Quote :

"Vols Dazzle on Opening Night, Roll 114-75 Lights, camera, action! With some heavy emphasis on the action part. Tennessee got the 2008-09 season started in resounding fashion on Saturday night, exposing UT-Chattanooga to some extreme 'big-brother on little-brother' treatment on the way to a 114-75 victory. Preseason assessments of the Vols have been all-over the board. The team's retuning talent is balanced by an influx of newcomers at key positions, making this a hard team to get an early read on. Their debut performance--while certainly not against the strongest competition they'll face this season--suggests that this may be Bruce Pearl's deepest and most versatile squad yet. The head coach clearly loved the performance that saw his team completely dominate both halves of play, but he tried to keep a little caution in his voice when translating the lopsided win into a true read on this year's Vols. "I'm a little bit surprised, I am," Pearl admitted of the cohesive play his new-look team showed from the opening tip. "Situations didn't come up in the game that were too terribly disruptive, they could have, but just didn't. "You have to like the balance, and you have to like the chemistry in the sense that there was a real good feeling on the bench. But you haven't seen much adversity." The Vols got contributions from up-and-down the roster 10 different players played at least 12 minutes and six Vols hit double figures, led by Tyler Smith's 21 points. Cameron Tatum tossed in 19 points off the bench in just 21 minutes of play. Dynamic freshman Scotty Hopson went for 17 points in his Tennessee-premiere, many of them highlight reel quality baskets. Wayne Chism had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Bobby Maze had a double-double of his own with 12 points and 10 assists (with only one turnover) and J.P. Prince looked dazzling at times--after missing both exhibition games with a shoulder injury--scoring 14 points and handing out five assists in just 17 minutes of floor-time. Most surprising of all was the 32 assists (on 43 made shots) dished out by the Vols, a new school record. A stunning development in light of the fact that five of the ten players in the regular rotation were not part of the active roster a year ago. It was an eye-opening performance for everyone wondering just how Pearl would blend a talented group of new faces with a gifted core of veterans. The head coach himself almost seemed as surprised as anyone, given all the guys who have missed various amount of practice time in the last month for one reason or another. "It's been a really interesting preseason. I've been doing this a lot of years...and we've had to go with so many things with injury, eligibility, suspension, discipline and it's been disruptive and hard to get a handle on our best rotations. But it also forced our hand with some freshmen getting in the rotations," the head coach offered of his apparently quick-to-gel group. "I thought the fact that we had just a positive turnover-to-assist ratio with all the new guys was good. With Bobby having 10 (assists) and 1 (turnover), that's obviously significant." Tennessee didn't waste anytime in getting the blowout started in this one. A Tatum three-ball followed by a steal of the inbounds and a quick bucket by Maze gave the Vols their first double-digit lead of the night at 19-8 with 14:30 left in the first half. A dunk by Prince, followed by three-pointers from Hopson and Renaldo Woolridge revved up the proceedings, making it 27-14, and at that point, the Tennessee offense was in a high gear. The competition level has to be considered, but even with that in mind, Tennessee looked as good tonight in stretches--offensively that is--as the Vols have at any point in Pearl's extraordinary run in Knoxville. The lead ballooned to 20 at 53-33 on another Tatum triple, which he followed up with a dunk off a nifty feed from Maze to push it to 55-33 with 3:24 left in the first half. The Moccasins gave Tennessee all it wanted and then some last year before the Vols escaped with a 76-70 win. This time around there was exceedingly less drama in the developments. The Vols would hit 8-of-16 three's in the first-half and take a 60-37 lead into the break. The second half was essentially a repeat of the 20 minutes, which may have been the most pleasing aspect of the night for Pearl. His team had (understandably to some degree) let off the gas in the final stanza of the two exhibition games, but tonight a true killer instinct was very much in evidence. "That was the first game we won the second half. We hadn't one a second half yet (in the two exhibitions). Now part of that was the score, but at least we continued to play pretty good in the second half," Pearl said. "We challenged them to win the second half. I thought our starters got off to a pretty goods start to take control of the basketball game." Pearl's 'pretty good' critique of the second-half was an understatement of fairly large proportions. Tennessee never gave Chattanooga even a glimmer of hope of forging a comeback in the second half. In fact, the Vols came out of the break hotter than they went in. Tennessee ripped off a 10-0 run in the first 2:20 of the second half, jumping out to a 72-37 lead when Hopson drilled his second three-pointer of the night. The Vols could have put it on cruise control from there, but they didn't. The team kept forcing turnovers and beating the visitors to loose balls for the remainder of the contest, taking their cue from Smith who scored 15 of his 21 points in just 12 second half minutes, hitting 6-of-7 shots from the floor. Smith sounded like his head coach--and the cagey veteran he's suddenly become--when breaking down his own play and his team's effort in the afterglow of a opening night blowout. "We still have a lot of work to do, a lot. We looked good tonight, but at the same time we've got to get a lot better. No disrespect to UT-Chattanooga, they're a great team, but we're in the SEC. Coming into that with the Florida's and Kentucky's and all those big teams is really going to test us," Smith said. How much better? Tennessee's improvement at the point guard position was noticable to everyone Saturday night. Obviously, it's just the first game and only UT-Chattanooga, but Bobby Maze's 10 assist is only five less than Tennessee's point guards had in three NCAA tournament games a year ago. Getting rowdy Tennessee's student section was mid-season form or at least numbers wise they were. In fact, the student attendence for Saturday night's season opener was larger than it was for the Kentucky game a year go. In the house Both Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton and senior associate athletic diretor John Currie were in Knoxville to see the Vols season opener ending speculation about them being out to see college games in their search for a new head football coach. Big Opener Tennessee's 114 points is the most scored in a season opener since November 25th 1988 when they scored 118 in a win over Tennessee Tech. "

