Tennessee men's basketball took on the look of hockey for a split second of Friday's open practice in Pratt Pavilion.
It happened when senior wing Cameron Tatum, scrambling for a loose ball on the baseline, checked junior post Kenny Hall into a cement wall.
There was no whistle, no foul, and no out of bounds in the 20-minute scrimmage.
"Out of bounds?'' UT coach Cuonzo Martin said with a bemused smile. "We don't play with out of bounds when we scrimmage unless we have real referees.''
It's all part of Martin's "Get Tough" campaign, which has included drills of taking charges and the players wearing 10-pound weight vests since full-time fall practice began earlier this month.
There were still shots falling: Skylar McBee hit a score of 3-pointers, and Renaldo Woolridge and Hall took turns scoring on one another in the post.
"I don't know if Skylar will be considered our best offensive player; he's not going to be shooting every time we come down the court,'' Martin said. "But he'll take shots when he's open, and there may be games when he shoots 15 times.
"He's been shooting the ball real well.''
Martin reiterated how pleased he is with Tatum, who has found another gear the past two weeks.
"I think he can be a defensive stopper,'' Martin said. "He plays better on defense than I first thought.''
Martin explained there's a reason he pairs up Tatum with freshmen.
"It's so he can communicate with them and to tutor them,'' Martin said. "Cam does a real good job communicating.''
Martin said he also has been impressed with Hall and power forward Jeronne Maymon.
"They have been playing well,'' Martin said. "They're both very physical around the basket.''
Indeed, and sometimes into the walls, too.
Official Visitor: D'Montre Edwards, from Brevard Community College in Melbourne, Fla., is in Knoxville this weekend making an official visit.
The 6-foot-6 Edwards, originally from Charleston, S.C., led his team with 15.4 points and 6.8 rebounds last season, hitting 37 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and 78.6 percent from the free-throw line.
Edwards, who can play shooting guard and wing, is expected to sign at the college of his choice in November. He was a first-team All-Southern Conference selection last season and made the Florida College System Activities Association all-tournament team.
Mike Griffith covers Tennessee men's basketball. Follow him at http://twitter.com/MikeGriffith32
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Comments » 28
Prostar writes:
The more I read from Coach Zo's practice the better I like him. It's about time we played agressive basketball. Ten pound weight vests? I like it.
cdldoc#211897 writes:
Yeah, this will be a lot better than going to the big dance every year.
TheSmokyMountainThatRides writes:
more and more i'm growing optomistic. i don't know why i'm always hearing that the cupboard is bare. i really don't think that's the case. Hall, Swiperboy, Tatum (darn near killed him), Golden, and McCrae are all 4 stars. They just need to be coached up. If i had one complaint in the pearl era it was i didn't see a heck of a lot of player development. if cmm can get everyone to buy in and develop the talent he has, i believe we could be much better than expected.
born2ride writes:
Martin pushes the players extremely hard in practice - perhaps even harder than Pearl. He stresses defense which is good. But we do not have the talent to win and compete in the SEC. Martin's recruiting class is weak.
We will see how much support Martin has after the Vols start losing games and finish in the bottom of the league.
Snapshot writes:
With your attitude I guess they should just go ahead and cancel the season, no need of even showing up. Here is an idea, why not wait and SEE if they can compete in the SEC. Sometimes hard work and defense can take you a long way.
ReVolver writes:
eager to see these guys play and compete hard.
You should probably stay home and take up something less stressful. Like knitting.
decades_vol writes:
B2, why don't you just ride on out of here and late come back when you can actually be a UT fan.
brokendownoldvol writes:
All I ask for today is to see the team give 100% not just in the firsr half but in the second half too. You've got to start sometimes.
Ironcity writes:
We have talent we don"t have the experienced size. I have always felt this team would be OK. I worry more about two years from now when we have to depend on Martins first recruiting class. The schedule is tough but if we can defend the home court UT will be rewarded for the tough schedule.
amyinsparta writes:
The word will get out that UT has a fine coach, high standards, and the kids will come. Pearl's boys had talent that Pearl did not develop, and he certainly did not develop their character. Martin has the talent to make these kids into talented athletes and develop their character. I have all the faith in the world that these teams will do the school proud.
orangeJACKET writes:
Could not agree more. I loved Bruce. However, development of players just didn't seem to be there. Recruiting however was very strong. Word is the 2012 class is lost to this staff so they are working on developing relationships in '13. If they can devolop the young talent currently on the team, we could weather this storm. Also, loved he darn near killed him reference. I do that all the time.
CoverOrange writes:
Who? No, somebody does not.
TommyJack writes:
born2ride rides a Mo-Ped. But wears a doo-rag.
bobbytodd writes:
born2ride gave an opinion and it is not really off base. acting like he hates the team because he doesn't act like a cheerleader is pitiful.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
I'm with you. The thing that a lot of people seem to overlook about Martin's future recruiting is that the Vols lose only Tatum and Woolridge off this year's team. If the team does better than expected this year--shouldn't be too hard, considering they were picked 11th in the SEC--then he has a chance to get the two or more decent recruits he needs to fill out the squad when all is said and done. The remaining returnees and serviceable performance by at least a couple of this year's recruits will make up a core group at least no worse than what he has right now.
The idea of concentrating on the 2013 class makes sense, since it gives him a fighting chance to talk to some pretty good guys who aren't already committed to bigger-name schools. By the April 2013 signing period, Martin will have had two seasons to show whether or not he can actually coach. If the team is even better in the 2012-3 season than it is today, he may have a real shot at some good talent because he will not only have a track record but also a need for some guys good enough to play right away.
