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Posted: Wednesday November 06, 2002 5:18 PM Tennessee Volunteers
The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518. Team Preview | Blue Ribbon Analysis
Buzz Peterson’s debut season as Tennessee coach was anything but dull. Between several last-second losses decided by 3-point goals -- more than most coaches endure in a career -- player defections, injuries and a smattering of great wins over Kentucky, Syracuse and Georgia, Peterson was never bored. Shell-shocked at times, but never bored. Without a doubt, Peterson will always remember his first year in Knoxville. The record, well, that’s another matter. Peterson would just as soon forget the Vols’ 15-16 effort that ended a four-year streak of 20-plus victories and NCAA tournament appearances. Brought in to take the program to another level that former coach Jerry Green couldn’t seen to reach, Peterson instead watched the program slip backward. But the way Peterson sees it, perhaps he got a lot of the adversity coaches typically face in their careers out of the way early. "I hope all that’s behind me," Peterson said. "It was a tough year in a lot of ways, but I was proud the way our kids handled adversity. We lost a lot of close ones, but later in the year we got some of those back. It would be hard to imagine going through a tougher year. So we’ve got that going for us." Despite the sudden loss of All-SEC forward Marcus Haislip, who basically parlayed one semester of great basketball into becoming an NBA lottery pick, Tennessee figures to be much improved over a year ago. Haislip announced his departure only weeks after his junior season ended and was chosen as the 13th pick in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks. With Haislip, the Vols might have been a preseason Top 25 pick and had a dominant inside game. Without him and fellow NBA draft pick Vincent Yarbrough, they’ll have to retool slightly.
The leaders of this team figure to be a couple of seniors who have displayed that quality throughout their careers. Ron Slay (14.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg), the 6-foot-8 forward, returns after an injury-plagued junior season. He suffered a stress fracture in his right leg in the preseason and missed two games. Just about the time he was shaking off the effects of that injury, he tore the ACL in his left knee in January and was finished for the year. Without Slay, the Vols lost their emotional leader and a dependable scorer. Peterson will never know if Slay might have made the difference in four straight close losses in late February -- to Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida -- that cost the Vols a postseason tournament bid. But Peterson would have liked his chances a lot better with Slay in the lineup. Slay made a remarkable recovery from the knee injury and was granted a medical release to resume playing in July. "He’s fine," Peterson said. "He’s eager to get started. He’s fired up. With all the younger kids we have on this team, we need that emotional lift from Ron. And he’ll be our leading scorer. When I think back to last year, even before he hurt his leg, he was pretty impressive in practice. I want to see Ron Slay in great shape and healthy. He could be a load." Jon Higgins (7.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.9 apg), a 6-3 senior, was miscast at the point last season because Peterson had no one else to play the position. As a result, the best 3-point shooter in the league was too bogged down with playmaking duties to focus on what he does best. Higgins shot just 36 percent from 3-point range after leading the league at 48 percent the season before. "I want Jon where he’s at ease and relaxed and doesn’t have to worry about getting everybody in the right position," Peterson said. "We want him to shoot the basketball, and I’m also challenging him to be a leader to our younger kids." Several of those younger kids are going to have to play key roles for the Vols, who were guard-poor last year but remedied that situation by signing two Parade All-Americans -- 6-2 point guard C.J. Watson and 6-3 scorer John Winchester. Watson will be given the first chance to win the starting point guard job. No one in the program doubts he can handle it, but first he’ll have to recover from late September knee surgery. He was expected to be out of action four to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to repair a cartilage tear. "When he showed up for summer school, the first thing I did was hand him a ball and say, ‘Here, this is yours,’" Peterson said. "He’s the main guy for our point guard job. I like the way he distributes the ball. And he can defend -- he's got long arms for being 6-2 and he gets his hands on a lot of basketballs." Watson, a fourth-team Parade All-American and the 2002 Gatorade Nevada Player of the Year, led Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas to the state championship while averaging 27.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 6.1 steals. "He's going to get every opportunity to be our point guard," Peterson said. "I sat him down in my office and told him he would have some ups and downs as a freshman point guard in our league, but that everybody on this team -- coaches and players -- was pulling for him to succeed." Winchester, also a fourth-team Parade pick, was ranked the No. 44 player in the country by Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports. He averaged 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals at Milford (Conn.) Academy. "He's a good shooter, but also a slashing type of player," Peterson said. "In a pinch, he could play the point. He's got a real good knowledge of the game. He's very savvy." Though he wasn't as heralded a recruit, 6-5 freshman Stanley Asumnu might end up being regarded as the steal of the Vols’ Top 20 recruiting class. Tennessee coaches are certainly excited by his potential after robbing him from Texas, which had placed the Houston