[Edited on November 16, 2008 at 1:05 AM. Reason : d]

11/16/2008 12:59:36 AM

?topic=497620

[Edited on November 16, 2008 at 1:08 AM. Reason : ]

11/16/2008 1:07:04 AM

Maze has got to be better than Ramar Smith....he was just too out of control and could not shoot from outside.

11/16/2008 1:17:28 AM

^^ wow, you suck at college bball knowledge

^ hes proved that in one game haha

[Edited on November 16, 2008 at 1:18 AM. Reason : d]

11/16/2008 1:17:33 AM

don't care

11/16/2008 1:20:26 AM

its weird that you would respond to a thread then, or even click on it, I dont look at hockey threads

11/16/2008 1:22:10 AM

haha neither do I.

it's not weird that I go to nc state, post on an nc state board, and

DONT CARE ABOUT TENNESSEE



[Edited on November 16, 2008 at 1:26 AM. Reason : h]

11/16/2008 1:24:59 AM

^ oh, so you do click on the NC State Super Bowl threads? or the NC State MLB threads? what about the Wolfpack NBA threads? those are my favorites

11/16/2008 1:27:19 AM

Lock this shit

11/16/2008 1:29:47 AM

^ suspend this loser

11/16/2008 1:31:36 AM

seriously?

you're going to complain about a thread because it doesn't relate to nc state?

that has been proven to be one of the weakest arguments ever

Jaybee1200 is one of the few who i would consider that owns sports talk, regardless of team affiliation

CARRY ON

11/16/2008 1:36:59 AM

^ atta boy!


exactly. Oh wait, I forgot, NC State plays in a sports vacuum. They have no contact with any other entity in the world. Just a bunch of intra-squad scrimmages.

11/16/2008 1:38:53 AM

i may have gone too far by saying "owns sports talk"

but you are one of the more level-headed people on here, except when it comes to p. rivers

11/16/2008 1:41:06 AM

oh you went exactly far enough


and I have given him his total due, been really big on Rivers the last few years

11/16/2008 1:42:58 AM

haha, yeah you've big on his "thuggish" behavior

11/16/2008 1:44:07 AM

11/16/2008 1:47:39 AM

I miss the orange seats









Pearl is a pimp!

