13 days out from National Signing Day!!! Reminder!!! You're invited to join us live on site as we are doing an unprecedented recruiting Triple Cast at Smoky Mountain Brewery @ Turkey Creek in West Knoxville. When I say we, I mean 3 different radio shows from 3 different radio stations, joining forces all in one spot to serve you the living common fan. I sure do hope that you will make plans to join us as Jason Swain will lead things off in the morning from 7a to 11a followed by yours truly from 11a-3p followed by Russell Smith from 94.3 FM.
The movement with Marques Ford yesterday is the first of a few shoes that are sure to drop. There's not enough room at the inn while Butch Jones is still taking on guests. The math doesn't work. When you are throwing four star prospects back into the ocean, you've had a great day of fishing. Jones needs to wear a Bill Dance mesh Tennessee hat on signing day. That guy has chummed the waters.
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I don't understand Mickey Dearstone and his anti Tennessee Men's basketball agenda. He was flat out gleeful yesterday over the self-sanctioning by Southern Miss. You could really hear it in his voice. Now, a couple of qualifiers here. I don't listen to Dearstone regularly because I'm a Swain Event listener. I was told by a friend that he was going off on Tyndall so I turned it on and what I heard was really sad. Look, I'm not going to tell anybody how to do a show but it seems odd that a guy that makes a living in this market has always been so obviously against the Tennessee men's basketball team. That he's a Kentucky hoops fan (which he is) has no bearing on what I'm discussing here.
It's the tone. It's the obvious jealousy that Tennessee men's hoops stirs the drink here while the Lady Vols (his deal) are a niche concern. What I don't understand about his anti Men's bias through the years is the rationale behind it. Truth is if there's no men's sports at UT, there would no trips for him to take with the Lady Vols. And if there were trips, they would be driving EVERYWHERE and certainly not staying in 5 star hotels and eating 5 star meals EVERYWHERE they go. Mickey Dearstone was openly mocking those of us that are choosing to enjoy and embrace this head coach. Again, he's free to do that just as I'm free to call him out.
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Many in the NCAA glitterati reporting pool have decided that Tyndall won't be here next year. Doug Gotlieb (who has ZERO contacts in the SEC and doesn't care about SEC hoops) predicted there's no way Tyndall would be here next year. Truth is, none of us know what's going to come of this NCAA stuff. Trying to predict what the NCAA is going to do is like trying to predict the weather. NOBODY knows. I don't pretend to know. I do know through my reporting yesterday that Southern Miss has been proven to be at least culpable in some of this. That's a far cry from the narrative that's been presented that it was all.
As far as national media types. Donnie Tyndall makes an easy target for them. He's not regal. He's not related. He's not from anyone's coaching tree. He's not someone connected. He's not a future TV star. He doesn't recruit top ranked players. He's anti establishment. I wouldn't expect somebody like Seth Davis to go to bat for him. You watch these guys when the NCAA publishes that Notice of Allegations. They are going to pounce and call for Tyndall's removal. It's going to be very interesting around here. Why?
Remember Derek Dooley's third year here. Dave 'Hit Man' Hart was told by all that it was time to fire Dooley. Still he was digging in his heels trying to save Dooley. If enough Mickey Dearstone types cry for Tyndall's head, he may just bow his skinny little neck and go against the grain on this one.
I'll tell you this right now. Unless the NCAA at the end of all this comes forward with a show cause of at least two years, Tennessee needs to hold onto this guy. He could be a GREAT coach here for 10 years.
Would I hold onto him if he was served with a 10 to 15 game suspension with no off campus recruiting for a year? Yes.
Would I hold onto him with a one year show cause including no off-campus recruiting? Yes.
Tyndall has done a mind boggling job here. He's perfect for this place.
This season has been such wonderful fun. Just a great time!
This miraculous coaching job turned in by Tyndall hasn't been lost on Blue Ribbon's Chris Dortch. This is an excellent piece.
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Tennessee's 3-0 start is amazing through the lens of history.
Tennessee's last four regimes and their SEC road records.
Green Light 16-16
BuzzBall 8-24
Pearl Patrol 28-20
Zo Patro 11-15
DT Express 3-0
Since 1998, Tennessee is 66-75 on the road in the SEC.
Since Bruce Pearl came and changed the hoops culture here, Tennessee is 42-35 on the road.
All #'s courtesy of Briney Boy Hartman. On twitter at @Brianh618.
Here's the AP piling on.
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Hatfield IX Time:
Hatfield's Nine
'Good to see the NFL using a phony controversy to fill the first week of overblown Super Bowl hype. Roger Goodell and company just can't live outside the spotlight.
1. Donnie Tyndall and the basketball Vols continue to find improbable paths to victory. Turning the ball over twice as often as you dish out an assist and giving up a gaggle of offensive rebounds is usually a recipe for road game disaster.
2. Southern Miss choosing to self impose a postseason ban was hollow window dressing. It is purely symbolic and doesn't give any real insight as to where the NCAA investigation is headed.
3. I would love for someone to explain the LSU basketball team to me. They are the hoops version of Sybil.
4. Georgia is quietly positioning themselves for an NCAA bid. The Bulldogs have quietly crafted a very solid profile.
5. Florida looks to be in real trouble. The Gators were totally manhandled by LSU.
6. Kentucky was back to keeping their opposition in the game mode against Vanderbilt. John Calipari's squad is like a boxer who strings hapless tomato cans along to get a workout.
7. The rush to judge Donnie Tyndall guilty of crimes against the NCAA by
certain factions of the Knoxville media is sickening but predictable. Their pathetic agenda, which is to try and protect interest in their pathetic little UT cult sports, is apparent to anyone with an IQ above room temperature.
8. I find it hard to envision a story that means less than the one regarding how much air the Patriots did or did not put in the footballs used Sunday. If you aren't taking every advantage you can in professional sports, you deserve to lose.
9. If you want to know what the business of college basketball is all about, watch the ESPN 30 for 30 on Sonny Vaccaro. It is essentially a graduate level course in the underbelly of the industry.
Keith'
Bruce Pearl would crawl back to Knoxville if given the chance. Who would blame him? Auburn did the unthinkable last night in losing to Miss State at home. Nobody's done that in over 2 years.
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3 votes Art Briles. 3 votes.
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Manning is returning...
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Big Gulp needs your help.
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Best and worst college football uniforms? Give me classic Oklahoma. One day we will look back on this period of fashion in sports as a blight.
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Awwww. Nick Saban is upset with Lance Thompson.
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Deflated footballs are driven by the QB? That's food for thought.
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Robert Allenby proves that things aren't always what they seem.
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Quick, who said this....“This is cheating…and it’s something the league will deal with harshly.” FOX Sports NFL contributor Mike Pereira. Hey Mike...The league should cripple the Patriots the same way they crippled the Saints. Bellecheat should be banned from coaching for a year while the Patriots should lose multiple draft picks. If they continue to cheat, they should be relegated to the AFC South (Sorry Beano and Briney Boy and Titan Fan..I couldn't resist).
Tony