Posts Tagged ‘Buzz Peterson’

…About the BasketVols‘ Struggles

First off, this is my first post of 2009, so I would like to wish everyone a very late Happy New Year. Secondly, I will take just a little time to explain the three reasons for my slacking in terms of posting…

Reason #1: School began Wednesday. That is pretty self-explanatory. I’ll just leave stop now because none of you actually care, and if you do, click my fresh, new logo on the right of your screen and shoot me some mail (thanks to lawvol for making that happen).

Reason #2: I have been mentally and psychologically recovering from witnessing Tennessee lose a home basketball game for the first time ever. Never before have I had to walk through the parking lot wondering what went/is going wrong with the team. So if Tennessee builds up another long home streak – say, never losing again til I graduate – I will forever hate Gonzaga. And I mean hate as in the same breath as C****** W******, Jabar Gaffney/that ref, Matt Mauck, and Steven Hill.

Not that I didn’t already hate the Bulldogs anyways. After the first meeting between them and the Vols, I dubbed them the “gayest team in America” label that Butler so gracefully championed since the Preseason NIT win they had over Tennessee two years ago, ending when the Vols avenged that in the Tournament last year. You may be asking why this is…

No way he is good at basketball...

You look at Gonzaga’s team, and you think there is absolutely no way in hell they are any good. Josh Heytvelt is a ’shroom-smoking, low-class punk (those of you in attendance know why) who has no business making anything from the outside. Austin Daye is skinnier than the biggest pansie in the sports world (that’s Pau Gasol of the Lakers/Grizzlies) and looks goofy in his oversized t-shirt. Matt Bouldin’s pretty boy hair annoys me, and he will NEVER score 26 points against a good team again this year (for the record, 26 is his career high, which he’s done a grand total of once). Micah Downs, a former McDonald’s All-American, does get a pass for transferring from Kansas after just a semester to be closer to home. Jeremy Pargo is the only legit player on that team and will make it in the NBA.

So while their band of goofballs (sans Pargo) are a solid team, their streakiness is the kicker. For example, they start off shooting poorly in the first half. At 45-33, I thought Tennessee would run away with it. That is, until Gonzaga’s garbage kicked into high gear and they couldn’t miss. Yes, Tennessee’s defense was awful (more on that later). But they hadn’t shot that well earlier in the game. There was also a short stretch late in the second half where they couldn’t hit anything. And of course, they made every shot in the OT. And I’m not even going to start on the incompetency of their conference’s officials…

Reason #3: I was physically sick yesterday from vomiting all Thursday night/Friday morning from Florida’s winning another national title. Which brings me to another mini-rant (please bear with me)…

How any true Vol fan could have wanted Florida to win a national championship is beyond me. They are Tennessee’s biggest divisional rival. How does their winning a second title in three years benefit Tennessee in any way at all? Please explain this to me, I’m willing to listen.

The SEC power argument doesn’t make a difference. In today’s football world a one-loss SEC champion will get a shot to play for a national title. Florida’s two titles and LSU’s last year will have no bearing on whether or not Tennessee gets left out of a potential title game in the (hopefully very near) future. Let me say it this way: if Tennessee takes care of their business of winning the SEC – which is the #1 primary above-all goal EVERY YEAR – the rest will resolve itself. And if it doesn’t and we were to hypothetically get “Auburned,” Florida winning national titles wouldn’t make a lick of difference.

We all enjoyed watching Utah smack Bammer around didn’t we? Why would watching OU do that to Florida be any less enjoyable? Hence why I wanted Utah to win and OU to win Thursday night by 1,000. I thought both Alabama and Florida would win, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers, right?

Bruce is more frustrated than any of us

OK, now to the main topic of this post, today’s little trip to Athens to open up the defense of last year’s SEC hoops title. I’m still not in full panic mode yet, because I had justified losing at Temple and Kansas as the whole young team/hostile environment deal and the first Gonzaga loss as to them being hot. That said, I expected Tennessee to win Wednesday night.