11/16/2008 10:02:25 AM

Don't worry Jaybee1200 most of these homers are just jealous that Sidney is nowhere near the coach that Pearl is.....I would kill to have him at NCSU.

11/16/2008 12:26:25 PM

Quote :

"wow, you suck at college bball knowledge"

does it say 08-09?

11/16/2008 1:29:08 PM

you put the link up, not me... so obviously you meant to say that this thread wasnt needed since the one you linked already covered it... dumbass

11/16/2008 1:43:46 PM

yes, my link that has been dead for months...brilliant

11/17/2008 12:01:22 AM

on SS right now if you need an appetizer to hold you over until the Carolina game. Playing UT-Martin who actually has one really good player who will probably be a 1st round pick next year

27-6, god damn this team is sick


Bmaze makes us proud




oh snap... ballin'est team ever

Quote :

"Hook: Good ole rocky top thats all I hear Knoxville Tennessee, Yo thats a Volunteer We the Baller Vols, Yup yup, a Baller Vol Tennessee '09, and we comin for all of yall Verse 1: If you lookin for the truth better say Scotty Hop Got that Highlight Bounce, makin everybody stop Shoot the Twilights out, wetter than a rain drop Cuz the boy's game cold, and the boy game hot Can't stop, wont stop, like my man Tyler Smith You can call dude Santa, Cuz the boy's got the Gift And he came back ready so the League's gotta sit But ya boy finna take Tennessee to the Ship But give it to number 4 and this got game got the swagg like weezy but we call him big Wayne make the thang look easy but u cant do the same better get out the way when Chism in the paint And sittin in the lane, make the D say Save me Especially when you lookup and you see Big Baby And if you aint scared and you thinkin big deal Say hello to E Man and waddup to Big Phil (VOLS) Hook: Verse 2: Foreal, see this game make you wanna just gaze With them floor generals D West and Bobby Maze O yeaaaaaa Got Game Got Swag, Got Pearl Got Cam Got Ryan Got Tabb Tennessee Fresh Prince is what I may be But the only real Prince is my man JP Number 30 do you dirty, game tite game stirdy Got bounce like crazy he can fly like a birdy Baller Vols, we the truth, why would I lie? Yall clowns, we be all up in ya face like pie Like Why? (why) Why(why) Why(why) Why(why)? Cuz we bout it, we allow it, if you doubt it you can try See cuz we done got the fam, you can look up in the stands Knoxville is the city where we got the best fans Call us 865, if you lookin for the VOLs Knoxville we the city do it Biggie like Smalls (VOLS) Hook: Verse 3: We never gon stop till the day that we holding The trophy..until that day we stay hungry It's almost game time, we can see it unfolding, Its boutta go down here in Thompson & Boling, Say what? (Say What?) yo I think he got a question Well I'm the Answer, listen to the lesson Listen to the Lecture, this is what I'm stressin Tennessee is comin for you because we the best and, We stand tall, and we'll never be seated and we'll never ever quit, so well never be defeated if we lose, so what, cuz we goin down swingin but you better be the best, cuz the best what we bringin And the thing is now we gonna let loose to the world All we need is two words...Bruce(Bruce)..Pearl(Pearl) And we got the staff too So now its time to let the Vols show you how we do (VOLS) Hook: yea.... ha...this ya boy the answer...Swiperboyz ENT...ha...yea..mike lee productions..hehe...ayy man...you know man Tennessee Volunteers baby...we the baller Vols..haha...we comin for yall baby....yea...ha..one love...peace."

[Edited on November 18, 2008 at 7:19 PM. Reason : d]

11/18/2008 7:10:02 PM

Just got back from the game -- despite this team's size, they still get up and down the floor just like the last couple years.

11/18/2008 8:59:53 PM

jealous...


they are so damn fast, aside from Williams everyone can move

11/18/2008 9:01:16 PM

tough matchup on Thanksgiving against Siena

11/27/2008 1:34:02 AM

Look great again today.

