Have the floodgates opened for Pearl

#1
TBALLVOL

TBALLVOL

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#1
I have felt that Bruce only needed to get some momentum going and then the floodgates would open for him to sign one of the best classes in UT history. MarQues Johnson PG from Indiana, #15 Rivals said he wants to do it in orange. Is he the first of many that will jump on the bandwagon or is TN doomed to mediocraty and next week we will hear the familiar story of another allstar jumping off the allstar wagon???
 
#4
#4
He 's having a meet-and-greet on 6/22/05 at the Union Oyster House, at UMASS if you want to go ask him. Don't go expecting to find a Pearl.
 
#5
#5
:laugh1:

well I am 100% happy with Pearl real glad we got him

But I think Umass got a pretty good coach in Ford. look for him to do good things in the future
 
#6
#6
CKDT1_floodgates.jpg
 
#7
#7
Anytime you can go outside your geographic region and get a quality player it has to be considered a coup. The list of schools that have shown interest in Johnson is rather impressive. Sure beats competing with Belmont and Birmingham Southern for recruits.
 
#8
#8
He is ranked as a 4* recruit and #58 overall prospect by Scout.com and is ranked as a 4* recruit and #40 overall prospect by Prepstars. He had offers from Illinois, Georgia Tech, NC State, Oklahoma, and Indiana among others.
 
#9
#9
As much as I like the fact that he got a quality recruit to verbally commit to TN, I would have much preferred he had got a big name from within the state. TN is loaded in 06 with great recruits, and if we can get a couple of those to fall our way we can start going to the well year after year. I think TN has good enough recruits year in and year out to take us to the NCAA finals every year...IMO...Hey Edgar, it looks like Bruce got the Indiana kid on his own, now you need to do your job and get us some of that west TN tallent!
 
#10
#10
Originally posted by TBALLVOL@Jun 14, 2005 12:57 PM
As much as I like the fact that he got a quality recruit to verbally commit to TN, I would have much preferred he had got a big name from within the state. TN is loaded in 06 with great recruits, and if we can get a couple of those to fall our way we can start going to the well year after year. I think TN has good enough recruits year in and year out to take us to the NCAA finals every year...IMO...Hey Edgar, it looks like Bruce got the Indiana kid on his own, now you need to do your job and get us some of that west TN tallent!
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i agree...Edgar, get to Memphis and recruit your butt off!
 
#12
#12
Regarding in state recruiting, I think Chism and Kemp are the key recruits. Young and Wright appear to be NBA bound. If Tennessee can land these high school teammates, along with Johnson, that would be a tremendous initial class for Coach Pearl and company.
 
#13
#13
Originally posted by TBALLVOL@Jun 14, 2005 5:31 AM
I have felt that Bruce only needed to get some momentum going and then the floodgates would open for him to sign one of the best classes in UT history. MarQues Johnson PG from Indiana, #15 Rivals said he wants to do it in orange. Is he the first of many that will jump on the bandwagon or is TN doomed to mediocraty and next week we will hear the familiar story of another allstar jumping off the allstar wagon???
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I think things will be slow out of the gate, but I would expect NCAA tourney cuts in 2-3 seasons.
 
#14
#14
Originally posted by hatvol96@Jun 14, 2005 3:24 PM
Regarding in state recruiting, I think Chism and Kemp are the key recruits. Young and Wright appear to be NBA bound. If Tennessee can land these high school teammates, along with Johnson, that would be a tremendous initial class for Coach Pearl and company.
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Kemp will be iffy now
 
#15
#15
Originally posted by Vol67@Jun 14, 2005 5:37 PM
Kemp will be iffy now
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Given the success Illinois had playing essentially 3 point guards, see Luther Head's performance in the NBA Chicago predraft camp, I don't think the addition of Johnson would scare Kemp off because so many teams are going to systems that require multiple ballhandlers.
 
#16
#16
I don't think it will hurt too much with recruting Kemp because Kemp is a pure point guard. This kid sounds like more of a Scottie Pippen guard, meaning he can handle the ball well for his size but he is not a true poin guard. I think he is more of a scorer where as Kemp really knows how to run a team and make great passes.
 