The biggest reason to worry right now is Tyler Smith’s health. Smith is doubtful to play today due to the knee injury he suffered in the OT Wednesday night. The hush that fell on TBA during those moments was similar to the one that fell when Chris Lofton sprained his ankle his junior season. The general thought of course was “Oh no, there goes the season.” However, when Tyler popped up and walked off, and eventually reentered the game, relief ran rampant (there’s some alliteration for ya!).

The second biggest issue is team defense. The lack of defensive communication on ball screens is absolutely some of the worst I have ever seen from a college team. I see better team communication in intramural games and pickup games in TRECS, and I’m not even kidding. I really don’t even know if it’s individual players struggling, but the team as a whole has been horrific and frustrating. You obviously can’t win if you let the other team score every trip down the floor.

Now I’m not as worried as most about Tennessee offensively. Yes, the shot selection is bad, but hasn’t it always under Bruce? That said, Tennessee missed so many makable shots in the lane Wednesday night I lost count. Admittedly the Vols struggle with hitting a big shot in a crucial time (other than Tyler of course) and consistently making an open three-pointer.

Fortunately, the SEC just isn’t very good. Kentucky, Florida, Arkansas and LSU are all teams that can make the Tournament, but I still think Tennessee’s the team to beat, at least from a talent standpoint. Only Arkansas has near the quality wins (Oklahoma and Texas) as does Tennessee (Georgetown, Marquette). The rest of the league hasn’t played – and more importantly beaten – anybody.

Georgia hoops in a nutshell...

That said, a loss today to the worst team in the league would really start the meltdown/frantic/panicking/worrying. Georgia’s losses this year: Loyola of Chicago, Western Kentucky, Illinois (by 34 points), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Missouri, and Georgia Tech. Throw in an OT win over Wofford on a prayer three-pointer at the buzzer and you come to realize: this is a bad team we’re playing today. Georgia hasn’t beaten Tennessee in four years, so even Buzz beat Georgia.

Hopefully the Vols can get this win to start the SEC season off on the right foot before the evil blue team from up north comes visiting Tuesday night…GO VOLS!

– … to me.

Images Courtesy of: Gonzaga Official Site • Amy Smotherman-Burgess / Knoxville News-Sentinel • John Curry / AP (Daylife)

In case you haven’t noticed, with their win over the Butler Bulldogs, the Tennessee Volunteers recorded their 31^st victory, further distancing themselves from the prior record of 26. This is a feat which, only a few years ago, would have seemed as laughable and unlikely as learning that Bear Bryant was secretly a transvestite with a love child by Johnny Majors. Now, the BasketVols have accomplished what seemed impossible: an SEC Championship and back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances …

… but it’s obvious that’s not the ultimate goal.

GoVolsXtra“>After the win over Butler (I’m still on round-the-clock EKG monitoring to ensure there wasn’t any permanent coronary damage), Coach Pearl discussed his maverick decision to change up his point guard — giving J.P. Prince the starting nod — for the first time during the NCAA Tournament with the media. Among other things, Pearl said:

The deal is this: I just thought that the point guard play we were getting wasn’t going to win a national championship. So, if we make the decision and it doesn’t pay off and I’m sitting here in front of you and explaining why I made that choice and we lost the game, I could go to bed going, it’s okay. I don’t think this is going to help us advance. Watching tonight gives us a better chance to win Thursday.

It’s not a panacea, but we got five guys out there with J.P. in that position. I was able to do some different things offensively. I was able to do some things that Butler hadn’t seen. And that was fun. Actually, it was fun.

Excuse me? Did I read that correctly? Did Bruce Pearl use the phrase “National Championship” in reference to the Tennessee Vols Men’s Basketball program?

I, as much as anyone else who has followed the BasketVols … well … ever, appreciate that this team is in uncharted waters in terms of success. This season, the Vols have completely rewritten almost every record for Tennessee basketball. It’s obvious, however, that this team — and more importantly this coach — are not satisfied with simply raising the bar a few notches over the Tennessee teams of the past (ala Jerry Green and his “What do you people want? We made the tournament!” mentality). Bruce Pearl wants to rip the bar completely off the wall.

