Vols Enjoy Visit From Former Great Ellis Tennessee basketball All-Century Team member and longtime NBA veteran Dale Ellis spent a week around the team in mid-October ... A two-time SEC Player of the Year during his career as a Vol (1980-83), Ellis observed his alma mater’s practices during his week-long visit, spoke with numerous team members and worked out on his own with team strength and conditioning coach Troy Wills in preparation for an upcoming exhibition tour in Europe ... Another former UT All-America and NBA standout, Allan Houston, spoke to the team during a quick stop in Knoxville in September. Vols Highly Rated By Many National Services Tennessee entered the season highly ranked by various media organizations/publications: Ratings Service Andy Katz (ESPN) Athlon Basketball Time Dick Vitale (ESPN) Gary Parrish (CBS) Jeff Goodman (Fox) Lindy’s Sporting News Sports Illustrated Yahoo! Sports
UT’s Rank 13th 8th 11th 12th 14th 9th 12th 12th 13th 17th
Vols Logging Lots Of TV Time (Again) The Vols have played more than 50 nationally televised games and enjoyed tremendous national media exposure since Bruce Pearl took the program reins in the summer of 2005 ... All but one of Tennessee’s 34 games last year were televised, and the Vols are scheduled to appear on TV 29 times this regular season ... The Vols play on ESPN or ESPN2 nine times, CSS five times, CBS three times, FSN five times, the SEC Network three times, ESPNU twice and SportSouth two times. Vols Featured on ESPN College Gameday Matchup For Third Straight Year The Volunteers’ Feb. 13 game at Kentucky is that week’s featured matchup on ESPN College Gameday ... This marks the third straight season that Tennessee is featured on College Gameday, tying the Vols for the nation’s second-longest active appearance streak on the popular show ... Tennessee’s is 2-0 all-time in Gameday contests, having won at No. 1 Memphis on Feb. 23, 2008, and also posting a win over Florida last season in Knoxville (Jan. 31, 2009). Where Are They Now? Former Vols currently playing professionally: Brandon Crump (2002-05) - LG Sakers (KBL) in Korea Marcus Haislip (2000-02) - San Antonio Spurs (NBA) Chris Lofton (2004-08) - Caja Liboral (ACB/Euroleague) in Spain Scooter McFadgon (2004-05) - Maine Red Claws (NBDL) in Portland, Maine. C.J. Watson (2003-06) - Golden State Warriors (NBA) Major Wingate (2004-06) - Springfield Armor (NBDL) in Springfield, Ill. Vincent Yarbrough (1999-02) - Telekom Baskets (BBL) in Bonn, Germany
Pearl Leading Charge for King’s HOF Induction UT head coach Bruce Pearl is one of many voices nationwide voicing their support for Bernard King to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame ... Pearl’s take: “Bernard King should be in the basketball hall of fame in Springfield. One of the things that I’m committed to is to put forth everything that is required.” ... A three-time first-team AllAmerica and three-time SEC Player of the Year, King led the SEC in scoring in all three of his seasons at Tennessee ... A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, King was a four-time NBA All-Star and averaged 22.5 points per game during his professional career ... Eight times he scored 50 or more points in an NBA game ... King is the NBA’s 22nd all-time leading scorer (19,655 points) and the seventh-leading scorer in UT history (all six Vols ahead of him played four years). Tabb Leaves Program It was announced Oct. 28 that senior guard Josh Tabb had withdrawn from the university and returned to his hometown of Carbondale, Ill., to be with his mother, who is ill ... A defensive specialist who played on three-20 win teams and saw action in a pair of Sweet Sixteens, Tabb averaged 2.8 ppg and 1.3 apg during his UT career ... Tabb had not practiced with the team during the preseason, as he was placed on indefinite suspension in midSeptember for violation of team rules. Non-Scholarship Nuggets They’re Tennessee’s unsung heroes, learning different teams’ systems every week and preparing the Vols’ rotation players for each opponent ... Here are some nuggets of knowledge about UT’s non-scholarship team members ... The son of religious missionaries, senior guard Quinn Cannington was born and raised until the age of 13 in Manila, Philippines ... Junior guard Michael Hubert graduated from Hendersonville High School in Hendersonville, Tenn., with a 4.2 cumulative GPA and also played four years on the tennis team ... Junior guard Josh Bone, who transferred from Southern Illinois University and will be eligible after the fall semester, is a Nashville native who played in high school with current Golden State Warrior Brandan Wright at Brentwood Academy ... The two are best friends. Get Your Umbrella During pregame shootaround prior to the Vols’ season-opening win over Austin Peay on Nov. 13, walk-on guard Michael “The Mike-rowave” Hubert was overheard saying to some student managers, “When it rains, it pours” as he drained one 3-point shot after another ... He wasn’t kidding, and he proved that in the closing minutes of UT’s win, as he sank his only two field-goal attempts—both 3-pointers—during the final two minutes of the game ... Hubert also nailed his lone 3-ball in the win over UNC Asheville and is a perfect 3-for-3 on the year.
Big Apple Trip, Outstanding Opponents Highlight Future UT Schedules Tennessee has signed contracts with numerous marquee opponents for upcoming seasons ... The Vols next season will travel to New York City for the 2010 NIT Preseason Tip-Off ... Tennessee also continues its exciting non-conference series with Memphis and Southern California next year ... The Volunteers will travel to UConn during the 2010-11 season, and UT plays host to UConn in the second half of the home-and-home series during the 201112 season ... During Bruce Pearl’s tenure at UT, the Vols have built schedules that rank among the toughest in the nation, featuring non-conference opponents such as Texas, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Memphis, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Georgetown, USC and North Carolina, just to name a few. Pearl’s Volunteers Dominant On State Circuit After Tennessee’s defeat of Austin Peay in the season-opener Nov. 13, Tennessee State is now the only remaining Division I basketball program in the state the Volunteers have not faced during Bruce Pearl’s tenure … Since Pearl’s debut season in 2005-06, the Vols have played—and beaten—every in-state Division I program except the Tigers … Those schools include Austin Peay, Belmont, Chattanooga, ETSU, Lipscomb, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, UT-Martin and Vanderbilt … Under Pearl, Tennessee owns a 22-4 (.846) record against in-state Division I teams. Pearl Has Led UT To Three East Division Titles Despite playing in a division that boasts the NCAA’s all-time winningest program (Kentucky) and a Florida program that claimed two of the last four national championships, Tennessee has won three SEC Eastern Division crowns under fifth-year head coach Bruce Pearl ... Road success within divisional play has been key, as UT over the last four seasons owns a 13-7 (.650) divisional road record; no other SEC East team has more than nine such wins. (Singing) Voice Of The Vols: Jacqui Pearl Tennessee basketball home games literally are a family affair, with Bruce Pearl’s two oldest children, Jacqui and Steven, playing an active role ... While Steven suits up as a junior forward for the Vols, Jacqui is well known among the UT faithful for her outstanding singing voice ... Since Bruce Pearl took over the UT program in 2005-06, Jacqui has sung The National Anthem at 23 home basketball games and the Vols are 18-5 (.783) in those contests ... Jacqui typically takes the mic for the home-opener each season as well as a few “big games” along the way ... She has sung prior to wins over teams such as Florida, Memphis, Ohio State, Temple and Vanderbilt ... So far this season, she has sung the anthem before the season-opening win over Austin Peay on Nov. 13.