Will Tyler Smith go to UT now?

[muffin]

UT should have pampered him all that he wanted.  he was UT's to lose the entire year, never even scheduled a visit to another school until Miss. St. last week, and they lost him. they need a player like him if they wanna make this team into a contender. he's a top 20 senior in all the national rankings and UT is lacking a player of his caliber that can become one of the most dominate players in the SEC. i wont count Pearl out yet since he just got the job but if he cant bring in a player of Gordon's caliber next year his tenure in Knoxville will be no different than our good friend Buzz Peterson's.

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Short and not so sweet.

[Gerry Bertier]

Run Tyler, get out as soon as you can. I am a big UT fan but I think this is a sign to come. If we can't get an in-state start to come to TN what makes you think that we can get any other big name recruits from outside the states. Pearl will be gone within 4 years and UT will be in the same situation they were in last year.

[therickbol]

How about the fact that Jamont admitted that part of the reason he chose Miss State over UTK was because he felt he could start right away at Miss State, but not at UTK? Do you not understand the basis of that statement? There is a sophomore named Lofton starting at the 2G. That means UTK has a really good backcourt for him to think he would have an easier time starting for a team that has been as successful at Miss State has been lately. Tyler has absolutely no reason to RUN as one person said. With Watson, Lofton, and Smith they will have a very competitive backcourt that Gordon didn't think he would win a starting spot on. Gordon doesn't seem like a very competitive person either, if he went to Miss State because he felt like he wouldn't have to "fight" for a starting spot there. I think he is plenty good enough to come to UTK and beat out Lofton, but he apprently didn't want to have to go through that "fight". I think he styled meshed well with the system Pearl runs and that he made a quick decision in haste that might not have been the best decision to make.

[ksgovols]

Run Tyler, get out as soon as you can. I am a big UT fan but I think this is a sign to come. If we can't get an in-state start to come to TN what makes you think that we can get any other big name recruits from outside the states. Pearl will be gone within 4 years and UT will be in the same situation they were in last year.

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You're not a big UT fan. I'm not sure you know all that much about the history of UT basketball for that matter. The program has been on the decline under Dickey. He made some bad hires, Lamar Alexander forced the Wade Houston issue that set the program back even further. We should have never left Stokely and the home court advantage we enjoyed there. In spite of the last 15 years of pretty mediocre basketball, the Vols only trail Kentucky and Alabama in total wins and winning percentage. It is a heck of a job for someone who can handle the football team's success and having an icon on the women's side and can recruit. Nobody is going to win year in and year out with in state talent and Memphis is not that loyal to any particular school. The entire demographic of college basketball has changed with the kids jumping to the NBA or in Jackie Butler's case, to some minor league where he doesn't have to attend classes. The phenoms that always went to Duke and North Carolina are going to be in school a year or two at the most and then on to the pros. Parity will rule and Tennessee can turn the program around with one or two good recruiting years.

 

I'll lay odds that Pearl is at UT at the end of 4 years with or without Tyler Smith. Give the program a chance. If you are a UT fan..........Begone! The program could do without the fairweather fans who jumped on the bandwagon when Peyton came to town and then bash the basketball program for their jollies. Find a side of the fence you're comfortable with and stay there.

[Purple & Gold Standard]

On the Tyler Smith situation...The thing that bothers me most about all this is the fact that he already signed a letter of intent to play at Tennessee....

 

Emphasis on Tennessee...He didn't sign to play at the University of Buzz Peterson or Chuck Benson for that matter....If he is reconsidering his decision to honor his letter of intent,I have to bring into question his character....Seems to me,and I may be a little old school,but if you make a committment to something you honor it....If he was signing at UT because of Buzz he was signing for the wrong reason...He needs to be signing because of the school....Now, if he was so in love with Buzz maybe he can go to wherever Buzz is going to coach next..Last I heard it was Coastal Carolina or Florida Atlantic....

 

The kid needs to go on make up his mind or he is going to lose alot of Tennessee fans before he even gets to the school.... He is NOT going to be THE player that turns this program around anyway....

 

Now as far as Pearl being in Knoxville in four years??...LOL...The man has been on the job for what 3 weeks??...He is coming in at the tail end of whatever Buzz was doing in recruiting..Not a strong point in Buzz's abilities in the first place...And coming from a different part of the country where he doesn't have the ties he has in the Mid-West...Come on,give the guy a chance...

[Fake Panther 5]

Smith needs to be happy, and so therefore I say go somewhere else if that is what he wants. However, end the stinkin' soap opera antics and pick your school.

[Gerry Bertier]

  You're not a big UT fan.  I'm not sure you know all that much about the history of UT basketball for that matter.  The program has been on the decline under Dickey.  He made some bad hires, Lamar Alexander forced the Wade Houston issue that set the program back even further.  We should have never left Stokely and the home court advantage we enjoyed there.  In spite of the last 15 years of pretty mediocre basketball, the Vols only trail Kentucky and Alabama in total wins and winning percentage.  It is a heck of a job for someone who can handle the football team's success and having an icon on the women's side and can recruit.  Nobody is going to win year in and year out with in state talent and Memphis is not that loyal to any particular school.  The entire demographic of college basketball has changed with the kids jumping to the NBA or in Jackie Butler's case, to some minor league where he doesn't have to attend classes.  The phenoms that always went to Duke and North Carolina are going to be in school a year or two at the most and then on to the pros.  Parity will rule and Tennessee can turn the program around with one or two good recruiting years. 

