Given how those players looked under him, I think that's ridiculous.
It doesn't change the fact that the team Pearl inherited is better than the one Martin inherited.
Pearls first team had lost its top two scorers from a 14-17 team. His only recruit was Ryan Childress....they were picked to finish fifth out of six SEC East teams.
His team finished 22-8 made the tournament and finished in the top twenty. probably a little better talent but he also finished better....Most think Next yrs team will make the tournament so the talent level must not have been too bad.
Tennessee was picked to finish 11th of 12 SEC teams last year, and they finished second.Pearls first team had lost its top two scorers from a 14-17 team. His only recruit was Ryan Childress....they were picked to finish fifth out of six SEC East teams.
His team finished 22-8 made the tournament and finished in the top twenty. probably a little better talent but he also finished better....Most think Next yrs team will make the tournament so the talent level must not have been too bad.
Martin's team exceeded expectations while Dooley has spent most of his time embarrassing himself. That's the big difference.
Tennessee was picked to finish 11th of 12 SEC teams last year, and they finished second.
They did finish second, Pearls first team was picked to finish the equivalent of Martins and went to the tournament and was ranked at the end of the yr.
It's a lot better talent. The best point guard Pearl ever had was the one he inherited. Most think the team will make the tournament because they greatly exceeded expectations this past year.
Did Martin's team exceed expectations? I'm not so sure. Yes, they were picked to finish 11th in the SEC at the beginning of the season. But after the very first week in college basketball, I heard from multiple commentators and opposing coaches that last years team was an NCAA tourny team. So, after we actually seen the talent on the floor and how good Golden, Maymon were and how decent the rest of the team was, how hard the played defense, then really did this team exceed the expectations? I think they exceeded the 11th place finish that they were expecting, but not so sure about exceeding the expectations what the team was capable of. Not knocking CCM, he gets a pass his first year. But the only way for him to be successful is to be able to recruit. Time will tell on how well he will succeed at UT