"Maybe when they play pickup,'' he said, "one out of every four or five games they play zone, just so they can get used to communicating in it.''
Pearl used a matchup zone when the Vols went on their European tour last season, as an experiment for next season as much as anything else.
"I liked the way our guys moved in it, and we were aggressive in it,'' Forbes said, "but the competition wasn't what it is in the states.''
UT assistant Jason Shay, who sees a myriad of different looks when scouting UT's opponents, sees the positives and negatives in zone defense.
"I see it for us a change of pace, when the opponent gets in an offensive rhythm you give them a different look to slow them up,'' Shay said. "Or, you use it when the opponent isn't particularly good shooting on the perimeter. Another good thing about it is it gets you out in your lanes for the break quicker.''
But there are some downsides, as well.
"It's tough to rebound out of any zone, because you have gaps and anyone can come flying down the lane,'' Shay said. "It could also create mismatches, if they can get Wayne (Chism) or Brian (Williams) isolated on the wing.''
Forbes Flexes: Hopson's signing with the Vols was a coup for Forbes, who did most of the leg work on his recruitment.
"I'm not going to lie to you, that was very rewarding and big for our program,'' Forbes said. "To put as much work into Elliott (Williams) and have him go to Duke, and then land a player like Scotty was big.
"Sometimes one door closes and another one opens.''
Hopson's coach in Hopkinsville, Ky., at University Heights Academy, Randy McCoy, said his prior relationship with Forbes at the college level was a factor.
McCoy coached at NAIA Pikeville College and met Forbes when he was coach at Barton (Kan.) Community College.
Out and About: It's been a busy recruiting time for Pearl and his staff. Over the past two weeks, UT has had a representative at AAU tournaments in Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Houston, Fayetteville, Ark., Starkville, Miss., and Akron, Ohio.
Atlanta, Memphis and parts of Michigan also have been canvassed during the middle of the weeks.
The current recruiting period ends May 1 before picking back up at the start of July.
More On Hopson: Pearl said one great thing about Hopson is his ability to hit tough baskets.
"You watch the NBA playoffs, and that's what the great ones do, they get the shot off with defenders all over them,'' he said. "Just watching Louisville and North Carolina, there was a little difference in what some of their players could do, hitting the tough ones.
"I believe Scotty can do that for us early. And as he gets stronger and gets more experienced, he'll be able to make even more of those tough twos.''
Recruiting Wrap: Pearl feels good about the signing class, but he said there were a couple of other SEC schools who also will have impact freshmen.
"Florida had a great recruiting class, and that's back-to-back top classes for Florida, so that will be a factor right there,'' he said. "Alabama has had an excellent class.
Those two jump out at me.''
Mike Griffith covers Tennessee men's basketball. He can be reached at griffithm@knoxnews.com.
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Comments » 22
madisonvillevol writes:
what about the kid from memphis briarcrest? not sure of his name and his school.
alfrizzle097 writes:
McDonald? He is next year. We are in good position right now, but not necassarily the favorite.
MrBamSeydu writes:
Leslie McDonald is going to choose between Ohio State, Memphis, and UT.
We are also in the mix for 2009 prospect Dominic Cheek, who is a 6-7 guard.... sort of like CDR of Memphis last season. He'll probably end up at UNC though.
volunteers4life writes:
I just cannot believe how potent or recruiting has become recently, and I am not just talking about the signees for this year. Take a look at 2009's recruits on Scout or Rival. TN's name comes up so many times, it is ridiculous. Not to say we'll land 1/3 of the kids we're talking to but you can really tell that Pearl and his staff have been gettin' busy on the recruiting trail. We have never been blessed with the level of talent we are attracting now a days. With Hopson signing, we should have a top 10 recruiting class this year with so much experience returning. The next couple years should be entertaining for us all.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Take a look at this:
Cameron
Scotty
Tyler
Josh
Ramar
Ward, woolridge;
What do they all have in common?? VERY athletic. Don't know how well they'll shoot, but they SHOULD be able to D it up.
Coach is right to be concerned about UF. I also think UK will be a thorn again.
hdhurst writes:
In reference to UT's other foes, how we fare depends more on our ability to out coach them and if our "athletic" players buy into Pearl's intensity on the offensive and defensive ends.
Looking forward to the new chemisty we have for next year. GO VOLS!!
shopsports#273141 writes:
Take it from a Vol in the south swamp...the gators had a BIG problem with stars who thought they were so special they didn't have to work or work together. BIG BIG problem...
It brought them down a few notches. What a shame. The next bunch better have a whole different attitude or the gators will not be a problem. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch. They are suffering from severe lack of winning big!!
johnlg00#206211 writes:
No question that team chemistry will be at least as important as strategy next year. In the past three years, the guys KNEW for the most part that they were not regarded as sure-fire stars coming out of HS. Not only did they have chips on their shoulders, to show people--and themselves--that they were better than anyone thought, they also knew that they HAD to play hard and play together to achieve any success at the highest levels of college basketball. Even more important, they knew that their reputation and self-respect as athletes would be judged by their achievements in college, since long, lucrative pro careers were not a likely option. Kids who grow up from middle school with NBA dollar signs in their eyes just will not look at their college careers in the same way a four-year guy would, either academically or athletically. That is the "devil's bargain" we are entering into in this present era of college sports, for good or ill. Playing time, shots, and team roles become more important to each individual than team success. It takes an entirely different kind of coaching to manage would-be superstars than it does to succeed with hungry overachievers.
