Four Arrested Tennessee Players Suspended Indefinitely

by Will Shelton on Jan 2, 2010 12:11 PM EST in Tennessee Volunteer Basketball

There's not a lot of new information out there today on the arrests of Tyler Smith, Cameron Tatum, Brian Williams and Melvin Goins from yesterday, as the four are held on weapons and drug possession charges. Late last night Bruce Pearl released a second statement, suspending all four players indefinitely until all the details are sorted out:

"I am deeply saddened and troubled by today’s news. I am indefinitely suspending Melvin (Goins), Tyler (Smith), Cameron (Tatum) and Brian (Williams) from all team activities until we have more information about today’s incident. I apologize for the embarrassment this has caused to our University."

This is the same strategy Lane Kiffin and Mike Hamilton took on the arrests of Nu'Keese Richardson, Mike Edwards, and Janzen Jackson (who was later cleared). And Pearl has shown he has no problem dismissing players from the team: now in the fifth year of his tenure, Pearl has said goodbye to Major Wingate, Ramar Smith, Duke Crews, while Josh Tabb withdrew from the university while on an indefinite suspension. Wingate, Smith and Crews were drug-related dismissals.

On the floor, this situation comes at a very unfortunate time: the Vols' win at Memphis on Thursday was huge, but there are no more gimmies for this team. The #14 Vols host a 10-2 Charlotte team on Wednesday night, then play #1 Kansas next Sunday in Knoxville. After that, SEC play begins.

Pearl spoke with Andy Katz at ESPN.com and had these additional comments:

"It's too early to say what this will mean for the rest of the season but this is very troubling," Pearl told ESPN.com. ""It's four of our top 8 players in minutes -- that's 45 percent of our rebounding and roughly scoring. We felt we had turned things around with a win at Memphis Thursday and for this to happen is very disappointing, for them to let everyone down. They made a very poor decision."

Here's a look at each player's numbers in 12 games so far this season...

F Tyler Smith: 26.8 mins, 11.7 pts, 4.7 rebs, 3.7 assts
G Cameron Tatum: 19.6 mins, 8.7 pts, 2.4 rebs, 1.7 assts
C Brian Williams: 16.7 mins, 5.9 pts, 5.4 rebs
G Melvin Goins: 16.3 mins, 6.1 pts, 2.2 rebs, 2.3 assts

Tyler Smith is a starter and a former All-SEC player, while Cameron Tatum has split starting and sixth man duties with J.P. Prince so far this season. Brian Williams is Tennessee's first post player off the bench, and Melvin Goins is UT's backup point guard. Even in what's been a 10 or 11 man rotation for the Vols so far this year, all four of these players do unique things and would be very difficult to replace.

We don't know the ultimate fate of these four players yet, but it's a safer bet every hour that you won't see at least some of them on Wednesday night against Charlotte. The Vols are deep and can still field a serviceable team even in the worst case scenario that all four players are dismissed. But whatever new rotation develops out of this situation will have to hit the ground running against Tennessee's schedule.

KPD said yesterday that they will not release new information until Monday, and so we may not get any further word about more definite suspensions and/or dismissals until at least then. Meanwhile, the rest of the team goes to practice today and the coaching staff must try to prepare for a difficult week, on and off the court.

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Why would Tyler throw away a shot at a first round NBA draft spot?

by memphispete on Jan 2, 2010 12:24 PM EST reply actions

I don't think he thought they were going to get pulled over

I’d just be interested in fallout from the gun charges…everything else doesn’t sound that out of the ordinary for a college town.

by 2.1 seconds left on Jan 2, 2010 1:03 PM EST up reply actions

weed and guns?

if anything that will BOOST his NBA stock.

The Dual Threat, Official Enforcer/Stat Geek of MCM.

by hal41605 on Jan 2, 2010 1:32 PM EST up reply actions

He just needed the mistress to complete the trifecta.

Cannons... fire them.

www.BucEm.com - SBNation's home for discussion of all things regarding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

by Craig T on Jan 2, 2010 4:01 PM EST up reply actions

He may fit in with prospective teammates, but management won't like it.

Thus, the first round spot is hurt.

by memphispete on Jan 3, 2010 1:55 PM EST up reply actions

obviously not being serious

The Dual Threat, Official Enforcer/Stat Geek of MCM.

by hal41605 on Jan 3, 2010 3:13 PM EST up reply actions

Let me correct that last sentence for you:

“must try to prepare for a difficult week, on, off, and in the court.”

RIP Steve McNair (1973 - 2009) Retire #9!

by Pride of the Southland on Jan 2, 2010 1:47 PM EST reply actions

god this is amazing

ughh

by cincyvol6198 on Jan 2, 2010 3:47 PM EST reply actions

My Question/Rant

What leads these players to do this? Now, I know I come from a very different background than most of the players we see end up in this (or a similar) predicament—I’m a white suburbanite who grew up in a culture that was very supportive of academic achievements. Needless to say, many if not most of these men, grew up in a very different culture.

I would have done anything to have been born with the natural assets that these men have, and to have been given a full ride to a division 1 school, to play against the best, and have a pipeline to the NBA. For these young men to throw it all away totally baffles me. Logically (from my cultural background), I can look at this situation and ask, “Why in the world would you need to be packing heat on (or around) campus? Why must you be smoking an illicit drug in public?” Etc, etc, etc. When you’ve seen your fellow student athletes lose their futures up close and personal, why would you risk it all for a “fun night out?” And why were guns ever involved?! Knoxville might have it’s bad areas, but I think it’s safe to say in that town, trouble doesn’t find you, you find trouble.

I guess that’s all for now. Obviously I’m saddened about the loss of potential—both on the court and for these young men.

So Sayth King Zach I

by kingofzachland on Jan 2, 2010 4:38 PM EST reply actions

I've asked myself that too often...

But it’s not like these kids are still stuck in the ghetto. Their athletic talents gave them a great reason/opportunity to escape wherever they came from, and this behavior is inexcusable. I don’t see how anyone can attempt to excuse this kind of behavior, regardless of their talent or past. Crap like this really makes me wonder if the old saying really is true – “You can take the [man] out of the ghetto, but…”

I realize that coaches in sports like football and basketball are recruiting kids that often come from broken homes, questionable backgrounds, and dangerous walks of life. To give a kid an opportunity to escape that world is a very commendable thing, but it does come at a price. The reality is that for every 100 kids that are given this opportunity, there will be a couple of kids (a very conservative estimate) that throw it away because they choose not to give up that past. That’s still a very impressive return, but those other ~97-98 kids aren’t making headlines. Positivity and feel-good stories are no longer front page news, and even if they were (and they should be), those stars would burn out in a single day. Instead, feel-good stories find themselves on the back page of the Living section in the newspaper. Negativity sells, because of the controversy that it often creates, and it can linger for weeks, even months.

When I heard about Tyler Smith being involved, all I could do was shake my head. Here is a guy who has a young son and even jumped at the chance to come back to Tennessee in order to be closer to his ill father. Can’t a man at least have the decency to keep his nose clean for both his own son and his father, who is looking down on him?

by tommotornado on Jan 3, 2010 11:26 AM EST up reply actions