University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Open Regluar Season At EA Sports Maui Invitational
November 17, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2004
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| Tennessee Volunteers vs. Stanford Cardinal
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Tennessee Trends
- UT, along with BYU and Louisville, are opening their seasons in Maui. Chaminade, Iowa, North Carolina, Stanford and Texas all have played a regular season game before participating in the Maui Invitational.
- Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,331-867-2 entering its 96th season of basketball.
- Tennessee returns all five starters and a total of nine letterwinners for the 2005 season. It is the first time that UT has returned all five starters since 1998-99.
- Every statistical category leader from 2004 returns for the 2005 season. The Vols return 88.1 percent of their scoring and 85.5 percent of their rebounding. In fact, UT returns at least 78 percent of its 2004 production in every statistical category.
- Tennessee was one of six teams without a senior in 2003-04. Of those six teams, only Tennessee and Wake Forest received postseason invitations.
- Tennessee has made postseason appearances in six of the last seven seasons. It is the second-best stretch in school history. The Vols made nine postseason appearances in 10 seasons (1976-85), including a stretch of seven in a row (1979-85).
- Freshman Chris Lofton is the third Kentucky Mr. Basketball to sign with the Vols. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 26.7 points per game for Mason County HS. Allan Houston (1989) and Jermaine Brown (1991) also earned Mr. Basketball honors in the state of Kentucky.
- Freshman guard JaJuan Smith was invited to join the Vols as a walk-on but was awarded a scholarship prior to the start of the season.
- Elliott DeVoe, a freshman walk-on from Annapolis, Md., is the son of former Vols head coach Don DeVoe. The elder DeVoe recorded a 204-137 mark in 11 seasons at Tennessee and a 512-389 record in 31 seasons as a head coach. Elliott was born in Knoxville while his father was coaching the Vols.
- Tennessee needs 10 home wins this season to reach the 200-win milestone in Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols are 190-78 in 17 seasons of play in Thompson-Boling Arena. UT, which has averaged 12 home wins in Buzz Peterson's three seasons in Knoxville, has 16 home games on the schedule this year.
Tennessee In Season-Openers
Tennessee has won its season-opener in each of the last five seasons, including an 81-70 win over Wofford last season ... In their last 19 season-openers, the Vols have recorded a 17-2 record ... The only teams to post a win over the Vols in that time were No. 18 Arizona (73-72 on Nov. 13, 1998) and East Tennessee State (87-79 on Nov. 25, 1991) ... This is the first time that the Vols have opened the season away from home since the 1998-99 season when the Vols fell to Arizona at the BCA Classic in Albuquerque, N.M. ... This will be just the 15th time in school history that the Vols have started a season away from home.
Experimental Rules To Be Used In Maui Invite Games
Three experimental rules setup by the NCAA will be used during the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational.
- Moving the 3-point line 9 inches behind the current 3-point line to create a new experimental distance of 20 feet, 6 inches.
- Widening the free throw lane by 1 1/2 feet on each side. The experimental lane will serve both as the three-second lane and the free throw lane.
- Placing a restricted area arc which is to be two feet from the center of the basket ring.
Tennessee In Hawaii
The Vols are making their first appearance in the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational and their seventh visit to the state of Hawaii ... This is their first visit to the island of Maui, as all of their previous trips to the Aloha state have been for the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu ... The Vols are 9-9 all-time when playing in the state of Hawaii ... Tennessee's last trip to Hawaii netted the school its first tournament title in 12 years when the Vols won the 2000 Rainbow Classic.
Looking At Stanford
Stanford opens its season against San Francisco in the Pete Newell Challenge at The Arena in Oakland, Calif., Friday, Nov. 19, before heading to Hawaii for the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational ... In their only exhibition game of the season, Chris Hernandez and Dan Grunfeld combined to score 45 points in an 88-64 win over Concordia University of Irvine ... Stanford is returning three starters and a total of 10 letterwinners from a team that went 30-2 and won the Pac-10 Conference title with a 17-1 record ... The Cardinal are faced with replacing their top three scorers from last year after losing Josh Childress (15.7 ppg), Matt Lottich (12.3 ppg) and Justin Davis (10.9 ppg) ... Hernandez, a preseason first team All-Pac-10 selection, leads the Cardinal after averaging 10.0 points on 46.0 percent (46-of-100) shooting from 3-point range ... Rob Little, a 6-foot-10 senior center, is a preseason second team All-Pac-10 pick after averaging 9.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last year ... The Cardinal have been picked to finish third in the Pac-10 behind Arizona and Washington in a poll of the league's media ... Stanford is under the direction of Trent Johnson, who is in his first year as the head coach of the Cardinal.