BillVol writes:
We should have been running some zone all along. No excuse.
BillVol writes:
grvol, yours is the best post I've read on the KNS boards. You need to come over to outermonvolia.com and join us in top-level UT chat.
Our reluctance to play zone this past season was baffling and frustrating. It is suggested here in this article that we weren't "long" enough to play it. Horse poop.
camoman270#222859 writes:
Billvol, great to see you on the coaching staff at UT basketball!!! Now i know why we are so successful!!!.......And all along i thougt it was Pearl.........................
overatedvols writes:
So If they have another late season crash and burn ending I guess coach can't say it wasn't his players.
overatedvols writes:
Hey Brownie. Yep, I must be in denial cause I definitely am not able to see things your way. Could have sworn we were better. I think maybe Bruce Almighty has pulled a sales job over on you guys. You all seem to believe what he is selling. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a lemon.
BADGES0413 writes:
Overrated, one think you can't deny is Coach Cal continues to seek fine citizens to play for Memphis. Here is a nice little story from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
"High school basketball superstar Tyreke Evans drove a sport utility vehicle away from the scene after a passenger allegedly shot and killed a man last month, according to a Chester Township police affidavit that was released last week.
Evans, who lives in the city of Chester, has not been charged with any crime yet."
I read a profile on Tyreke that said he was an excellent driver to the basket in the open court. It made no mention of being an excellent getaway driver who may end up in criminal court.
Bruce has gotten excellent play out of walk-ons (JaJuan) and 2 and 3 star players (everyone else at UT. So far he is doing a good job of making Sweet Lemonade out of your so called lemons.
BADGES0413 writes:
UT doesn't need McD All Americans to beat Memphis. If Pearl can beat Memphis the way he had the last 2 years with Walk Ons and 2 Star Players, imagine how he will do once he gets the 4 and 5 stars on campus he just signed. Would probably have more 5 star players, but he stays away from players like Tyreke Evans who is facing possible charges in a drive by shooting. Just to refresh the story that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
"High school basketball superstar Tyreke Evans drove a sport utility vehicle away from the scene after a passenger allegedly shot and killed a man last month, according to a Chester Township police affidavit that was released last week. Evans, who lives in the city of Chester, has not been charged with any crime yet."
Chester is a rough town to grow up, I lived in a Philly suburb for 2 years and knew to stay away from that area. It will prepare Evans well for Prison Life or Memphis, whichever comes first.
overatedvols writes:
Badge I believe we've got the story. Please don't refresh our memory again 2 posts from now.
Evidently Tyreke was found not guilty or he wouldn't be able to play college basketball now would he.
Good story but you didn't put any of the UT football player posts to go along with it. I especially like the one from about 2 years ago where the football players were playing the pickup basketball game with a few others and one of the non football players was scoring on a football player too often and he made the comment that if the guy got past him again he was going to knock him out and he did. The guy scored on him and so he just cold-cocked the guy. The guy was out for several minutes. Class bunch aren't they.
BADGES0413 writes:
I thought we were talking basketball? OK our football team is 20 and 1 vs Memphis.
auttat writes:
What's up with the Memphis fans not being able to let it go? The season is over. Both teams had good seasons, yours better than ours, but ours beat yours. How about you all get a life and move on? Same needs to be said to the UT fans that continue to argue with them.
overhated, how ironic you ask someone not to refresh our memory 2 posts from now, when every single one of your posts has read the same for a month now. Move on, big.
itsme, go play some Mario or something.
You constantly being on this site just shows how much it eats at you that UT won, but 66-62 did you more good than it did us.
overatedvols writes:
Yea and i'm wondering how many on the football team are doing 20 years.
We may be 20 and 1 but that one was worth the wait. Talk about destroying a teams season. Poor Peyton. I can still see his face as the fans raced on the field to tear down the goal posts.
overatedvols writes:
Harsh Brownie..whew.. and auttat I can almost feel your hostility in that post. It brings back memories of the hostilities I felt when the Vols invaded our site, so I know what it feels like.
I'm not really trying to argue with anybody. I certainly don't want to. I just want to make sure people here remembers the best college basketball team this state has ever had. The Vols had a good team last year...until well, until that Memphis game. Something happened after that. Anybody know what? Anyway, you have the football season to look forward to now. We certainly can't argue about who has the best football program. You see, we accept the fact that Tenn. has the better football team. We can do this and i'm just wondering why it's so hard for the Vol fans to accept the fact that Memphis has the better basketball team. I guess since you can't it makes it a bit fun to remind you. Anyway, i'm sure your football team can more than make up for the basketball teams failures this season. In the meantime I think some of us Tigers have kind of grown fond of our little brother on the other side of state.
Longtimevolfan writes:
Did anyone see the news that D. Rose was pretty badly beaten up? Probably not because The UM and CA covered it up. He was at a girls house when someone knocked at the door he answered...he was beat up pretty badly. The catch, he was wearing boxer shorts that belonged to the guy that knocked on the door. Model citizens the UM players are not.
Late season crash?? Did anyone else watch Kansas come back and beat Memphis in the final game? How much of a crash was that?
Overrated...you are out of your class and mind!
marinevol writes:
I guess your life has to be pretty depressing to have to go on another school's site seeking attention. Why don't you guys try to cheer up and dream about the day Memphis beats UT in anything.
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