University of Tennessee Athletics
RAISING THE BAR
August 25, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 25, 2006
2006-07 Tennessee Basketball Prospectus in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Bruce Pearl and the Tennessee Vols took the Southeastern Conference by storm in the coach's first season in Knoxville.
Pearl's uptempo offense and full-court pressure defense brought an excitement to Rocky Top not seen since the days of Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King in the 1970s.
Predicted to finish fifth in the six-team Eastern Division of the SEC, Tennessee ran and pressed its way to a 22-8 overall record and an SEC Eastern Division championship. Averaging 80.4 points per game, the Vols led the SEC in scoring for the first time since the 1977 campaign. UT also led the SEC in 3-point field goals (8.8 per game), assists (16.97) and steals (10.03) while posting a 12-4 league record.
Fans across the nation took notice as Tennessee earned wins at sixth-ranked Texas, at Kentucky and picked up regular-season series sweeps over National Invitation Tournament champion South Carolina and NCAA Tournament champion Florida. Attendance at Thompson-Boling Arena increased an NCAA-best 5,504 fans per game to 17,954, which ranked fifth nationally. Against SEC teams, UT crammed 20,796 fans into the arena.
Each of Tennessee's players saw their production from the 2004-05 season increase in Pearl's system. C.J. Watson cemented his place as one of the best point guards in school history, averaging 15.3 points and 3.9 assists during his senior campaign. Chris Lofton shattered nearly every school record for 3-pointers while averaging 17.3 points and earning second team All-America honors.
JaJuan Smith established himself as one of the top sixth-men in the league as a sophomore in 2005-06 while seeing his scoring output increase by 7.6 points per game.
But now, as Pearl begins his second season at the helm of the Tennessee program, he will not have the luxury of a veteran roster. The Vols will be an equal balance of six returning lettermen and six newcomers. UT returns three starters while having a total of nine players (three returning players and six newcomers) who have never started a collegiate game. Lost from last season is Watson's veteran leadership and poise at the point as well as the athleticism on the wing and post of Stanley Asumnu and Andre Patterson.
While the Vols may have lost a lot of experience from last season, they will gain more depth with the addition of the six new players. Competition at point guard will be intense as veterans Jordan Howell and Dane Bradshaw will battle freshmen Marques Johnson and Ramar Smith for playing time. On the wing, Smith and Lofton will compete with sophomore Tony Passley and freshmen Duke Crews and Josh Tabb. In the post, returning starters Major Wingate and Bradshaw will be pushed by sophomore Ryan Childress and freshmen Wayne Chism and Crews.
Seniors Bradshaw and Wingate will be counted on to provide leadership early on this young team as the Vols will be taking on one of the most difficult schedules in school history. UT's schedule features three non-conference games against teams that finished the 2005-06 season ranked among the top 10 in the RPI in addition to what appears to be one of the best years the Southeastern Conference has ever had.