The Stanford Series
Tennessee leads the all-time series against the Cardinal 1-0 ... The Vols took a 51-47 win over Stanford Dec. 22, 1956 in Knoxville in the only previous meeting ... Tennessee is 15-6 all-time against members of the Pac-10 Conference ... This is the first time that the Vols have faced a team from the Pac-10 Conference since the season-opener for the 1998-99 campaign when they faced Arizona.
Stanford Connections
Stanford junior guard/forward Dan Grunfeld is the son of Tennessee All-America Ernie Grunfeld ... Ernie played at Tennessee from 1974-77, earning All-America honors in 1976 and 1977 and SEC Player of the Year honors in 1977 ... When he finished his career he was Tennessee's all-time leading scorer (currently ranking second) with 2,249 career points ... Ernie Grunfeld is currently the president of basketball operations for the NBA's Washington Wizards.
Recapping The Exhibition Games
Tennessee picked up wins over area NCAA Division II schools Tusculum (117-89) and Carson-Newman (95-59) in its two exhibition games this season ... Five Vols averaged double-figure scoring in the two contests ... Scooter McFadgon led the Vols with 20.5 points per game on 59.1 percent shooting from the field and 53.3 percent (8-of-15) shooting from 3-point range ... Freshman guard Chris Lofton was second on the squad with 17.0 points on 72.2 percent (13-of-18) shooting from the field and 63.6 percent (7-of-11) shooting from 3-point distance.
- UT's 16 3-pointers against Tusculum would have been a school record if exhibition games counted. The most 3-pointers a Tennessee team has made is a game is 15 which has been accomplished twice. The Vols made their first nine 3-point attempts and finished the game 16-of-30 (53.3 percent) from behind the arc.
- As a team, UT shot 55.1 percent (27-of-49) from 3-point range in the two exhibition games. It is important to note that the Vols were using the NCAA's experimental 3-point line which is 20 feet, 6 inches.
- Tennessee shot 60.5 percent from the field in the two games while holding opponents to 42.4 percent shooting. The Vols were consistent in the two games, shooting 61.3 percent against Tusculum and 59.7 percent against Carson-Newman.
- C.J. Watson had 10 assists against two turnovers in the win over Tusculum. Dane Bradshaw had six assists without a turnover against Carson-Newman.
UT Coaches With Ties To Maui Invite
Buzz Peterson coached in the 1995 Maui Invitational when he was associate head coach at Vanderbilt ... The Commodores fell to North Carolina in the first round but rallied to defeat Chaminade and fourth-ranked UCLA to finish fifth in the tournament ... Tennessee administrative coordinator Clarence Swearengen was an administrative assistant with Memphis in 1999 when the Tigers competed in the Maui Invitational.
Patterson No Stranger To Stanford, Maui Invite
Junior forward Andre Patterson spent two seasons playing for the UCLA Bruins before transferring to Tennessee following the 2002-03 season ... While at UCLA the Los Angeles native played against the Cardinal four times, drawing a pair of starting assignments and scoring 17 points and gathering 11 rebounds ... Patterson also helped the Bruins to a third-place finish in the 2001 Maui Invitational ...He had five points in a first round win over Houston and then had four points and four rebounds in a second round loss to upstart Ball State and recorded six points and four boards in the third-place game against South Carolina.
Vols Trio Earn Coaches Preseason All-SEC Honors
Tennessee was one of three SEC teams to have three players selected to the inaugural SEC men's preseason All-SEC first and second teams that were selected by the league's coaches ... Senior guard Scooter McFadgon was a first team selection while senior forward Brandon Crump and junior guard C.J. Watson were second team picks.
Crump, McFadgon & Watson Named Tri-Captains
Seniors Brandon Crump and Scooter McFadgon along with junior C.J. Watson have been named team captains for the 2004-05 season ... It is the first captaincy appointment for McFadgon while Crump and Watson were also captains last season ... In 95 years of Tennessee basketball prior to this season only four players had been two-time captains ... V.H. Klein (1913-14), Harry Anderson (1935-36), Garland O'Shields (1945-46) and Johnny Darden (1978-79) are the only other Vols to serve two terms as captain.
Watson Is Top Assist Man In SEC Over Last Two Seasons
C.J. Watson's 305 assists over the last two seasons are the most of any Southeastern Conference player during that period ... Watson's 160 assists as a freshman in 2003 were the second-most in the SEC that year, and his 145 assists as a sophomore in 2004 tied for second-most in the league ... Kentucky's Cliff Hawkins ranks second with 277 assists over the last two seasons.
Crump Creeping Up On 1,000-Points
Brandon Crump needs 39 points to become the 37th player in Tennessee history to score 1,000 career points ... He would become just the fourth UT player 6-foot-10 or taller to reach the 1,000-point milestone ... The 6-foot-10 senior forward has scored 961 points in 88 career games ... In 2004 he ranked second on the team with 14.8 points per game.
