Tyler Smith won his hardship case and will be allowed to play for Tennessee immediately without having to sit out a year. Also JP Prince will be eligble to play in January. They are deep and talented.

projected starting lineup.
Ramar Smith 6'2
Chris Lofton 6'2 Sr
JuJuan Smith 6'2 Sr
Tyler Smith 6'7 So
Wayne Chism 6'9 So

2nd 5.
Jordan Howell 6'3 Sr
J.P. Prince 6'6 So
Josh Tabb 6'4 So
Ryan Childress 6'8 Jr
Duke Crews 6'9 So

Plus newcomers
Brian Williams 6'10 300 pound fr (a project player and probable redshirt, they want to get his weight down about 30 pounds)
Careron Tatum 6'6 Fr 4 stars by Rivals and ranked 13th in nation among SG's.

They have 1 scholarship left but have said they probably weren't going to use it this year. Plus they have a bunch of walkons including Pearl's son for pratice. They also have several good propects lined up for NEXT year and one verbal from a 6'11 kid from Chattanoga.

Yep, I watched Tyler Smith last night. Both he and Prince are the real deals. People down this way are already talking final 4. Barring injuries or academic problems, I wouldn't be surprised. The are already as high as 6th in the nation in some preseason polls. I still would have liked us being on their schedule, even if it meant us playing in Knoxville again.

Good for them...Now I know not to listen to Bill Meade's show today.

I bet his show was interesting today. I wonder how long he spent talking about the closed workouts that nobody sees... I just wonder if Ron Bliss has pitched his tent in the Neyland Stadium pressbox yet.

Any time the Vols are discussed, 90% of the Tri-Cities pitches a tent.

And that's why ETSU is in the shape they are.

Not on Bill's show they're not, atleast not according to the last book on the randr website.

etsuBucsFan1988 Wrote:Yep, I watched Tyler Smith last night. Both he and Prince are the real deals. People down this way are already talking final 4. Barring injuries or academic problems, I wouldn't be surprised. The are already as high as 6th in the nation in some preseason polls. I still would have liked us being on their schedule, even if it meant us playing in Knoxville again.

Tennessee fans are some of the most delusional fans in the country. While I believe they will have a strong team, the final 4 is a huge stretch to predict. Even with Jeff Green staying in the draft Georgetown returns a good team, as does UCLA, North Carolina, and Kansas. I don`t see Tennessee having the front line to stay with any of those teams. They should win the SEC, and will probably be a solid #2 seed, but I wouldn`t predict much more.

Carolina will be very good, but losing Wright and Terry. Kansas has to get Rush healthy, but Arthur will make a huge jump for them this year. UCLA is a team that could not score last year and lost its best scorer. Collison and Shipp must be able to score for them and Love has to have a major impact for them to get back to the Final Four. As sad as it is, Memphis might have as much talent as anyone. The addition of Rose only makes that team that much more dynamic.

Tennessee can make a run because anytime Lofton goes off they are damn near unbeatable.

Why are we talking about UT hoops?

Question two- Tennessee has some of the most disillusional fans in the country?

WHAT?

The fans who think an ESPN conspiracy cost Peyton Manning the Heisman?

The fans who claim a one-loss team in 1939 was unscored upon?

NO!

There is something about Memphis hoops that I just can't stand. They just don't play smart. Always have a ton of talent, but maybe that reflects on the coach (which is why I don't like them). That's why I don't think you will ever see them near the final 4 anytime soon.

Didn't Calipari make it with UMass in the 90s?

Interesting note- however.

Guaranteed Joe Johnson City would agree with your assessment, 88, but then never think of George Pitts as anything less than a "fine developer of young men" despite the fact he sent players to UMass WHO COULDN'T MAKE IT THERE FOR OFF-COURT REASONS!

etsuBucsFan1988 Wrote:That's why I don't think you will ever see them near the final 4 anytime soon.

First, I've posted here before as a friend. So I'm not a troll/flamer.

With all due respect, we've made it to the Elite Eight the last two years. That is as "near" as you can get. Only Florida can say the same (two straight in the final 8) as well.

That's five Elite 8's in the history of the program ... something that UT-Knoxville despite YEARS of excessive funding to the detriment of the rest of us has NEVER done.

I believe hes right.

I guess I should have said "participating in" the final 4. That's cool...my bad. I still don't like Memphis hoops though. It is good to know others read this board!

PittsburghBucs Wrote:Why are we talking about UT hoops?

Question two- Tennessee has some of the most disillusional fans in the country?

WHAT?

The fans who think an ESPN conspiracy cost Peyton Manning the Heisman?

The fans who claim a one-loss team in 1939 was unscored upon?

NO!

Every fan base has their conspiracy therorist, as far as unrealistic expectations, and complete belief in the superiority of their team I put Tennessee right at the top. Notre Dame is the only other fan base that is close from my experience.

BucNut22 Wrote:Every fan base has their conspiracy therorist, as far as unrealistic expectations, and complete belief in the superiority of their team I put Tennessee right at the top. Notre Dame is the only other fan base that is close from my experience.

AND YOU WOULD BE CORRECT, SIR!

Tennessee basketball fans wouldn't even make the top 100 list. Football is another story.

Kentucky basketball and Alabama football fans are light years ahead of the average UT basketball fan in the dillusional expectation department.

Well, remember there weren't any Tennessee basketball fans- at least not on the men's side- until last year.

However, I'm not quite sure I'd agree. It has always seemed to me that Tennessee basketball fans, much like Alabama football and Kentucky hoops, like to run their coaches out of town.

Everyone is now in Bruce Pearl euphoria, but if, let us say, UT hoops were to stub their toe this year, would anyone remember they were just a point away in the NCAAs from beating Ohio State and the big win against Florida in the regular season?

Or would Pearl be a Palooka from the North with boosters looking to fire him for the next frisky young colt willing to make a short-term coaching move for a lot of bucks?

Tennessee made its' mistake when they ran Don Devoe off to get Alan Houston. Yes it's nice to say Alan Houston played in Knoxville, but his dad SUCKED as a coach. They fired Jerry Green and Wade Houston because the team was in shambles, full of thugs, Kevin O'Neill cleaned it up but his style of play was boring and Doug Dickey HATED HIM, Buzz was just in over his head at UT, which leads us to Bruce Pearl. People seem to like Pearl's personality. Reading the volquest board is a bad idea mostly, those guys suffer from the same problem as the Kennesaw fans, the average UT fan understands that as long as they can get around 18-22 wins, get one, maybe two wins in the tournament and on down years go to the NIT, that's all they want. Every great UT basketball team has blown leads in their sweet 16 game....
Plus, UT can't fire Pearl, they're still paying for Buzz, now they're paying Delmonico, and possibly still Jerry Green.