BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Vanderbilt men's basketball coach Kevin Stallings said he doesn't see a dominant team in the SEC this season like the Florida teams of past years, and Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl agrees.
"I think Kevin is right," said Pearl, whose team is ranked in the top 10 of some preseason rankings. "We have a lot of youth, and we're still waiting to see how Cameron (Tatum) comes back and what happens with Daniel (West)."
The momentum the young Vols seemed to be building has been put on hold with Tatum undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery last week and West's academic eligibility in question.
All of the sudden, UT doesn't look quite so deep when you consider that J.P. Prince might have to log 10 to 12 minutes at point guard in addition to his duties on the wing.
Tatum would have been the player to benefit from Prince splitting duties, if that proves to be the case, but now with his health in question the Vols might need to dig deeper.
That puts more pressure on junior Josh Tabb to step up his game and freshman Renaldo Woolridge to develop quicker.
Pearl said he hopes to learn something about West's immediate future sometime next week.
The Vols will hold an open scrimmage at Thompson-Boling Arena at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, and Pearl is encouraging UT fans to attend.
Left-Handed Compliment? Stallings said his relationship with Pearl and Memphis coach John Calipari is "fine,'' and that he doesn't recruit against either that much because "of the nature of our school, and the nature of the fact that we attract a different kind of guy.''
Stallings said last year was a neat year for the state of Tennessee relative to college basketball.
"John's team was one of the best teams in the country if not the best team, and Bruce's team was the best in our league over the course of 16 games,'' Stallings said.
Stallings said he's not picking Siena to beat UT in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., even though Siena knocked Vanderbilt out of the NCAA tournament.
"They (Siena) are a good team, and they were playing great when we played them and we were equally terrible,'' Stallings said. "Bruce will do a better job defending them than we did.''
Fulmer Support: Alabama coach Mark Gottfried might be able to appreciate what UT football coach Phillip Fulmer is going through better than anyone.
A former Tide player who found early success coaching the team, Gottfried came under fire when Alabama dropped off last season.
"That's the nature of sports nowadays, everyone has short memories,'' Gottffried said. "We had been to five straight NCAA tournaments prior to Ron (Steele) getting hurt, (and) got to the Elite Eight.
"Now, I don't have a road named after me (like Fulmer); I think they might have an alley.''
Gottfried said a "fast-paced society with talk radio and the Internet" contributes to coaches being on hot seats earlier.
"But as coaches we all feel like a guy like Phillip Fulmer is being treated unfairly,'' Gottfried said. "You look at the winning percentage he has, and what he has done for that program ... but that's the world we live in.''
Good Riddance: Georgia coach Dennis Felton admits he is happy to see guard Chris Lofton gone from UT.
"The honest truth is, yes, I am glad he's gone,'' Felton said on the Sports Page's radio show in Birmingham. "There were so many occasions where Chris literally beat us single-handily. We'd be in a great battle, where it was anyone's game, and he comes down the stretch and crushes us with threes, falling out of bounds with us draped all over him like a blanket.
"No one has more respect for Chris Lofton as a player and a young man than I do, and no one is happier to see him gone.''
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 26
spvol writes:
Oneth!
spvol writes:
Jealous? Pack it up, clown. You got no game!
nickreveiz4heisman writes:
anybody got a good idea of the starting 5 besides t. smith and chism.
bugman (Inactive) writes:
Wow what a suprise. Calipari is arogant like usual. Jokes on him though because we own them head to head.
WVVOLFAN writes:
maze pg
hopson sg
prince sf
smith pf
chism post
my best guess
budrhon writes:
T Smith
Chism
Prince
Hopson
Maze
golfballs03 writes:
Stallings looks like Bozo the Clown
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
And let's also not get too down on the Internet and talk radio! That's freedom of expression. Besides I can always turn it off. I guess that when there was no internet and very little talk radio, that these kinds of people just had their way? Right. Like Bear Bryant? General Neyland? Why don't we just blame Bush and Fulmer for your losing season at Bama? Or I guess that if it weren't for the internet and talk radio that we would love Fulmer and G.W. more? We don't need to give Alabama an inch to move in this Saturday. Period.
askUncleMaze writes:
UT starting 5 (My opion)
@1)B.Maze
@2)S.Hopson
@3)JP. Prince
@4)T.Smith
@5)W.Chism
FeelVol writes:
At times I can see Brian Williams,Tyler Smith,Wayne Chism,Scotty Hopson,and Bobby Maze starting.J.P.will get plenty of minutes especially with Tatum on the mend and also I believe we'll need Tabb to contribute as a steadying influence especially early in the year,he's got some great game experience under his belt.I can't help but feel we'll need Williams' bulk and even Negudus' as well.I look for Tyler,Wayne,and Hopson to be our early shooters,lots of question marks about this team but feel confident that Coach Pearl will mold a nice team together by years end.
