Weekend Recap and Such

First things first, it’s snowing in Knoxville today. Although it’s stopped (temporarily?) this might be the first time I’ve seen snow actually stick to the ground in my time here in Knoxville (almost three years). I’m from Memphis, and it never snows there, so safe to say it’s pretty cool. Also an interesting little tidbit, as I was walking from my class to TRECS (yes, I spend lots of time there), I saw Renaldo Woolridge and Emmanuel Negedu in a mini-snowball fight. Those guys are from Nigeria and California (although Negedu did got to school in New Hampshire), so snow’s probably new to them too. Of course it’s ridiculously cold yet again, but I guess that’s how it’s gotta be for snow…

From my phone: Circle Park at 11 this morning...

Anyways, couple quick things:

First, the basketball team showing a glimpse of their potential. Let’s be honest, as soon as I got to my seats Saturday night around 8:20, I knew there was absolutely no way Tennessee was going to lose. Why? For one, the crowd was there, it was lively, and everyone hates Florida and beating them at basketball is better than beating them at nothing (hey, you gotta take wins over the University of Tebow where you can get them, right?).

Secondly, Bruce Pearl owns Billy Donovan something fierce. Much like Urban Meyer owns – well, Tennessee. I would say it’s just Phil Fulmer, but I don’t think anybody’s expecting us to win down in Gainesville this coming September. That’s six out of seven now for the Vols over the Gators, and the one loss was sans Chris Lofton. The Vols’ basketball ownage and Gators’ football ownage are similar in their dominance – er, except for the fact Florida won two hoops titles…

Outstanding performance Saturday night, Mr. Smith

As painful as the four home losses in January were, I was always upbeat about the season, and Tennessee showed what they can do when playing at a high level Saturday night. The Gonzaga, LSU and Memphis losses all easily could have gone the other (our way), and Kentucky Jodie Meeks played the game of his life. Yes, I’m a bit of a homer, but all the doom and gloom of the NIT, running Pearl off, and Scotty Hopson bashing was totally stupid.

Tennessee had 24 assists on 29 made field goals Saturday night. Combine that with the 12 threes by five different guys (none of which named Wayne Chism – who I saw at the IHOP on Kingston Pike after the game), and the Vols might have played their best game of the year. If the Kentucky loss was a defensive wake-up call, was Saturday night the catalyst to a February run to the top of the SEC?

Look people, the SEC race is wide open. LSU may be the league’s best team with their talent and guys like Tasmin Mitchell, Garrett Temple (who still haunts J.J. Redick’s dreams), Marcus Thornton (the SEC’s scoring leader from last year) and Manute Bol Chris Johnson and his twelve-foot wingspan.

But Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi State? All those teams, tied with Tennessee with two league losses apiece, don’t scare me. The Wildcats are a two-man team (Meeks and Patrick Patterson) with a so-so coach. Nobody else on the team is even worth guarding. Carolina is the same way, with Devan Downey and Zam Frederick and a committee of solid-yet-unspectacular frontcourt. Florida has Nick Calathes and can be deadly if they are on from outside, but Dan Werner? Alex Tyus? It’s not like Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Chris Richard are clogging up the paint anymore. Honestly, I know little about Mississippi State outside of Jarvis Varnardo blocks lots of shots and Barry Stewart shoots threes. And they just lost to Ole Miss – who’s without their three best players – at home.

These next four games should be Tennessee wins. Granted, Arkansas and Auburn are road games, but Arkansas is struggling mightily and Auburn is, well, Auburn. Then Georgia and Vandy visit Knoxville. Taking care of business these next two weeks put Tennessee at 8-2 in the league before trips to Oxford, Lexington, Gainesville and Columbia

As for football, at this point you can only commend the new staff on their recruiting efforts. Obviously it’s all about waiting now, for Wednesday’s signing day and the (hopefully) constant buzzing of my phone telling me of the players who will be in orange. Honestly, I’m not really sure what to expect. I am trying to keep my expectations slightly low, because I just have this feeling that Tennessee will be the bridesmaid of choice on Wednesday.

It is just a feeling, and I hope I am pleasantly surprised. The staff did an amazing job with getting people on campus, but when you have to do what other programs have been able to do over a year’s time – build relationships with these guys – in a month or so, you’re fighting an uphill battle. But the staff has been hard at work and they seem to know what they are looking for (and no, I’m not sure I totally agree with the timing of the Damian Thigpen issue), to which we fans can only say that we trust the coaching staff.

Yes, I have followed recruiting more the past couple years than in years past, but it’s still foolish to get too overly worked-up about these kids’ decisions. They still have to be developed and coached up, and hopefully Tennessee’s new staff will be able to do that better than this previous staff did.

Having said that, there are two guys who I really want – Marlon Brown and Marsalis Teague. They’re both Tennessee guys, and I think they both are great players. Losing them to either Georgia, Florida, Alabama or possibly Ohio State would be disheartening, to say the least. And if David Oku picks Auburn over Tennessee, I might throw things too, and deface their campus when I head down there for friends and the basketball game this weekend. But as for the rest of the class and recruits, whatever happens happens

– … to me.

Images Courtesy of: Amy Smotherman Burgess / KNS

About the Author:  I'm from Memphis but I'm now entering my third year at the University of Tennessee here in Knoxville. I am majoring in Journalism/Electronic Media and hope to go into sports broadcasting/writing/something like that. I'm a huge Vol fan and have been going to games for as long as I can remember. I started my on blog called "The View From The Hill" but moved here to Gate 21 for bigger and better things. In addition to my passion for Tennessee football and basketball, I enjoy watching the NFL and the NBA as well. Basically, sports are a big part of my life. >> Read more from this author

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