Photo by Cathy Clarke
Ron Slay gestures during a game againt New Mexico.
Photo by Cathy Clarke
Tony Harris, left, hugs teammate Jon Higgins during a 1999 game against South Carolina. The Vols won that game 79-71.
Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess
UT's Charles Hathaway and University of Kentucky's Marvin Stone struggle for a rebound in a 2001 game.
Photo by J. Miles Cary
University of Tennessee Senior Basketball players #55 Charles Hathaway, #14 Tony Harris and #44 Isiah Victor.
Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess
UT head coach in 2001, Jerry Green, stands with team players as they wait for a call by referees after Ron Slay was involved in an incident with an Ole Miss player.
This year celebrates the centennial season of men's basketball at Tennessee. The News Sentinel continues its series looking into the players, teams and events that have molded an exciting history.
Eight years ago this week when South Carolina came to Thompson-Boling Arena, the Gamecocks served as a grudging footnote to Tennessee basketball history.
The Vols were ranked No. 4 in the nation. It was a balanced team with inside and outside weapons and a potent bench, a mix of senior leadership and young talent.
It turned out to be a 79-71 Tennessee victory on a letterman’s reunion day that attracted a crowd of 15,923.
At 16-1, it was the best start in school history.
“These guys have done a lot to put themselves in this position,’’ coach Jerry Green said in his postgame press conference. “This is a culmination of about three-and-a-half years.’’
That’s exactly how long Green had been at the helm. He arrived in the spring of 1997 to take over a program that hadn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 1989 and hadn’t won a game in the tournament since 1983.
On Jan. 13, 2001, Green had a potent senior nucleus he had inherited from Kevin O’Neill, surrounded by a collection of talent his own staff had attracted.
The Vols had opened the season at No. 9 and climbed to No. 4 twice, matching the highest ranking in program history.
They beat four ranked teams to get to 16-1. The only loss was 107-89 to No. 14 Virginia in the Jimmy V Classic at East Rutherford, N.J.
Three nights later, however, the Vols rebounded with an 83-70 win at No. 12 Syracuse in which sophomore Ron Slay scored 27 points.
UT then went to Honolulu and won the Rainbow Classic title with impressive wins over George Washington, No. 23 Iowa and host Hawaii. Tony Harris, a preseason Playboy All-American, was named tournament MVP.
A seven-game road trip concluded in the SEC opener at Auburn. Senior Isiah Victor scored 34 points as the Vols won in double-overtime.
They came home to beat No. 16 Alabama 86-69 to match, at 15-1, the best start in UT history.
In the historic win over South Carolina, the box score was emblematic of the season. Five players scored between nine and 14 points.
Junior Vincent Yarbrough would end up the team’s leading scorer at 13.9 points a game. Victor averaged 12.8 and Harris 11.4.
Slay, who was touted by ESPBN’s Dick Vitale as the best sixth-man in America, averaged 12.9.
Senior Charles Hathaway clogged up the paint and averaged 5.1 points.
Sophomore Jon Higgins was a quiet assassin, averaging 6.5 points. He led the SEC that year in 3-point accuracy at 48.6 percent, still a UT record.
The team was so loaded, future NBA lottery pick Marcus Haislip averaged only 13.2 minutes and 5.8 points.
Harris Walker, 3-point specialist Terrence Woods and Jenis Grindstaff were the perimeter reserves.
The 2000-01 Vols were a showtime attraction. They rained dunks on opponents and easily led the SEC in blocked shots.
“The key,’’ said Green, “is we’ve got a lot of people who can score. It’s a matter of finding the guy who’s got the easy shot at that particular time.’’
The story doesn’t have a happy ending. Rarely, if ever, has a team imploded like the 2000-01 Vols did after the win over South Carolina.
Their next outing was an 84-74 loss at Kentucky, the start of a puzzling nosedive in which Tennessee won only two of 10 games.
The Vols finished 8-8 in the SEC and lost a first-round NCAA tournament game to Charlotte, 70-63. Days later, Green was leveraged out his job.
His four-year run ended at 89-36 (.712) with four NCAA tournament bids, an SEC East title (1999), a share of an overall SEC title (2000). His 1999-2000 team did something no UT team had ever done, winning two games in an NCAA tournament.
Four members of the 2000-01 team became 1,000-point scorers: Yarbrough (1,737); Harris (1,588); Slay (1,569) and Victor (1,304.
Yarbrough, Higgins and Harris rank Nos. 3, 4 and 5, respectively in career starts.
The legacy of the Green era is a contentious topic to Tennessee fans.
It certainly put UT back on the national map. On the other hand, there was a general feeling even more should have been accomplished considering the talent.
At any rate, the era peaked on that day the Vols beat South Carolina to get to 16-1.
That still shares the record for best start. The Vols matched it last season before losing at Kentucky.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
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Comments » 23
BigOrangeVol writes:
Good riddance.
BillVol writes:
Jerry Green did a good job for us when nobody would take the job. He deserves respect IMO.
bluetick writes:
Water under the bridge.