If the team looks as bad as some of the faint-hearts and nay-sayers think, he won't recruit well and his seat will be getting warm. The time horizon for success in basketball is shorter than in football because it only takes a handful of good recruits to turn a basketball program around, so I have no problem starting the clock on Martin AFTER NEXT SEASON. For this year, fans with any knowledge of college basketball, which leaves out all too many on here, should just let Martin do his thing and wait to see how it turns out.
VolunteerLifer writes:
Don't forget that Maymon was also a four star recruit and hs player of the year in Wisconsin.
I agree with your take and have been saying it for months now. There is talent on this team, it just was undeveloped by the former regime. IMO, Martin has targeted the precise weakness of this team that needs correcting more than any other, a lack of mental toughness that we all witnessed the past couple of years.
People who are predicting doomsday for this team need to remember that basketball is a team sport, and good coaching and team chemistry and toughness can overcome a lot of talent and experience deficiencies.
westknoxrepub writes:
Shhh, you're not allowed to criticize Martin's recruits, because he has an eye for talent that no coach who took a team to the NCAA tournament had, that's why he signed those guys, he's got the greatest eye for talent ever.
mocsandvolsfan writes:
Are you for real? Or are you just someone who wants to argue all the time? Or maybe you're just trying to drum up KNS business and make the articles seem as if they're better than they are? I generally like reading most of the articles if they're about basketball or football or and about the sport instead of just constantly criticizing people without anything to go on.
Really everything you've said is just made up! You have nothing to go on other than the star system. Teams overcome this bias of "stars" every year in the playoffs. We get your point but it's not necessarily a good one.
I hope the real fans are patient enough to see if Martin's a good coach and or recruiter. I'd like to believe he's both. But I'll reserve my judgement for later when it matters.
westknoxrepub writes:
I'm not going on star systems, I'm going on the offers these kids got from other Universities. I've said constantly this years class is excusable, next years isn't and it looks like more of the same. However even with it being excusable, we shouldn't pretend that these kids are more than what they are. Unlike some fans on this site, I have greater expectations for this program than occasionally making it to the NCAA tournament.
tartarsauce writes:
bashing a coach who has never coached a game or his recruits that have never played a game here is moronic and childlike. the idiots are looking for attention and there is an endless supply of people on here to oblige them. this board is more and more like romper room everyday!
GoVols025 writes:
I've been reading your junk for the past few days about how, after being hired in April, Martin was supposed to arrive in K'town and magically deliver a 5* recruiting class. Do you wanna' tell us where those 5* recruits were supposed to come from? Are you really so naive to not understand that relationships with 4* & 5* recruits are built over months and years not weeks and days? You got a list of 4* & 5* recruits that were still on the market when Martin came to K'town?
Not sure where you are coming from, but you got a hate-on about something. You might as well grow up and get over it ... you got no solutions, just a bunch of whiney, crybaby complaints. Face it dude, Pearl lied his way out of K'town ... shocking but true. Get over it.
garrthom writes:
Martin stresses defense, but I believe the best defense is a good offense.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Well, that sounds nice and might have a certain validity in military operations--though even that statement requires some clarification--but it rarely applies in sports over the long haul. If offense was better than defense, then why do almost NO teams at any level average even as much as 45% on field goals? Why is a baseball player a superstar if he averages even one-third success at the plate? The team that leads its league in offense in almost any sport at any level almost never wins the championship while the teams that DO win them are nearly always in the top few of the defensive rankings.
Some nights, the ball just doesn't go into the basket; you have to have a way to win when that happens. It is simply easier to be good on defense every night than on offense. It is harder for even the best offensive player to score consistently against a good defender than it is for an average offensive player to score against a poor defender. Of course, it takes great effort and concentration to be good on defense but it doesn't require the same kind of precise execution that successful offense does.
mocsandvolsfan writes:
Well I agree John but I still hope to see the defenses on their heels as we blow by.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Who doesn't? Actually, a well-run motion offense should produce lots of opportunities for just that. Ideally, a team would be good at both. I'm just saying that statistically and historically the better defensive teams win more championships than the better offensive ones. UConn won the championship last year not by running up huge numbers on offense but by holding Butler to the lowest field-goal percentage in championship history.
mocsandvolsfan writes:
Ok I give (although I wasn't arguing). I was just wishful thinking. I am looking forward to some great defense this year...uuhhh I don't know about any championships but if we get one I'll take it. I'm hoping to see a lot of fastbreaks off defense.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
I don't know exactly how to put this, but what I am looking for is a sense among the players that basketball MATTERS to them. Maybe it was just the way Scotty moped around all the time, but last year's team in particular just looked like they didn't LIKE to play ball. If the players give visible evidence that they CARE about how they are playing, I will let the rest of the chips fall where they may. In other words, "fake it until you make it". If they play with a sense of urgency at both ends of the floor, they will probably do well, at least compared to expectations. I heard at a young age that nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm. Too many modern players try too hard to look cool, as if there is nothing to get excited about in life. Guys, it really IS okay to ENJOY this time in your life and LOOK like it! And PLAY like it! GBO!!! GO ZO!!!
SouthPaVol writes:
Stressing defensive toughness will help us win some games, if our players buy into the new style of play. I am hoping Coach Zo and staff will also teach shooting technique. All the coaches were good shooters when they played and maybe they can pass that along. I see a good season if we play solid D and hit the 3's.
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