is the sheer amount of attrition we encountered under Pearl. I'm not one to beat a dead horse, but one thing no one seems to bring up under Pearl is that we lost about as many players as we kept. Josh Tabb, Major Wingate, Tony Passley, Ramar Smiff, Tyler Smiff, Duke Crews, Daniel West, Marquis Johnson... This list seems never ending. Its a miracle we were able to even field a team half of Bruce's tenure let alone make it to multiple sweet 16's and an elite 8. Bringing in transfers and JUCO players are the only saving grace we had. Had JP Prince, Tyler Smiff, and Bobby Maze had not worked out as well as they did... we wouldn't have been a .500 ball club. Pearl did not bring in a single ace PG during his time here either, and outside of Wayne Chism(and potentially Kenny Hall) he hasn't brought in a big man that is worth a flip either.
Bruce filled up our roster with over sized wings that like to look pretty shooting from outside and left us incredibly vulnerable inside and with running the offense. The only real production we have gotten out of the 1 and 5 outside of Wayne Chism is on the defensive end of the court. Had our attrition been less severe, in getting a quality PG that wasn't a smoove criminal like Ramar and a quality, tough minded player like Duke Crews that wasn't rolling doobies instead of working on his game, we could've had much better success.
CCM doesn't seem like the type to recruit that "type" of player. I think when he referred to the 3-4 year player, he was meaning more in terms of being accountable for his players and ensuring that we don't suffer the same amount of attrition due to courting bad apples.
I think CCM is an excellent hire and will keep UT in the spotlight for many, many years. I look forward to building on the current successes we have had as a program, and provided we can hold onto Ware and Jones(which I whole heartedly believe we will) and bring in another big, we will be in position to make the dance a 7th strait season. Of course, quite a bit of that depends on Scotty and Tobais and their respective decisions about their future.
For those of you that seem to undervalue Scotty's ability at the next level...
The difference in the game will prove that Scotty is a much better NBA player than a college player. I predict a similar type of transition from college to the league as Rajon Rondo experienced, just to a lesser degree and different facets of the game. The NBA's illegal defense and extended 3 pt line make the game much more about one on one ability and Scotty has that in droves. It is when the lane is packed in and the help defense strips it when he has the majority of his issues. In the league he will be able to get by his man and either have a clean trip to the rack or an easy kick to an open man. Scotty will have a long and successful NBA career and will average 15pts or better within his first 3 years whether he comes out now or after his SR season. Flame away, but Scotty's strengths play in his advantage at the next level. He has as quick a first step as I have ever seen out of a 6'7" wing.
Go Vols!!!
Bruce filled up our roster with over sized wings that like to look pretty shooting from outside and left us incredibly vulnerable inside and with running the offense. The only real production we have gotten out of the 1 and 5 outside of Wayne Chism is on the defensive end of the court. Had our attrition been less severe, in getting a quality PG that wasn't a smoove criminal like Ramar and a quality, tough minded player like Duke Crews that wasn't rolling doobies instead of working on his game, we could've had much better success.
CCM doesn't seem like the type to recruit that "type" of player. I think when he referred to the 3-4 year player, he was meaning more in terms of being accountable for his players and ensuring that we don't suffer the same amount of attrition due to courting bad apples.
I think CCM is an excellent hire and will keep UT in the spotlight for many, many years. I look forward to building on the current successes we have had as a program, and provided we can hold onto Ware and Jones(which I whole heartedly believe we will) and bring in another big, we will be in position to make the dance a 7th strait season. Of course, quite a bit of that depends on Scotty and Tobais and their respective decisions about their future.
For those of you that seem to undervalue Scotty's ability at the next level...
The difference in the game will prove that Scotty is a much better NBA player than a college player. I predict a similar type of transition from college to the league as Rajon Rondo experienced, just to a lesser degree and different facets of the game. The NBA's illegal defense and extended 3 pt line make the game much more about one on one ability and Scotty has that in droves. It is when the lane is packed in and the help defense strips it when he has the majority of his issues. In the league he will be able to get by his man and either have a clean trip to the rack or an easy kick to an open man. Scotty will have a long and successful NBA career and will average 15pts or better within his first 3 years whether he comes out now or after his SR season. Flame away, but Scotty's strengths play in his advantage at the next level. He has as quick a first step as I have ever seen out of a 6'7" wing.
Go Vols!!!