#17
#17
Everyone just keeps mentioning Kemp and Chism, but don't think that the recruiting class will be a bust if UTK doesn't get them. Tennessee has so much talent that others could make great recruits. Brandon Powell, Jay Watkins, Jeremy Williams, and Pierre Niles are all Tennessee kids that are projected very highly. I am telling you right now that Pierre Niles is going to be every bit the college basketball player that Chisim will be. I am hoping we get Stanley Robinson from Alabama. He is a stud.
 
#18
#18
Originally posted by therickbol@Jun 14, 2005 7:11 PM
Everyone just keeps mentioning Kemp and Chism, but don't think that the recruiting class will be a bust if UTK doesn't get them. Tennessee has so much talent that others could make great recruits. Brandon Powell, Jay Watkins, Jeremy Williams, and Pierre Niles are all Tennessee kids that are projected very highly. I am telling you right now that Pierre Niles is going to be every bit the college basketball player that Chisim will be. I am hoping we get Stanley Robinson from Alabama. He is a stud.
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I don't think the class would be a bust, it just makes things easier when you can fill two needs at once. Filling these needs with other players would require more time and effort.
 
#20
#20
Originally posted by hatvol96@Jun 14, 2005 7:17 PM
Also, Chism and Niles make the foundation for a very good front line.
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FWIW, I don't think our chances are very good with Pierre Niles. He completely dropped UT from his list after the coaching change.

I like the work the staff has put in with identifying and pursuing Watkins and Williams so far, but I fear they may be falling behind for Brandon Powell, who will be a big time scorer and would be a perfect fit for Pearl's system.

Chism and Kemp are huge, obviously, and getting them to visit unofficially was a big step in rebuilding the relationships there.

I had a chance to watch Jarvis Varnardo and Brandon Evans (as well as Watkins and Williams) last month at the Tournament of Champions in Chapel Hill. Varnardo has tremendous potential, and we've already offered him a scholarship (as one of the first major schools to do so). In the end, I think he's someone the Vols land to help out on the front line.

He's a tremendous athlete and already has excellent shotblocking instincts. I think he's going to be a very good college player, and I'd be happy to see him commit to Tennessee.

Evans is a solid back up target at either guard spot to Powell, Kemp, etc., and would work well alongside Johnson because he can guard the quicker, smaller point guards that Marques struggles against defensively, but he's got more of a scorer's mentality on offense--which meshes well with Johnson's lead guard mentality.
 
#22
#22
Possibly, but junior college targets don't usually emerge until the fall at the earliest, and often not until their season has begun or even concluded.

One name to watch is AR JC WF Sonny Weems...
 
#23
#23
I bring up the JUCO option because Cincinnati is having obvious uncertainty regarding Coach Huggins and I thought that might open an avenue to find some players that fit the athletic mold that Coach Pearl needs to implement his system. I do remember Iowa bringing in some JUCOS and transfers from 4 year schools when Coach Pearl worked for Dr. Tom.
 
#24
#24
As of right now, Tennessee leads for Top 100 players, Jeremy Williams and Jarvis Varnardo. They are in the top 3 with Chism, along with Ole Miss and Arkansas. Memphis is also in there for Chism. Niles is very good friends with Tyler Smith, and they way that whole thing went down has really hurt our chances with him. We are still a player for him, but we look to be on the outside looking in at this time. We are in Kemp's top 5. It will be interesting to see how this recent committment affects hims. I think Illinois and Kentucky(if they get more involved) will be very tough competition for Tennessee.

Hopefully Pearl can "work some magic" and bring in an exciting haul of recruits for the class of 2006.
 
#25
#25
Originally posted by orangewizard98@Jun 14, 2005 10:41 PM
I think Illinois and Kentucky(if they get more involved) will be very tough competition for Tennessee.
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I can't even believe that our basketball program is competing with Illinois or Kentucky.
 
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