University of Tennessee Athletics
Backboard Brothers
October 30, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 30, 2009
Drew Rutherford, UT Media Relations
The University of Tennessee has long been renowned for a sense of family among all Volunteers--young and old. This sensation translates onto the hardwood and definitely to the 12 returning student-athletes on the UT men's basketball team.
Wayne Chism returns as the Vols' only four-year player. Chism is poised to move toward the top ranks of UT's all-time career rebounding and scoring charts and will likely break the school record for most games played in a career.
Players returning for their third season on Rocky Top include senior transfers J.P. Prince and Tyler Smith as well as juniors Steven Pearl and Brian Williams. Since these student-athletes arrived on The Hill, they have played to an electric Thompson-Boling Arena crowd that has ranked fourth nationally in attendance in each of their three seasons.
In their second year at UT are senior point guard Bobby Maze and sophomores Scotty Hopson, Emmanuel Negedu, Cameron Tatum and Renaldo Woolridge. During their first season at Tennessee, these Vols faced 12 teams that played in the NCAA tournament.
Knoxville, Tenn., native and senior Quinn Cannington and junior transfer Michael Hubert are tasked with keeping the Vols on their toes. From week to week, they meet the challenge of learning multiple offensive sets to simulate upcoming opponents.
Tennessee is one of five SEC teams to return all five starters from last season. The Vols' frontcourt led the conference last season in offensive rebounds and UT also returns two of the league's top returning scorers. Smith ranked third in the SEC last season in scoring with 17.4 ppg and Chism was eighth at 13.7 ppg.
Now more than ever the team exudes the feeling of a family. With a grueling off-season behind them, the Big Orange bond between the team is stronger than ever and will help the group on and off the court. No one knows or feels this more than Negedu, who is inactive this season after suffering a cardiac event on Sept. 28.
"We relate differently on the court than we do off the court," Negedu said. "But in everything we do, we are together. We are like family. We help each other out like brothers. We would all help out a teammate with anything. I think that closeness helps us a lot on the court, too."
"We work hard together and work hard for each other. That makes us a family."
