Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl has been on the road almost as much as he has been at home since returning from the Maccabiah Games in July.
Kansas City, Atlanta, Memphis, New York, New Jersey, Indianapolis and North Carolina most recently have been canvassed. The NCAA allowed coaches back out on the road to recruit on Sept. 9.
It's all about building for the future, as the Vols will lose five seniors to graduation and potentially sophomore Scotty Hopson to the NBA after this season.
UT still has four scholarships to give out in the Class of 2010, with shooting guard Jordan McRae out of Liberty County, Ga., the sole verbal commitment.
Tennessee hosted two key recruits at the football team's 19-15 loss to UCLA on Saturday who could prove to be the future backcourt.
The Vols appear to have targeted point guard Trae Golden and combo guard Chris Crawford as two of the answers in the class of 2010.
It's a safe bet UT would like to have its backcourt signed in November.
Golden, a 6-foot-1 prospect at McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Ga., is the No. 55 overall ranked player in the Rivals.com 150 rankings and is listed 12th among point guards.
UT is believed to be at the top of his list over Virginia, South Florida and Georgia.
Crawford, a silky-smooth 6-4 shooter from Memphis' Sheffield High School (No. 66 overall by Rivals.com), also is strongly leaning toward the Vols, according to various reports.
Two of UT's top frontcourt targets are New Yorkers Jayvaughn Pinkston and Tobias Harris.
Pinkston, a 6-6, 235-pound power forward out of Brookyln's Bishop-Loughlin High School, has made an unofficial visit to Knoxville.
Pinkston is rated No. 67 overall in the Class of 2010 and also is looking at Arizona, Connecticut, Marquette and St. Johns.
Harris, a 6-8, 220-pounder from Long Island, was at UT's elite basketball camp last summer and is at the top of many powerhouses' wish lists.
Harris is the No. 5 overall player in the Class of 2010 and has Connecticut, Louisville, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Syracuse and Maryland after him.
Rankings: Athlon's preseason basketball magazine is out and has the UT men ranked No. 8 in their preseason Top 25 and projected to reach the Elite 8. The Lady Vols are ranked No. 11 in Athlon's preseason Top 25.
Mike Griffith covers UT men's basketball. He may be reached at griffithm@knozxnews.com
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Comments » 9
JoeVols writes:
Any quarterbacks at this camp?
cobbwebb writes:
note to bruce: ya had a guard in your own backyard, a certain auburn commit ring a bell? the memphis program is corrupt as ever, with the new coaches dad being the tourney director for aau! stay the hell out of memphis it is a waste of time!
RoadTrip writes:
It shows how bad our football program is going in that I am on a baskeball thread in September. Bruce - how about making Crompton a point guard? He calls himself a quarterback and he has a heck of a bounce pass!
TooLegit2Quit writes:
It sure is beautiful to see us in the running for such quality recruits in basketball. This is looking to be a great season, and the future looks even brighter.
CUSA_NEWS writes:
Good news for UT,
is that Memphis cant sign ALL the top players from the glorious land of Memphis therefore ut might just land a Crawford.
Thats assuming Robert Sallie stays else Crawford will slide in Sallie's spot.. keep your fingers crossed guys.....
VOLKING writes:
Marc ash or somebody in the know.....are we still recruiting Selby?
VOLKING writes:
Their is nothing Vol about you Morristown. Probably don't like Obama either for the same types of reasons you don't like Pearl. How about bashing Pearl for his charity work again. Loser.
johnlg00 writes:
Correct as far as it goes, but there are enough basketball games in a season that the range of possible movement over the course of a season is WAY wider than in football, say.
Tellicovol writes:
The only plus in a preseason poll ranking of number 8 might be in recruiting other than that they are useless.
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