…While thanking Scott Hoch for missing a 2-footer that would have sent a Senior PGA Tour event into a playoff, thus delaying NBC’s coverage of playoff hockey for at least another half-hour.
– My main impression from watching the Jordan Brand Classic last night is that Tyreke Evans is better than I thought he was. Sure, it’s an All-Star game, and neither team was exactly playing much D out there. But Evans is going to be absolutely lethal playing in John Calipari’s offense. The only thing I don’t like about his game is that he plays a little bit too upright, but he’s a very hard man to guard. He’s not Derrick Rose, but he doesn’t have to be because college defenders will have to respect Evans’ ability to shoot the ball, especially with that fadeaway he can go to. Rose didn’t get that respect, especially early in the season. That will help Evans’ ability to drive the ball against college defenders. Evans and Brandon Jennings (headed to Arizona) are definitely the two best players in this class.
– This stuff about Evans being a “ballhog” is a bunch of bunk. It’s funny to me that when people evaluated Eric Gordon last season, they talked about his “relentless will to score.” When they evaluate Evans, he’s a “ballhog.” Give me a break.
– One of the big offseason topics has been the Memphis point guard situation. Will it be Antonio Anderson, Willie Kemp or Tyreke Evans? How about Wesley Witherspoon? If he indeed commits to Memphis, Witherspoon is without question a viable option to play point guard for the Tigers. I had previously been told that by various people close to the program, but I wasn’t necessarily a believer until seeing him last night. He definitely has the ball skills, and he appears to be able to defend that position even at 6-7 or 6-8.
– So apparently Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has been running around the state telling a variation this joke, transcribed from a recording on the Chattanooga Times Free Press Web site of his speech to the local Better Business Bureau: (According to a poster on MemphisTigers.org, he told the same joke yesterday in a different speech, modified because Chris Douglas-Roberts turned pro.)
“I don’t know if you have all seen it. did you see where Memphis’ kids are all going to come back and none of them are going to go hardship? I don’t know if you all saw that. Douglas-Roberts said he couldn’t take the pay cut if he came out, so he’s coming back next year. (Groans and laughter) I’ve got to do something to liven y’all up. I’m just kidding.”
– Amazing what people will say when they don’t know they’re being tape recorded, isn’t it? Pearl, of course, should know all about that (Wink, wink)
– Seriously, what a jokester Pearl is. It especially sounded funny coming from a guy who is about to sign Scotty Hopson. I’m just kidding, of course.
– Look, I know 95% of my media bretheren laps up Pearl’s clown act. I just can’t get with it. Making accusations thinly veiled as jokes isn’t funny, it’s asinine. Telling a public gathering that you’re going to “kick Memphis’ ass” isn’t refreshing, it’s undignified.
– But you know what? It works. Let’s just say one of John Calipari or Bill Self or even Mike Krzyzewski’s teams had risen to No. 1 on Feb. 25, then sputtered to the finish line and gotten drilled in a Sweet 16 game against a team that had been lower-ranked for basically the entire season. They’d have gotten roasted; I can tell you that much.
– I haven’t found one article criticizing Pearl for the way his team peaked in late February and never was quite the same. After beating Memphis, Tennessee basically abandoned every single principle it used to get the No. 1 ranking. Was that even a topic of conversation? Not to my knowledge, at least not in the national press and media outlets that cover UT — including the Tennessean, the Knoxville News-Sentinel and Chattanooga Times Free Press.
– I guess painting your chest buys you a lot of leeway. But if Pearl can’t get UT over that Sweet 16 hump in the next couple years, those jokes just might start to wear thin.
in Tiger Basketball
Responses to “Random ruminations for a Sunday…”
April 20th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
nice Sunday afternoon ponderings.
here’s another thought for those who call Evans a ball hog. In the McDonald’s All-American game, from which even last night’s announcers drew the conclusion that Evans was a shoot first player, he had a curious stat line. Yes, he led his team in scoring. However, he also led his team in assists, and he led the game in rebounding. When you make an effort to rebound like Evans does, you end up with the ball a lot more than those who don’t. In all-star games, that in itself leads to more scoring opportunities.
As for Hopson, I don’t think he’s still yet signed with Tennessee@Knoxville. I guess we’ll see if his mother gets what she wants.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
great job Dan. Very nice and straightforward writing; nice to see someone actually looking at things and telling it like it is.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Just another Memphis reporter playing to the Memphis fans’ inferiority status. Similar to last year when a reporter badgered Pearl to make him say Memphis was superior. Maybe Wolken ought to look at Calipari’s incessant cheap shots at Pearl and Tennessee over the past two years. Wait, that would require someone in the Bluff City to have some sense of class. Sorry.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Eric, put a list together for us, you sound like you’re classy and one heck of a reporter.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Dan, one other thing you might want to look into is how Tennessee@Knoxville changed their entire play book for the game with us. They didn’t press. They didn’t gamble on the outside. Even their offense got away from a lot of their “flex” plays. Yet I’ve never seen it talked about in print that Tennessee@Knoxville put so much emphasis on one game that it took them away from what had made them so successful prior to that. But I think Pearl learned after the Ohio State game last year that their usual game plan isn’t going to work for 40 minutes against teams that have superior athletes. I’ll give Pearl credit–the changes were, in the end, too much for the Tigers to overcome, since we weren’t able to make a 3 point shot in the second half.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Dan-
I see that you’ve awakened from the DAZED hibernation that the biggest choke in NCAA basketball history put you in…
Well at least your team beat their number one rival….. OOOOOPPPPS!!!!!