 

I'll lay odds that Pearl is at UT at the end of 4 years with or without Tyler Smith.  Give the program a chance.  If you are a UT fan..........Begone!  The program could do without the fairweather fans who jumped on the bandwagon when Peyton came to town and then bash the basketball program for their jollies.  Find a side of the fence you're comfortable with and stay there.

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You say I am not a big UT fan cause I disagree with the hiring of Pearl and want the best for a player I have followed closely the last four years. Unlike you I am living in the present not the past,(it doesn't matter where UT ranks in wins), what matters is what they are doing now. You probably are one of those UT fans who will live off the 1998 National Championship all your life instead of wanting to win now. I have been a UT fan all my life so I didin't jump on the bandwagon once Peyton came, and if that was the case I wouldn't be a UT fan now. You sound like many fans who said Buzz would have the program turned around, and that one worked out great. Pearl has shown how smart of a coach he is. Why is he even bothering recruiting B. Wright cause you know if he doesn't enter the draft he will be headed to either Duke or UNC.

[COACHHARD]

Run Tyler, get out as soon as you can. I am a big UT fan but I think this is a sign to come. If we can't get an in-state start to come to TN what makes you think that we can get any other big name recruits from outside the states. Pearl will be gone within 4 years and UT will be in the same situation they were in last year.

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Don't claim to be a "big UT fan" with that kind of post.

 

Pearl is the right for choice for UT basketball. For heavens sake the guy hasn't even started his first season yet and you so called "UT fans" are already trying to write him off.

 

Give the guy a chance....he has a proven record for building winning programs.

[cobrafan90]

If Jamont was so enamored with UT, why didn't he commit early like Tyler Smith?? I don't see how he was TN's to lose, he never committed to UT. How long were they to hold out and wait on Jamont? What more could they have done?? He'll find it no easier at MS State with, Delk twins and Monta ellis(local legend).................coming in at the same time as him at the same position.

 

Mario Moore committed to Vandy as an 11th grader. Jamont kept playing the waiting game and got what he wanted................

[ksgovols]

I say you're not big UT fan GerryBertier because it's obvious to me you're not. If UT is going to put all of it's eggs in the in-state basket every year and Chuck Benson's AAU contacts are all that's getting them in the house, then the basketball program was going to continue to wallow in mediocrity. Tell me in all of your infinite wisdom that you thought Buzz Peterson was a bad hire. You're lying if you do. Bruce Pearl may not turn it around, but I don't think you have an inkling of what he can do. I can appreciate you're being a fan of a kid from your district and all, but when he goes to a DI college he'll find he has to run the floor every time and he has to play a little defense as well. I also agree with Cavfanforlife. If Tyler signed for Buzz instead of the university, he should be outstanding at Coastal Carolina and whatever conference they play in. It's close to Myrtle Beach too.

[Purple & Gold Standard]

What is the latest about UT assistant Chuck Benson. I heard a report this morning that he had been fired or he had resigned. Anybody know?

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Chuck Benson was replaced with UAB's Scott Egdar yesterday as an assistant to Bruce Pearl on the Tennessee staff...Seems like the key to keeping Smith was Benson and now he is gone...I guess that will make Tyler's dad decsision a little easier now....

 

I said a while back that one thing Pearl needed to do was first have a proven system of winning in place..A particular style of play that he is very well versed in coaching....Then surround himself with assistants that totally buy into that system and can coach it really well...Then get players in that are used to playing that kind of system...As far as letting Benson go,Pearl was appearently more interested in getting an assistant that knows his system,Egdar was an assistant to Nolan Richardson at Arkansas,and also an assistant to former Richardson assistant Mike Anderson at UAB and someone with recruiting ties in the southeast than keeping someone for the sake of keeping someone for a particular player...I for one am gaining more and more respect for Pearl as he seems to be putting his stamp on this program...He is looking more long-term than short-term and he will be successful at Tennessee if he sticks to his guns and builds the program the way he knows how to and not buckle under to boosters and other supporters of the program...Give this man a chance and I believe we, as Tennessee fans, will see the Vols win and the big arena start to fill up.... I think that Tyler Smith should look long and hard and make up his OWN mind before he makes the decision to opt out of his letter of intent....He could do some great things at UT if he works hard enough...

Edited April 14, 2005 by occhsfanviachattanooga

[ksgovols]

Yeah, I know I'm living in the past, but Scot Edgar recruited Memphis and got several of those kids to play for Arkansas in Nolan's regime. Ron Heury and Todd Day to name a couple. Pearl's style of play is very similar to the 40 minutes of heck that Arkansas ran on defense and that's what UAB is running now. It will be a system that kids will enjoy playing in my opinion. Tyler Smith will just have to decide what's the best fit for him. I did think about the network of former Vols that stay connected to the program and I have to say that a high school kid might choose the coach over the school, but in the long term, the man that comes out of UT is connected to the university forever. Ernie Grunfeld is the guy that recommended Bruce Pearl and many former Vols stay close to the program in some form or fashion.............long after their coach is gone. Tradition should mean something Bertier, whether you think it does or not. Aren't you the guy that waxed poetic about the glory days of Fairview football back when you were in elementary school?