What a day in Big Orange Country Wednesday December 13th was!

Three Huge Stories:

Huge Story #1 Alontae Taylor: Reaffirmed his commitment to Tennessee. If you'll recall, Taylor reopened his recruitment right after Cade Mays, and it appeared bleak for Tennessee with him for a while. Taylor is a terrific playmaker that also has an alpha dog type of presence in recruiting circles. It's believed that he might just help attract other players during this recruiting cycle.


The excellent caller Jeff Muir AKA Mariano had this to say about Taylor. ' 'He's the fastest kid Maryville High has ever played there. Not even close. Played QB for them. Lined him up at wing some and just tossed the ball to him. He's a great pick up.' Tony Basilio Show 12/13/17.


Huge Story #2 Austin Thomas Returns Home: Gigantic turn of events for Tennessee. A late 20's talent, Thomas is so highly regarded that LSU created the General Manager position just for him. Thomas is the son of a prominent orthopedic surgeon who also served on the Board of Trustees. Don't let that fool you though. Thomas is back at Tennessee on his own merits. He's responsible for pulling two five star guys (Stevens and Phillips) out of the mid-state.



John Brice of Gridironnow.com on Thomas Returning: 'I tweeted out during the LSU game that the most important hire for Tennessee's new staff would be luring Austin Thomas back home. Stephens and Phillips are both at LSU due to this guys efforts. He's loved by Coach O and everybody that's worked with him. I'll tell you this, I'd work with him and I'm not the only media person that feels this way. There's something really special about that guy. I'll put it this way, people I talk to believe he's got high level AD ability or he could just end up in an NFL front office one day,' Brice said.



Could Thomas Be AD at UT One Day? 'I wouldn't rule out that possibility. There's zero chance I would rule this out. I'll tell you this, Austin Thomas is confident in his own ability. He will surround himself with talented people,' Brice said.



It's A New Day At Tennessee: 'People are now excited to work at Tennessee with Fulmer and Pruitt inside that place now. This goes for folks in every level of that athletic department,' Brice said.



Huge Story #3 Cade Mays Gets A Visit: Cade Mays had been playing defense with Tennessee. I love the respect Kevin showed Phillip Fulmer by sitting down with Coaches Fulmer and Pruitt. That said, I still think it's a long shot that Mays ultimately ends up at Tennessee. Cade Mays isn't coming here and it's not the end of the world.







As promised with the renewed life in Tennessee Football, you'll be seeing and hearing our recruiting expert 'X' back with us once again. With a huge recruiting weekend to upon us, 'X' has a few thoughts on who we'll see there.






Dr. Sean Sinclair was ON FIRE yesterday with the developments of Pruitt juxtaposed to the fall of Butch Jones. Here's today's edition of Sinco Says.

Sinco Says I: Not only was Tennessee not strong but they weren't fast either. How do you do that?

Sinco Says II: ‘If you're going to take project kids or reaches, take in-state kids as projects. They will bear down for you’.


I mentioned this story Tuesday on the show and Matt sent me the following screen shot that he got somewhere. I put this story out on Tuesday because we need to hear things like this. I understand a couple of other kill joy radio hosts are saying this didn't happen. How do they know that? Were they there? I choose to believe that it happened because I/we need things to feel good about. This is the kind of thing that can make you want run your head through your own windshield just to release the stress. Let yourself go. Let's have some fun here. This is supossed to fun after all, isn't it. And yes,, with Jeremy Pruitt this story is entirely believable. So get ya some of that kill joy radio guys.







Here's A Question? I've had umpteen people reach out to me looking for tickets to Tennessee - North Carolina. Why is this? Sure, Tennessee is off to a nice start to the season but something else is at work here. Carolina is marquee. They are dare I say > Kentucky when it comes to hoops history. You could almost make the case that Carolina = The New York Yankees in college hoops. And if they aren't the Yankees, who are they?


Because they are box office. Carolina is America's team in college basketball. There are Carolina basketball fans EVERYWHERE. I grew up with them and chances are so did you if stop and think about it. And I don't care where you grew up, chances are you knew Carolina basketball fans. And Carolina wears Carolina Blue and it's majestic looking. And I don't like them. Not one iota. But I don't hate them viscerally like I do Florida football or Duke or the Dallas Cowboys. So, I said all that to ask you this.



Carolina = _________ In College Football

Carolina=___________ In NFL

Carolina=___________ Baseball


The point is that this ticket is the tightest in years in TBA and Carolina is a huge reason why. Sure, the Vols have had a tremendous start to the season but Carolina is....well Carolina.



Tomorrow at tonybasilio.com .... Orange Throat. Mark Griffin’s Three Pointers…SuperStar Alex..'X' Updates & Movie King.

Peace

Tony

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