There’s always next year… provided the Tigers can sign 2 more one and dones….just like this year…. OOOOPPPPS!!!!!!
April 21st, 2008 at 5:56 am
Was it not John C and the tigers who blew a final four game. Gosh I guess he forgot what a great coach he was
April 21st, 2008 at 8:44 am
I kind of just feel bad at this point for the UT basketball program. The expectations are so low and they continue to live up to that.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:21 am
Dan this was a good article. I think BP is a good coach but he must be really insecure or jealous to keep on jabbing at the Tigers under the guise of (wink wink) a joke. I am looking forward to next year. It will be brutual given the tough away games and I know the fans will miss Joy, CDR, and Rose. BUt there are will be old faces and new faces and fun basketball to watch!
April 21st, 2008 at 9:33 am
The Memphis Program is pretty sound and should be able to survive these spastic bowel movements from Pearl. I believe the UT program would welcome a few one and dones if it could get them any farther in the tournament- but the last I heard, none of those guys are talking to Pearl. I’m afraid the best they will be able to do is an occasional sweet 16- while we reload and go for it all. He has to throw this crap against the wall because a lot of his base is curious about the Vawls continually playing 2nd (or 3rd) fiddle in the state.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:51 am
When you have far superior talent but still can’t beat your in-state rival, lesser men want to pull the opponent down with their words. This schill did a fine job here.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:27 pm
As a Tennessee fan, I will admit that Coach Pearl’s joke was out-of-hand, but you will have to admit that the “Memphis State” basketball program has had a bad smell about it for quite a number of years, and probably about the “smellyist” thing about it today is Calipari.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I believe the two schools have five years remaining contractually on this current deal, do they not. Based on the article and the comments it should make for some very interesting games.
Not to mention, it helps recruiting efforts and almost guarantees a national TV appearance.
April 21st, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Wow, who let all these Vols fans onto a Tiger blog site? Are you guys insecure, or what? After all, BP started this round with his unfunny joke. Let’s just all shut up until we play again and see what hsppens. I’m sure we’ll still have a player or two to give the Vols a run, &, as usual, finish higher in the rankings and go deeper in the tourney. Yes sir, the UT Bawlin-Tears.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:39 pm
AAA - IT’S ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY - AND ALWAYS WILL BE. THEY GLOAT- B@@$H AND MOAN AND WHINE - THEN GLOAT SOME MORE. AAHH, BUT WE’RE NOT REALLY A RIVAL. NO SIR!! NO RIVALRY HERE. LOL. WHAT A BUNCH OF LOUD MOUTHED PANSIES.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:47 pm
AND DID I LEAVE OUT MEAN SPIRITED ?? WHY YES, I DID. IF YOU WANT TO HAVE SOME REAL FUN, GO TO MOONDOG SPORTS.COM THERE’S A LIST OF VOL MESSAGE BOARDS. PICK ONE AND GO HAVE SOME FUN.
SOMEDAY, WHEN I CAN CARVE OUT 3-4 HRS., I’M GOING TO DO IT MYSELF.
NO THANKS NEEDED FOR THE PROMO MOONDOG.
JUST POST THOSE TIGER CHEERLEADER AND DANCE TEAM PICS. TIRED OF WAITING !!
OH YEAH, MOONDOG, COULD YOU INCLUDE A DAILY LINK TO PREV. DAY’S POST. SOMTIME’S I MISS - AND ALL I GET IS THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. THANKS.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:51 am
Why in the hell would Tiger fans be jealous of a program that has never gotten past the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in its entire history? UTK fans mock Calipari and Memphis because they blew a 9-point lead in the National Championship Game? How about the UTK Vols make ONE Elite 8 appearance in their history before their fans start to attempt to tear down the Memphis Tigers, a program that actually has some tradition.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Just remember your record against UT
20-1 in our sport
12-7 in “your” sport (with all that tradition)
Look up the amount of time that both schools have been ranked in the AP poll in their history, then talk about your storied history.
Did your tradition help you in your attempts to get into the Big East over power schools like South Florida or did it leave you with the also rans in CUSA?
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Dang Dan, where did you go to school ? Peabody. If you’re going to write about Memphis State, er Tiger High, stick to the facts. TENNESSEE owns you 12-7. And you’ll never live down the beatdown we gave you in your own house this year. Can’t wait to see you in Knoxville next year for another butt whipping. Biggest game in your history and your team can’t even win in your own house. What a joke you are.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I see Tyler Smith decided to return to Tennessee and not enter the NBA draft. Perhaps he couldn’t take the paycut?
April 28th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Pearl is such a jackass, and for all of the Vols on here, there isn’t one of you who can honestly say that you wouldn’t have traded your win against Memphis for a spot in the title game.
August 9th, 2008 at 8:00 am
WOW, you really have a lot of hate for Pearl/UT, huh! Is it that whole Vandy/UT thing? You are like the perfect beat writer for the Tigers. I missed this but heard you on the Vernon show and had to look it up. That was classic radio. The best part was when you said you didn’t have proof on the dumb thing Cal said about UT/Crews even though YOU HEARD HIM SAY IT. I’ve called you about before on inconsistenties in this blog. My view is like Vernon’s, just admit it. There are some people that read something printed and by god it must be true. But you always have to consider the messenger, because it could be a Cal stool pigeon who claims to be so objective. But don’t stop, its just entertainment.
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