native at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy. He averaged 20 points, five boards, four assists and three steals in his postgraduate season. "Asumnu can shoot it pretty decently from the outside, but he's always attacking the basket," Peterson said. "If big guys aren't careful, he'll explode in there and dunk it on them. I look for him to really contribute for us." Peterson is looking forward to presiding over a heated battle for the starting small forward job. Along with Asumnu, another newcomer will be a serious candidate to win the spot. Justin Albrecht, a 6-6 junior from Iowa Western Community College, was something of a sleeper until Peterson went to watch teammate Jeff Graves play. Peterson liked what he saw of Albrecht, a tough competitor with a knack for the game’s blue-collar chores. Peterson offered a scholarship on the spot, and Albrecht accepted. The transaction was just in time. As more coaches came to see Graves, they couldn’t help but notice Albrecht. He wound up averaging 13.8 points, 7.3 rebounds four assists and two steals. "If there’s a loose ball, Albrecht will get it," Peterson said. "His first year in junior college, he drew 42 charges. He’s a physical, strong player who can go inside and do some posting up or shoot the jumper. Albrecht competes. It’s going to be fun having guys like that." Another candidate for the three spot is 6-5 sophomore Derek Stribling (1.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg), who showed flashes of skill as a freshman, particularly as a defender. The Tennessee staff corrected a flaw in Stribling’s jump shot, which might help his offensive game catch up with his defense. Depending on whether Peterson wants to play big or small, 6-0 senior Thaydeus Holden will earn his share of minutes, though probably not as many (23.7) as he averaged a year ago. Holden (6.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.4 apg) proved to be a streaky offensive player, shooting just 36 percent from the field, but he was a dependable on-ball defender. Besides Slay, Tennessee will be young in the post. The potential star of the group could be 6-10 sophomore Brandon Crump, who redshirted two seasons ago and showed signs of real talent in 2001-2002. Crump (7.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg), has soft hands and is a good athlete. He’s also got basketball savvy. Peterson is hoping Crump’s summer trip to Pete Newell’s big man camp in Hawaii helped refine the big man’s skills. "I’d like to see Brandon get a little more physical inside and also step outside and be able to hit jumpers from 12 to 15 feet," Peterson said. "He showed signs of that against Florida and Arkansas in the SEC Tournament. He’s long and will surprise you with his quickness, so you know he can score. He’s got to be willing to say, ‘Hey, I’m not in the background anymore.’ He’s one of the best players on this team." Peterson hopes 6-8 sophomore Elgrace Wilborn (3.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg) can become more mature and harness his raw athletic skills. Wilborn is a big-time leaper -- he stunned the crowd in a game at Georgia when he leaped over the head of the Bulldogs’ 6-7 Chris Daniels -- who can block shots (16 a year ago) and rebound. But his offensive skills are limited. Wilborn showed a little of what he could do when Slay was injured early in the season, averaging 10 rebounds in a three-game stretch, including 12 against Appalachian State and 11 against Alaska-Anchorage. "Elgrace could be a key to our ball club," Peterson said. "We need somebody to step up in the post. He’s showed signs he can do it. He had a good spring and summer. I hope he comes with confidence. He’s our best athlete. We just need him to be more consistent." Boomer Herndon, a 7-0, 240-pound freshman from Donelson Christian Academy in Nashville, will get a chance to play as a freshman. Ranked among the top 100 players in the country by Bob Gibbons, Herndon averaged 26.7 points as a senior, second in the state. The first-team all-state pick also led Tennessee players in rebounds (17.0 rpg) and blocked shots (7.0 bpg). "Boomer is somebody we think is only going to get better because he’s got a nice touch and good hands," Peterson said. "He’s just got to develop and get stronger. He’ll have to get used to the pounding he’ll get in our league. But he’ll help us. We need to get several minutes out of him every game." If Herndon emerges, it will mean more bench time for 6-8, 250-pound junior Andy Ikeakor, who in two seasons has battled injuries and weight problems and has yet to prove he can play at the SEC level. Peterson figures he handled as much adversity in his debut season at Tennessee as any coach should be subjected to in a career. And though his first year in Knoxville didn’t go anything like he had envisioned, Peterson made some progress. Without question, he commanded the attention of his players, who had been accused of being less than attentive to former coach Green. Peterson worked hard at stressing the team concept, another quality that had apparently been lacking. That newfound emphasis on the team will help the Vols in 2002-2003 as they try to reclaim the spot they had earned among the SEC’s upper echelon teams. With freshman guards Watson, Winchester and Asumnu, Tennessee restocked its depleted guard corps. They’ll add ball handling, playmaking and scoring ability to a team that badly needed all of the above. Whether the Vols can return to a postseason tournament hinges on three keys. One, can Watson handle the point guard position? Two, will Slay be able to play close to the form he showed last fall, before suffering a stress fracture and then a torn ACL? Three, can sophomore center Crump take his game to a higher level? If the answer to those questions is yes, Tennessee can get itself back on track after last year’s trials and tribulations. Peterson hopes his 15-16 debut was an aberration that will soon be forgotten.
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