Via Chris Vernon, an ancillary benefit of the recent Negedu commitment is that it means that Marisa Miller is now a Tennessee fan. Negedu is apparently friends with both Miller and her husband (Hollywood producer Griffin Guess) and is reportedly in California right now surfing with Marisa.

Vernon says that Negedu's recent commitment to Tennessee puts Miller (a #1 recruit, according to Chris) in the lead, just above Kentucky fan Ashley Judd, as the best college basketball fan.

Did I read this right? Teammates and coach get on to Wayne Chism about taking last night's game in the Pilot Rocky Top League more seriously. He doesn't play in the second half and then leaves before the game is over?

I don't know what all is behind this, but it adds to my concerns about summer basketball. What are y'all thinking?

From GVX:

Emmanuel Negedu, the only top-50 player in the class of 2008 who was not signed, told the News Sentinel on Tuesday he would play for Tennessee.

Update [2008-5-7 19:37:23 by hooper]: Whoops. Just as I post this, I look over and see that Old Smokey had this posted up a mere 2 hours before me. Credit goes to him first, folks.

Well, well, well...

Just when a couple roster spots open up on the men's basketball team - in particular,leaving our point position a little thin - we get this bit of news.  I don't know much about the guy, but the news I heard on this yesterday when this was discussed as a strong possibility seemed to indicate a good fit.  He's witty, too:

But we're going to hear about this one:

So help me out a bit, basket-Vol fans: is this guy a good pickup?  Beyond the fact that we just need a point, period, how do you think he'll do?  I really don't know anything about him and I'm not that good at figuring out basketball projections (football guy, remember?).

I do know this much: when your program and head coach are looked at as the great "up-and-comers" in the world of high-profile men's bb, it's a lot easier to pull these kinds of late recruits off.

From GVX:

Nice.

Of course, on a day when we're reminded that we don't always know everything that's going on in a player's life, I'm a bit hesitant to hurl any rash criticisms. So I'll just say . . . nice.

Tennessee fans marveled at the motion for four years. A thousand times. There was a certain flawless elegance to Chris Lofton's remarkable fade-away three-point jump shot. Undaunted by a defender literally in his face, he simply raised up and hit the shot as he faded away from the opponent.

Scores of thousands of reps made it second nature. So when faced with real, life-threatening adversity, Chris just did what he'd always done. He calmly raised up over his circumstances and took his best shot. And before the ball had found its way through the bottom of the net, Lofton was already fading into the background where he is most comfortable. It's nothing. Don't look at me. Look at the shot.

Oh, we're looking at the shot in a whole new way today, Chris. From all I hear about you, you probably couldn't care less whether you're honored by Vol fans for your victory over death this season, but honored you will be. Teammates, fans, parents, coaches, and this absolute stranger will pull you from your comfortable humility backstage and drag you back into the spotlight one more time. We will force you onto a pedestal to which you have no aspiration, and we'll point to you and say, "Him. That's the model. That's who I want my children to emulate. That is a person worthy of honor."

And you'll go right on gazing sheepishly at the floor, fidgeting, uncomfortable with the entire thing. That's just one of the many things we love about you.

Scotty Hopson has finally signed the letter of intent to be a Tennessee Vol.

As a brief recap, Hopson was the runner-up for Mr. Basketball in Kentucky and did win AP Player of the Year for Kentucky.  He's a great shooter and should help fill the void left by Lofton and JJ; in some ways, he will eclipse them.  This rounds out one of the best recruiting classes UT has ever had:  balanced, talented, well-suited to the team.

I, for one, welcome our new Men's Basketball Overlords...

A hearty congratulations to Spears Volunteers, who wins this year's RTT Bracket Challenge. Jackson the Mule wishes to remind you not to mess with Ken Pom and the Pythag. Mrs. Aerobab wishes to remind Aerobab that, once again, she knows more than he does.

Complete results.

Photo by About the_moment

So who are you rooting for in tonight's NCAA championship game? I'm torn.

On the one hand, I'd love to further explore the theme already identified by GetOffMyVols -- that if Memphis won, there is some consolation in the fact that we were 4-1 against the last three national champs. We swept Florida two years ago, split with them last year, and beat the Tigers each of the last two years. That would also lead to some interesting questions about why we haven't done better in the Tournament. And let's be honest, we're gonna need some stuff to talk about. It's a long summer.

On the other hand, have you seen the YouTube comments on the Pearlfection video? Sheesh, I don't know if I can root for them.

My bracket's no help because I have neither Kansas nor Memphis in the final two. So where does that leave us? Root for Memphis? For Kansas? Against Memphis?

What do y'all think?

By the way, head over to Rock Chalk Talk, SB Nation's Kansas blog and live vicariously!