Crump Attending Graduate School
Senior forward Brandon Crump received a degree in sport management in May 2004 and is currently pursuing a master's degree ... A true scholar-athlete, he ranked second on the team with 14.8 points per game while leading the Vols with 6.8 rebounds per game in 2004 ... In the classroom, he was named to the 2003-04 SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll and was selected as the Edamerica Scholar-Athlete of the month in February 2004.
Scooter Looks To Build On Free Throw Shooting
Scooter McFadgon broke one of Tennessee's oldest records last year when his 91.2 percent shooting at the free throw line dispatched a school record that had stood since 1969 ... The Memphis native connected on 134 of his 147 free throw attempts to lead the SEC and rank fifth in the nation ... His free throw success rate was the second-best in SEC history ... This year he enters his senior season as the league's second-leading returning scorer with 17.6 points per game ... Only Florida's Anthony Roberson averaged more points with 17.9.
What Returns
Who could blame Buzz Peterson for being excited when he looks at what is back from last year's team ... The Vols return an unprecedented amount of their production from last season's squad ... UT returns all five starters and a total of nine letterwinners from last year's squad ... In fact, nearly 80 percent of every statistical category returns from 2003-04 ... A total of 88.1 percent of UT's scoring is back from a team that averaged 71.1 points per game ... 85.5 percent of the team's rebounding returns and 83.0 percent of the Vols' assists are also back.
Vols Sign Three In Early Period
Buzz Peterson announced that three players signed national letters of intent to play basketball at the University of Tennessee in the November signing period.
- Tyler Smith, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward from Pulaski, Tenn., was selected as one of the top 10 high school players in the nation when Street & Smith's named him a second team selection on the 2004 Boys High School All-America Team. As a junior at Giles County High School the first team all-state selection averaged 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists while leading the Bobcats to the state tournament. As a sophomore he earned tournament MVP honors after leading Giles County to a state championship. Rated a four-star prospect by Rivals.com, he was named the MVP of the all-star game at the adidas Superstar camp last summer in Atlanta.
- Matthew Dotson, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward from Centerville, Tenn., is rated a three-star prospect by Rivals.com. He was named the Class 3A Player of the Year for Hickman County High School's district last year. A big man who has a deft outside shooting touch that extends beyond the 3-point arc, he averaged 23 points and 14.5 rebounds as a junior.
- Damion Harris, a 6-foot-10, 275-pound center from Greenville, S.C., was a Class AAA All-State selection at Wade Hampton High School last season. As a senior in 2003-04 he led the Generals to the state tournament and as a junior he averaged 16 points, 14 rebounds and 6.5 blocks in leading Wade Hampton to the Class AAA Upper State finals. He first signed with the Vols last year, but is spending the 2004-05 season playing for Prince Avenue Prep in Pickens, S.C.
Preseason Honors & Predictions
| Team Predictions | |
| SEC Media | 3rd/SEC East |
| Athlon Sports | 3rd/SEC East |
| Street & Smith's | 3rd/SEC East |
| Basketball Time In TN | 3rd/SEC East |
| Lindy's Basketball | 3rd/SEC East |
| Blue Ribbon | 4th/SEC East |
| The Sporting News | 4th/SEC East |
| Basketball News | 4th/SEC East |
| Postseason Predictions | |
| Athlon Sports | NCAA Tournament |
| Basketball News | NCAA Tournament |
| Lindy's Basketball | NCAA Tournament |
| Individual Predictions | |
| Scooter McFadgon | First Team All-SEC (SEC Coaches) |
| First Team All-SEC (SEC Media) | |
| First Team All-SEC (Athlon Sports) | |
| First Team All-SEC (Basketball News) | |
| First Team All-SEC (Blue Ribbon CBY) | |
| Second Team All-SEC (The Sporting News) | |
| Second Team All-SEC (Lindy's Basketball) | |
| No. 9 "Slasher" nationally (Athlon Sports) | |
| No. 15 "SG" nationally (Lindy's Basketball) | |
| No. 16 "SG" nationally (The Sporting News) | |
| SEC's "Most Entertaining" (Lindy's Basketball) | |
| C.J. Watson | Second Team All-SEC (SEC Coaches) |
| Third Team All-SEC (Athlon Sports) | |
| SEC's "Best Playmaker" (The Sporting News) | |
| SEC's "Best Passer" (Street & Smith's) | |
| SEC's "Top Playmaker" (Lindy's Basketball) | |
| Brandon Crump | Second Team All-SEC (SEC Coaches) |
| Third Team All-SEC (Athlon Sports) | |
| Third Team All-SEC (Lindy's Basketball) | |
| Andre Patterson | No. 7 "Top Transfer" nationally (Lindy's Basketball) |
| Top Transfer (Athlon Sports) | |
| Top Transfer (Basketball News) | |
| SEC's "Best Transfer" (Street & Smith's) | |
| Chris Lofton | Top 100 Freshmen (Street & Smith's) |