DandyVol writes:
Haven't heard any thing about Steven lately. Does any one know if he is progressing where he could pick up minutes as a second team sub?
bleed_orange writes:
I think you will see 2 different styles of starting line-ups in the pre-season: #1 being-PG-B.Maze, SG-S. Hopson, SF-J.P. Prince, PF-T. Smith, & C-W. Chism. Style #2-Maze-PG,Hopson-SG,Smith-SF,Chism-PF, & Williams-C with JP being a six man. WIth the 1st line-up you would have Brian at C, Emmanuel at PF, Renaldo at SF and some SG, Josh at SG and maybe even some PG with JP playing some minutes at PG too. This plan leaves out Philip and Ryan (3rd string). Style 2 you would have Jurick at C, Negedu at PF, Woolridge at SF and some SG, JP at PG and some SF, and Tabb at SG and maybe even some PG. This still leaves Ryan on 3rd string. Childress and still be a spark when we need some toughness on the boards (a few elbows-maybe). Hopefully, Daniel can get things lined out and Cameron can recover. We are still OK, but not as solid. GO VOLS!
bleed_orange writes:
Steven is diffently a 3rd stringer. He will still probally get a couple of minutes at the end of each half for a total of about 5 (maybe). If Ryan can get healthy, he can give us probally a few minutes as well. If no other injuiries or mishaps, we should still be good enough to challenge for the SEC Championship (season & SEC Tourney). Let us not even talk about the NCAA Tournament yet. We should be in, but where who knows. We shouldn't get ahead of our selves, because we should enjoy every game of the season. I have a felling we will be losing alot after this year. Probally at least Tyler, Wayne, and probally Scotty. So, lets enjoy the ride again for another special season under the direction of Coach BRUCE PEARL! GO VOLS!
bleed_orange writes:
I SAID IT'S GREAT TO BE A TENNESSEE VOL! Basketball Vol that is. I'm still praying for Coach PF, but I would say at the end of this season there will be some looking at changes I guess. But I'm still going to suport him while he is still the Coach of TN football. Now, I might not agree with everything he does, but I put my faith in the AD and others at the University of TN. If a change needs to be made at the end of the season, then they will make that change. I will still be rooting for TN on Saturday against #2 ALABAMA and the rest of the season games. GO VOLS!
overatedvols writes:
Have I got a treat for you guys. I bring you good news. In this years rivals.com full court press video series they are featuring the Univ. Of Memphis. That's right, tune in to see quite a few episodes including, Memphis reloads, midnight madness, slam dunk contest, the year of the tiger, the next derrick rose etc. etc.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketba...
So, not only is it Fri. but I just added to your joy by giving you this link. Who says i'm all bad.
Who knows maybe one day when the vols have the best team in the land they could be featured also. Yes, it is nice to be among the nations elite. You guys keep trying and don't give up maybe one day you'll get there also.
bleed_orange writes:
But we will keep beating those Tigers when we play them. Like this year, I think it is Saturday January 24th at 2:30 Memphis time-3:30 Vols time. See you there. This year I think we will go farther in the NCAA's(Detroit here we come). GO VOLS!
NOLAvol writes:
I NEED HELP! Anybody going to the open practice Saturday--or went to the open practices the day of the Florida game last month?
Had planned to take my elderly parents to TBA to watch Pat's Girls (1-3pm) & Bruce's Boys (3:30pm) Saturday... but forgot that the 'bama game is at Neyland! I was counting on no traffic, free parking at the TBA garage, and getting them back to Chattanooga in time for kickoff.
Please advise--which will cost me more of my inheritance: calling this adventure off or trying to make it happen anyway?
It would probably be more approprate for you to respond at http://www.volnation.com/forum/tennes... rather than here (since my request has nothing to do with Phil Fulmer). Thanks all!
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Go.
Just watch out for anyone falling out of the back of a primered '71 Chevy C-10 with a mullet and Tide box.
THE_VOL writes:
Hey fool...Casey Mitchell is 50/50 at best right now as far as being a Vol next year. And whomever he might sign with is going to play h*%% getting him qualified anyway. Stick to what you know - like cow-tipping and moonshining.
THE_VOL writes:
Stay with me on this....Childress will be lucky to even dress this year - his career is essentially over with that knee. Jurick will be redshirted. He may play a bit in some early games but he is NOT going to take any significant minutes from anybody in front of him and will end up RS. SO, please delete them both from that thing in your head.
UT___a_basketball_school writes:
Kevin Stallings = no class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks6LKw...
He's so jealous of Pearl. It's sad, really.
Jurick may not be redshirted, he's been a defensive specialist in practice, something we may need to close out games this year. And he's our third big man, if we ever need to go big inside and one of the guys is in foul trouble. And, I think Pearl likes him.
MiserableFloridaVol writes:
I'd like to say to Kevin Oneill - "What goes around comes around!" He got the short end of the stick at Arizona and it doesn't make me feel sorry for him at all.
MidTennVol writes:
Help me out here, Butch...you say Tenn has 10 without Tatum and West. Okay...who?
Who's your 10-man rotation? Here's my nine...I definitely see Tatum as a loss, more so than West simply because I don't know him...
Maze
Hopson
Smith
Prince
Williams
Tabb
Negedu
Woolridge
Chism
blitzshoot writes:
Cannot wait until basketball season.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
overrated, wheere did the Memphis PG end up in the draft??
He is one of the best college players I've ever seen at that position.
overatedvols writes:
Are you talking about Rose mparker? He ended up with Chicago and is already doing very well in the NBA.
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