Even I have been guilty of the “We’re better” mentality of judging the BasketVols’ successes in relative terms against how they compared to the performance of teams of the past. Bruce Pearl, however, — without fanfare — has completely changed and elevated the benchmark at the University of Tennessee to one where the BasketVols are now assessing themselves in “absolute” terms. No longer is the question “Are the Vols better than the teams of Wade Houston, Kevin O’Neill, Jerry Green, Buzz Peterson, Don DeVoe, and Ray Mears?” Now, the question is simple:

Are the Vols better than EVERYONE?

That is the mark of a true winner.

Along with this change on the part of the team and the coaching staff, the Orange Nation is changing its perspective as well. Gone are the days of hoping — just hoping — that the BasketVols will be competitive, and maybe win a big game every now and then. Heck, I remember in the 1994-95 season — as Kevin O’Neill tried to pick up the pieces of the train wreck that was Wade Houston’s tenure — just hoping we would win more than 5 games. Now, Tennessee fans expect to win every game.

All of this comes from Pearl and his in-your-face style of leadership. From the very first day he came on campus Pearl knew he had a big task ahead of him. All he asked of the Tennessee faithful (and to suffer through some of the seasons between 1988 and 2005 you had to be really faithful) was to give the BasketVols a chance, come to a game and let us try and win you over. To date, no one has been disappointed. Pearl now is dead-set to push the Vols to the next level of success.

This speaks volumes on Bruce Pearl’s drive, dedication, and character.

I would welcome anyone in Orange Nation to name a single coach which has been more openly and enthusiastically embraced by the Tennessee fanbase than Bruce Pearl. The fact is, there isn’t one. I have never seen the notoriously fickle orange-clad fans so overwhelmingly support and fall in love with a coach like they have with Bruce Pearl. He is approaching the level of Peyton Manning in the minds of many people.

So let’s be honest, with that kind of support, Bruce could play his cards close to the vest — publicly talk about how good the Vols are and his desire to win that mythical “next game” and nothing more. That would be easy — keep the standard right where it is in the eyes of the fans, and win a whole lot, with the understanding that you won’t win them all. What that does is make it easy for a coach to meet the expectations of the backers, and be successful, but not raise the level of those expectations and invite the uncomfortable feeling that accompanies falling a bit short. I am willing to bet that, if Bruce Pearl could only win an average of 20 games a season and go to the tournament 6 or 7 years out of 10, he could stay at Tennessee until he is older than Joe Pa. That would be very easy, and that would be “safe” for Pearl.

Bruce Pearl is not known for playing it safe …

Rather than ride the wave and keep the expectations reasonable, Bruce Pearl is not only accepting an increase in expectations, he’s actively encouraging it. Forget just wanting to win the “next game” — Pearl has drawn the line in the sand: he wants the whole shooting match. Bruce Pearl has acknowledged what all of the Tennessee faithful have been too afraid to say:

We want the Championship!

Now, I know, that statistically speaking, the Vols probably have about a 50% chance of winning an NCAA Championship, maybe less than that. In all likelihood — purely looking at probabilities — the BasketVols will not win the title. Bruce Pearl, however, has acknowledged that it is out there, and Tennessee wants it. The only way you slay that dragon, is to know it. The only way you reach that pinnacle, is by claiming it as your own. You may fall short. You may not reach that goal. You may not make it all the way…

… but, then again, you might.

I, for one, firmly believe that if it is ever in the cards for Tennessee to claim that prize, Bruce Pearl is the one to take the team, the university and the fans there. Either way, Bruce Pearl has made it “absolutely” clear …

… Come Hell or High Water, that’s where Tennessee is heading.

– Go Figure …

This Sunday, Tennessee will say farewell to three senior members of the BasketVols: Jordan Howell, Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith, as they play their final game in Thompson-Boling Arena. They will be missed.

Their time wearing orange hasn’t always been easy, in fact at times I am quite sure it was terribly difficult — far more difficult than it was for Tennessee fans. Buzz Peterson recruited each of these young men to come play for Tennessee. Then, just as they concluded their first season in Knoxville, Buzz Peterson’s time as head coach came to an end. Having never experienced what it is like to endure a coaching change from inside the program, I can only imagine the impact it must have had on them at the time.

