Gameday Today: Basketball turns the page to South Carolina

Hoops

If you care to hear Rick Barnes talk about all of the things that went wrong against Alabama Saturday night, you can do that here:

If you prefer, you can just skim the transcript. Paraphrase: We didn’t follow the scouting report, nobody did anything right, and bus rides are never fun.

Seriously, though, there’s this: “I hope you’re never who you are.” It was a toss-away line, but I absolutely love the philosophy it evidences, that everyone always needs to and can improve.

The team gets a chance to rinse out that nasty aftertaste of sulphur and sweat tonight at home against South Carolina, which is on a five-game losing streak. The game tips at 9:00 and will be televised on ESPNU.

And besides, apart from the misery of the weekend, the Vols still have a terrific resume. They have some really good wins against really good teams, and in addition, their only losses have come to good teams as well:

The six teams that have beaten @Vol_Hoops this season all occupy a top-35 spot in today’s NCAA RPI

• 3 – Villanova
• 7 – Auburn
• 9 – North Carolina
• 23 – Missouri
• 33 – Alabama
• 35 – Arkansas

(Tennessee is 13th)

— Tom Satkowiak (@TomSatkowiak) February 12, 2018

In fact, in ESPN’s latest power rankings, the Vols are still No. 13, just behind Duke, Kansas, and North Carolina, which is pretty good company, assuming you’re talking basketball.

Football

Now that both National Signing Days are behind us, it’s time for everyone to start taking a closer look at what we have on campus.

The coaching staff is loving 4-star offensive lineman Jerome Carvin.

The Vols are expecting great things from new wide receivers Alontae Taylor and Cedric Tillman.

Dominick Wood-Anderson is reportedly the “prototypical NFL tight end.”

If you need another reason to root for incoming JUCO linebacker Jordan Allen, check out this great story from 247Sports.

Incoming running back Jeremy Banks probably signals a shift to recruiting bigger backs.

Running backs coach Robert Gillespie says he wants to “own” the city of Memphis.

Safeties coach and special teams coordinator Charles Kelly is calling Jeremy Pruitt the “most talented coach” he’s worked with in 26 years.

And hey, here’s that same glimmer of hope: The Vols are still talented, even after going 0-8 in the conference last year and finishing this recruiting season with only a Top 20 class. ESPN even puts them on their list of teams with enough talent to get to the College Football Playoff. Coaches matter, so let’s hope we have the right ones.

And speaking of coaches, don’t miss this hilarious look at the Tennessee coaching staff from Spencer.

Other notes

Tennessee basketball is working on a redshirt for freshman forward Zach Kent.

Four-time All-American Chamique Holdsclaw and former assistant coach Mickie DeMoss are two of the seven-person class to be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame this year.