VOLorado writes:
Better than Buzz "My only accomplishment was once having an immensely talented roommate" Peterson.
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
He won a lot of games, and I enjoyed not losing so much. We had a lot of good players, and my son and I watched a bunch of games. God was good to us, and I am thankful to the Big Orange players, coaches, and fans for the memories. It's hard to win 'em all.
CoverOrange writes:
Would have been interesting over those four years had there been a GVX at that time.
slambob2#228938 writes:
Green was a good recruiter and clearly a good coach, as he took the Vols to the tournament every year. But he didn't seem to like Tennessee fans much. And the implosion at the end of that last season was emblematic of the out-of-control feeling the fans had about the team itself.
It's too bad there are bad feelings even this far along. Jerry did a lot for Tennessee. And Tennessee did a lot for Jerry.
utucla writes:
Once again, everything was going fine, until they played Kentucky.
Fifty-4.
VMI @ home.....'nough said.....
BigMix writes:
Bruce will never get any higher than Jerry did. Rankings don't mean poop. Go North before it's to late Bruce.
cainclifton23 writes:
Im glad we are struggling for the first time in 4 years.
Once our fans get used to winning, its impossible for them to be pleased.
hodocka writes:
Green did take the job when no one else would and they did win a lot of games but he was too laid back and not enough discipline. They had the talent to win so much more. Was it not the year before he left, they beat a good UConn team in the tournament and had North Carolina beat in the next round only to fade in the 2nd half.
Gigavol writes:
Mike Strange, I thought you were better than this. Your objective was to make the Green era look better than the Pearl era. We both know the differences.
With the Fulmer regime _completely_ gone, the KNS and GVS are in dire straits right now.
Everybody loves Bruce Pearl. They write more about Pat Summit than the rest of the world writes about the rest of her peers (outside of Hartford). And even SmashSouthSports.com gets as much or more access to the new football coaching staff.
Hooker may be the last man standing.
Ralph_Crampton writes:
Now, now, Guys, coach Pearl has brought more attention to the Vols than ever before...but he must realize that our home floor is never dominated by Kentucky...there is a saying that "Knoxville is no place for a Kentuckian" Coach Pearl, I think has not zeroed-in on the Wildcats as yet, but he will from now on. Like Don DeVoe and Ray Mears, Vol players, especially DeVoe's players once stated " you can see it in their( Kentucky players' eyes the look of defeat just before the game as they warmed up). Pearl will do the same thing...look for him to change tactics and fire his players to great heights.
shipperman#280095 writes:
http://firebrucepearl.com
eduardo writes:
It was your 54 minutes of fame scratch. Time to assume the positon of third in the east. nuff said! Uncle Jed and 4 20's. Won some but was a joke as a coach. nuff said!
CoverOrange writes:
If I remember correctly 3 or 4 turned us down before we turned over the rocks to find Jerry. Actually Jerry had gotten a non-existant Oregon BB team on the map before coming to UT. And he came to UT because he believed UT had the facilities that Oregon would never build. He didn't know Dickey was a football fan.
Your statement about UConn and UNC in 2000 seems analgious to 2007 in beating Virginia then losing to Ohio State. Though 2007 had nowhere near the talent.
Hope history does not repeat itself.
TopProspect writes:
Pearl is the best Coach We have Had since the 50's.
We can always go back to buzz ball...
Fire Bruce Pearl?? PLEASE... That would be the dumbest thing we could ever do.
Maybe if our TBA crowd would even make us have a home court advantage and get off their "too good to cheer" butts we wouldve beat Gonzaga and Maybe contained Meeks.
cainclifton23 writes:
THE BEST basketball post i've ever read.
eduardo writes:
Seems like most of your fan base cant get past the Pitino years, how bout you? Why did you guys hire someone that plays the same style as tubby? kenlucky will be lucky to finish in the top 4 in the east at years end. Scratch hate to tell you this but you have seen the better moments of the season. Nowhere to go but down. Take your lumps bro you and your fans are low rent. kenlucky is a has been program. hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Good job, Eduardo--you, along with some others, have just ensured another 50 obnoxious posts from CatScratch! He will NEVER stop posting until we stop responding to him. The 'Cats surely took our home court away from us last Tuesday. Honestly, we don't have ANYTHING worthwhile to say to UK fans unless or until we do the same thing to them! It's bad enough our players were (alledgedly) talking trash while they were getting beat. At least they were on the floor. We're just sitting behind keyboards and can't do ANYTHING from there to affect the outcomes of the games. We can only make ourselves look as dumb as some opposing fans think we are.
Down_The_Field writes:
Agreed, good point. Dale was a good player and a good guy. Shows you how good Grunfeld and King were.
You remember in the NCAA playoff game with #1 Virginia and Ralph Sampson, Dale pretty much kept him in check the whole game in a tuff loss.
Down_The_Field writes:
Old uni-ez looked better. I hate that black trim.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Yeah, that uni Slay was wearing was a good look. I guess someone thought it made the numbers too hard to read on TV, hence the black trim.
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