Every recruit at every program believes they will succeed when they first walk on the campus as a college basketball player. Part of this belief comes from the unbridled optimism of youth, part from a sense of self-confidence born out of past successes, and part from the assurances poured out to them in their living rooms during the recruiting process. No one starts out believing they will lose. Only, time, skill, hard work, experience, and a fair amount of luck will determine whether that belief becomes a reality.

College athletes compete in a very finite universe. They know they have four years to make their mark — after that they must move on. In some cases, this is a cruel truth. I can only imagine that these three seniors probably felt this cruelty when, in 2005, their head coach was fired.

The firing of Buzz Peterson probably left each of these seniors with many questions. When will we get a new coach? What will the new coach be like? How will I fit into his system? Will our personalities matchup well? Could we have done more to win? Will there still be a place for me under the new coach? Did I waste my one and only chance at basketball success?

This last question sticks out to me. When these seniors were but one year into their college career, the athletic department determined that their team’s performance was lackluster enough that their coach had to go. For an 18 or 19 year-old, that often means “we weren’t good enough, so the program is starting over.“

Regardless of what they thought of Peterson at the time, the dejection these seniors felt must have been considerable. While they might never admit it, I am sure they all thought, “Well, I just wasted my four years by coming to Tennessee…” After all, everybody know that it is impossible for a new head coach to come in to rebuild a program and start winning immediately…

…or is it?

I so wish I could have sat in and listened to that first meeting these seniors had with their new coach — some guy from Wisconsin named Pearl. I would love to know what Bruce Pearl said to those young men to not only show them that he believed they could win, but to make them believe it as well. Whatever it was, it is obvious that they took it to heart and sold out completely to Pearl’s vision for the future. The conventional wisdom is that you cannot instantly go from “goat” to “great.” Yet, these men swallowed any fears of the future, stayed positive, committed themselves to working their butts off, and embraced that uncertainty. Conventional wisdom be damned — there is nothing “conventional” about Bruce Pearl.

Now, only three short years after they were in the depths of disappointment over the 2005 season and the departure of their coach, they are standing tall … as champions.

Along with Coach Pearl and his staff, these seniors have not only witnessed one of the greatest transformations in University of Tennessee sports history — they made it happen. These young men saw the legions of empty seats in “The Big Brown Box,” but have also felt the electric atmosphere of a jam-packed Tommy Bowl ready to explode. They felt the sting of not receiving an invitation to the NCAA Tournament, but now are staring a No. 1 or No. 2 seeding dead in the face. They remember the apathetic fans who simply viewed basketball as something to occupy the time until football season, but now they know what it is like to be consumed by the intoxicating frenzy of thousands of fans focused completely on their fortunes on the hardwood.

As fans, we always say thank-you’s to departing seniors out of a recognition that they gave of themselves for a period of time to elevate a team, a program, and a university. That giving is worthy of gratitude. In the case of these seniors, however, they not only gave their time, effort, and ability to the Tennessee family, they also gave their trust and their loyalty. It would have been very easy for these seniors to either transfer or simply “mail-in” the rest of their time here — under the assumption that they were simply the leftovers from the last era. When you are an 18 or 19 year-old college student, you don’t have a lot of “pull” in the world, you don’t have a lot of money, you don’t have the ability to bring huge resources to the table.

When you are 18 or 19 years old, all you have is your ability, your mind, your heart, your love, and your devotion. These players gave every last bit of these to Tennessee…

For that sacrifice on their part, this Vol will be forever grateful. I want to personally thank Jordan, Chris and JaJuan not so much for what they did on the court, but for the type of people they are. I want to thank them for staying the course, and for believing in something bigger than themselves. I want to thank them for helping to start something great. I want to thank each of them for being the kind of young man I hope my step-son grows up to be. Best wishes, men, and Godspeed.

This weekend, Jordan Howell, Chris Lofton, and JaJuan Smith will say goodbye to the Tommy Bowl, and will walk through the student section one last time. I hope they feel the gratitude of the Orange Nation. I hope they feel they made the right decision. I hope — for them — it was worth it.

I know it certainly was a joy for all of us…

– Go Figure …

Images Courtesy of: UTSports.com