So much for Siena being a top 25 team, like they had hoped.

11/27/2008 1:10:28 PM

haha, its only a 9 point game with 12 min left... dont get too far ahead


holy shit, great play by Bobby "The Solution" Maze



ok, lead is 21 now haha

[Edited on November 27, 2008 at 1:35 PM. Reason : d]

11/27/2008 1:24:04 PM

tennessee needs longer shorts.

11/27/2008 1:48:49 PM

ok, ^^^ you were right... ass kicking

11/27/2008 2:04:05 PM

should be another good year to lose in the sweet 16.

11/27/2008 7:29:04 PM

oh shit! sick burn!

11/27/2008 7:43:43 PM

man we're at nc state where just making it to the sweet sixteen once in ten years is enough to make yourself a name as one of the best coaches in the business.

11/27/2008 7:49:16 PM

if I had said that...

11/27/2008 9:18:10 PM

They looked really good at times today and other not so good.

This team could end up better than last year's. They are so fast and long.

11/27/2008 9:38:56 PM

very very fast and extremely deep.


really remind me of Carolina light... minus THE WILL



another tough match up tomorrow vs. Georgetown. Will come down to who can dictate tempo. If Georgetown slows it down with Monroe I dont like Tennessee's chances

[Edited on November 27, 2008 at 9:47 PM. Reason : d]

11/27/2008 9:40:21 PM

now... if this game today was a FOOTBALL game, and the results were reversed (a Big East team beating an SEC team), goalielaxative and NyMets/Yankees410 would claim this as undeniable PROOF that the SEC was overrated.

However, since I know my shit, I will not claim that Big East bball is overrated based on the result of one game

[Edited on November 28, 2008 at 3:21 PM. Reason : d]

11/28/2008 3:20:47 PM

Quote :

"if I had said that..."

well i was making a knock at that schmuck herb sendek and even bigger schmucks who thought he was awesome.

11/28/2008 3:28:48 PM

I know...was just saying that this would be 12 pages long if I had said that

11/28/2008 3:30:19 PM

that's b/c if you said it you'd mean it as a knock on nc state, you tennesseean bastard.

11/28/2008 3:33:38 PM

Hay guise, just wondering when the new poll is released and where that schmuck Herb's team is ranked. I am new to College BBall and I am sure Herb is still stinkin' it up... God that guy sux!

11/28/2008 3:39:56 PM

ten years, one sweet sixteen. fact.

11/28/2008 3:44:30 PM

How has the new guy stacked up? I have heard rumors of big time recruits but will they finish above .500 this year?

11/28/2008 3:56:16 PM

doesn't matter. the goal is not to live in mediocrity, the goal is to find someone who can do what you want. give lowe some time and if he's not producing, give someone else a chance. that was lee fowler's biggest mistake in the coaching search, he made no effort to look at any upandcoming coaches (that i know of).

oh and btw, herb left on his own accord.

lol this is a tennessee board.

11/28/2008 3:59:53 PM

Quote :

" oh and btw, herb left on his own accord."

Quote :

" GOOD FOR HIM "

11/28/2008 4:01:22 PM

Quote :

"the goal is not to live in mediocrity,"

The goal is to make the tournament, if we do that we have already surpassed the Herb era???

[Edited on November 28, 2008 at 8:03 PM. Reason : UT got another good win today.....Chism/Smith didn't bring their A games and they still win easily]

11/28/2008 8:02:43 PM

11/28/2008 8:03:09 PM

good effort tonight, bit closer than I thought, will be a great game for a young team to build off of

11/30/2008 10:06:46 PM

not bad Bruce, not bad



http://web.knoxnews.com/special/110708pearl-home/

12/8/2008 11:28:33 PM

This Christmas kid is ridiculous. Reminding me of Curry against State.

12/13/2008 1:45:44 PM

yeah, fucker hasnt missed in the 2nd half

12/13/2008 2:03:15 PM