I don’t get why a player of his caliber would go to UT to play at a football school in a football conference…

Obviously we’re biased here in CP but still, we’re in the premier conference sitting in the middle of the hottest college basketball area and he can be a star here, plus last time I checked Tennessee hasn’t sent anyone worth anything to the NBA since Allan Houston…

I think the decision is a bad one from a basketball standpoint even tho I think Bruce Pearl is a fantastic coach – he just isn’t a great teacher of the NBA game, whereas I think Gary is better

I hope he makes the right decision, but I’m not gonna lie and say this doesn’t hurt a little…

I think people are reading in to this a little too much. I understand how you can connect the dots, but at the same time maybe Pinkston wanted to delay just due to the simple fact that Tennessee is one of the seven or so schools that Tobias is considering and wanted to see if he in fact does pick them. I still have the hope, although it’s not a good thing that he went to a game in which Tennessee absolutely destroyed thier competition…

He did not commit to Tennessee, the report was premature.

It’s obviously not certain where Harris ends up (and let’s remember that it’s an extremely personal and important choice), but if he does end up at Tennessee and you really can’t understand why, perhaps you might ask a few more questions, such as:

-Who has had the higher attendance the last five years, Maryland or Tennessee? (Hint: one of them has been in the top-five nationally those years.)

-Which of those teams is ranked higher now?

-Which team has had the higher rankings over the last five years?

-Which coach has done the better job over the last five years? (Keeping in mind that Tennessee was awful before Pearl arrived.)

-Who would you rather spend most of time with, need to have your back, etc.: Bruce Pearl or Gary Williams?

-Which NBA players “worth anything” are from Maryland?

I get it…an affronted Vol fan. You’re a little ticked off that poor Bruce Pearl is being denigrated in a public forum. Well here’s a wakeup call – this is a UM blog. You can expect a little bias.

But your “questions” are misleading and not all easily answered as you imply.

Re: Who has higher attendance? I don’t know, but obviously you have some source. Let’s see it. Comcast is packed for all the big Terps games, though admittedly early-season attendance was rather pathetic last year.

Re: rankings? Guess what, they mean next to nothing. When Pearl wins a national championship, let’s talk.

Re: Which coach has done a better job over the last 5 years? You could certainly argue for Pearl, but this is subjective. If he stays there for a while, he will have his valleys just as GW has.

Re: Who would you rather “spend most of time with, need to have your back, etc.”? I don’t even understand what you mean here, but it sounds like you’re implying that Gary doesn’t support his players…which is at best a misconception. Ultimately this is a question that can’t be answered by most of us who haven’t experienced life in that context – but I certainly wouldn’t assume Pearl is the answer to this question.

Re: Which solid NBA players are from Maryland? Well, just off the top of my head, Walt Williams, Tony Massenburg, Joe Smith, Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, and Chris Wilcox have all had solid NBA careers. Steve Francis was a star for about 5 years before injuries and personal issues got the better of him. Sarunas Jasikevicius is a star internationally and had a few successful years in the NBA before returning to Lithuania.

Bottom Line: Pearl is a good coach and Tennessee is a decent basketball program, but the criticisms of choosing Tennessee over Maryland and some of the other schools on his list seem fair to me.

actually CJ watson plays significant minutes for Golden State, tyler smith and scotty hopson will probably both be taken in the next draft, with Wayne Chism being a potential depending on the season. And UT has had way more people play than allan houston since bernard king.

check the list
http://www.basketballreference.com/players/bycollege.htm?sch=University+of+Tennessee

and Tennessee is the only school to ever be in the top 5 in attendence in football, basketball, and women’s basketball. and they have done it five times

ACC is the premier hoops league in the nation…or maybe Big East. But SEC is not even in the discussion.

I’m not offended at all. I just thought that saying that Tennessee “made no sense,” well, made no sense. There are a lot of pros and cons to all schools, Maryland and Tennessee included. But, it seems more than reasonable to me that a recruit would see Tennessee as a still up-and-coming team, while Maryland under Gary Williams is stuck in a rut (I’m not saying that’s the case—Williams has obviously had a ton of success—but that’s one impression a recruit may have). Note also that the NBA players mentioned were from a while ago. And the recruiting sell of “you can be just like Steve Francis and Steve Blake” isn’t exactly a deal-closer. But true that Tennessee, thus far, can’t sell that either.

Also, while the SEC is no ACC (I’ve lived most of my life in ACC country, so I know)—it’s not just a football conference. See Kentucky, Florida, LSU, Tennessee over the last few years. More important, Tennessee is a huge SPORTS school. Pat Summit and the Lady Vols have a monster following and Pearl has managed to do the same for basketball. Football is king, but basketball isn’t far behind.

watch him commit to Syracuse, just to jinx this pointless bickering…

watch him commit to kentucky, just to see me cry

believe me, I don’t think there is a single tennesse football, basketball, or lady vol basketball fan who is jealous of any of Maryland’s counterpart programs right now

other than the fact that lane kiffin is recruiting out of his mind, as is bruce pearl (which got this conversation started), and pat summit is always good, i seriously doubt that

oh lol, i didnt see academic

tennessee’s academics aren’t bad. They’re comprable to any other major public college

although i wouldn’t doubt that maryland’s are very good

I think its official. Its all over for MD.

supposedly john wall posted something along the lines of “nooo! tobias to tennessee” on his twitter. but when i checked it, it was gone. maybe he didn’t wanna ruin tobias’s moment on espnu.