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In Year Five of BruceBall, can the Vols beat Kentucky, bring home another championship and finally make it past the Sweet 16?

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Seven days away from tipoff, the 09-10 Vols prepare to embark on a 30 game schedule as defending SEC East Champions and with every major contributor back.  Bruce Pearl has changed everything about Tennessee Basketball in his first four seasons, to the point that we enter this year with a top ten ranking and championship expectations.  The overall goals continue to be the same as they have been since Pearl established himself:  success is defined now by more than just making the tournament, but by higher seeds and deeper progress, and by winning the division and winning the conference, two things that will require going through our biggest rival from the Bluegrass.  The rivalry between Tennessee and Kentucky has a chance to reach unprecedented heights this season, and both have a chance to do something special.

As always, the biggest goal for Tennessee Basketball continues to be the Elite Eight, the promised land that the Vols have never reached, falling thrice in the Sweet Sixteen in this decade.  Get there, and hey...we might as well make the Final Four.

This team has the talent, experience and coaching to go far.  Exactly how far will be determined by the answers to these questions:

5. How much productivity will the Vols get at point guard?

The Vols have plenty of guys who can score, but need someone who can distribute.  Last year Bobby Maze put up numbers that were very similar to what we saw from Ramar Smith:  8.2 points, 3.2 assists, a low shooting percentage from behind the arc...and while Maze was +2 in assist/turnover ratio and did a serviceable job at the position, the Vols need the combination of Maze and Melvin Goins to run the offense with greater efficiency.  And on the defensive side of the ball, the point guard will play a key role in answering our second question...   

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Aside from the usual struggles of dealing with the SEC schedule, this year the Vols will play three marquee non-conference games, a host of local and in-state schools, and three games in the Virgin Islands in the Paradise Jam Tournament.  Tennessee continues to put together a difficult schedule under Bruce Pearl, and this year will be no different. 

One result of the program's success is the presence of television cameras at Tennessee's games:  the Vols will play in front of a national television audience three times on CBS, and have six of their SEC contests scheduled for ESPN.  ESPN2 will pick up another three games, and all the other contests can be seen one way or another.

Here's a look at Tennessee's 2009-10 schedule, with more thoughts after the jump...

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More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

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Quick and dirty version of the open game thread tonight. The opponent? Lincoln Memorial? Time? In eight minutes (7:30 EST). TV? Uh, don't think so.

So go here.

More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

8 days ago: In this photo taken on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009, Tennessee's Tyler Smith (1) defends against Renaldo Woolridge during NCAA college basketball practice in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

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Part Two of our weeklong preview of the upcoming Tennessee Basketball season, which tips off Friday, November 13.  Part One - Last Year

If there was ever a season where the Vols could absorb the loss of two contributors in the six weeks before the season opener, this is it.  Josh Tabb and Emmanuel Negedu may be out, but the Vols still have 12 names on the roster expected to make contributions.  You can see how crowded the picture was before Negedu's cardiac incident and Tabb's withdrawal.

In the long run, Pearl is likely to go with a 10 or even 9 man rotation by season's end.  But in the early going, you'll get a look at all of these guys:

POINT GUARD

Bobby Maze returns to put on for Tennessee in his senior season.  The transfer stepped into a starting role immediately last season, and logged 25 minutes and 8 points per game.  But he wasn't the natural PG fit that Pearl wanted, as Maze averaged only 3.2 assists - he had 11 assists in the season opener against UT-Chattanooga, but never got double figures again.  Maze finished with a +2.02 assist/turnover ratio and shot only 31.9% from beyond the arc.  The Vols have weapons everywhere and don't necessarily need Maze to score, but to distribute.  Look for Maze also to be a key factor in reigniting Tennessee's press on defense.

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More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

Hey, remember these guys? Basketball is just two weeks away.

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Part One of our weeklong series previewing the 2009-10 Tennessee Basketball season, which tips off on Friday, November 13.

 It's Year Five of BruceBall, and Tennessee fans can rest easy on two truths:  this guy is the real deal, and he doesn't appear to be going anywhere else.

In four years, Bruce Pearl has led the Vols to four NCAA Tournament appearances, two Sweet 16s (no Tennessee team has ever played in the Elite 8), three Eastern Division titles, one SEC Championship, and reached #1 in the polls in early 2008.  He has positioned the Vols as a mainstay in the tournament and the Top 25, as UT opens in the top ten of this season's AP poll.  And he gives his all for Tennessee:  your attention span may currently be drawn to the antics of the new kid on the block in Knoxville, but Lane Kiffin has nothing on Pearl when it comes to self-and-team-promotion.  Kiffin is on billboards and in lyrics, Pearl is painted up and doing the actual rapping.  They are the most entertaining football-basketball coaching combination in America, and while Kiffin continues to build his process, Pearl's process has arrived.

And when big money came calling this offseason, Pearl shunned mighty Memphis to stay in Knoxville, staying loyal to the school that gave him his break, and now even more eager to capitalize on it more fully.

That opportunity could present itself this season, as a veteran Tennessee squad that lost only Ryan Childress (plus Josh Tabb and Emmanuel Negedu due to unforseen circumstances) from last year's division title team looks to take Tennessee - and Pearl - to the promised land.

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An indefinite suspension has turned into what appears to be the end of Josh Tabb's basketball career at Tennessee.  The would-be senior guard has withdrawn from the university and returned home to Carbondale, Illinois to be close to his mother, who is suffering from an undisclosed illness.  The story from the Knoxville News-Sentinel includes comments from head coach Bruce Pearl offering sympathy to Tabb's situation.

Tabb was a member of Pearl's initial recruiting class, which has now lost its third member:  Duke Crews and Ramar Smith left the program following the 2007-08 season, and now Tabb's career comes to an early close as well.  He is the second Tennessee player to exit the program in the past month under unfortunate circumstances, following the frightening cardiac scare suffered by Emmanuel Negedu one month ago today.

These incidents leave a Tennessee team picked by most to contend for the SEC Championship short on depth, but the greater concern goes out to Negedu and Tabb's mother.

More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

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Talking Points are going piecemeal today. Rather than dumping everything into one post, we're going to dribble it out throughout the morning. Mixing things up, we are.

So SEC Basketball Media Days was yesterday, and the arrival of John Calipari is already amping things up between Kentucky and Tennessee. Calipari's various digs at Tennessee:

• When asked how the Cal-Pearl rivalry would be different with him in Big Blue, Cal said basically that it wouldn't be any different and that it would still "be their biggest game."
• Cal then dissed Knoxville and the color orange, saying that the animosity between him and Pearl comes from Pearl recruiting Memphis. "I'm not recruiting Knoxville . . . What good does it do for me to go to Knoxville, other than to play in front of 22,000 people in orange . . . I can't stand the color."
  
• Cal also poo-pooed Pearl's "controlled chaos" system, saying "Most cases, we're not even messing with it. We just dribble through it." Right. Pearlfection, anyone?
  
• And of course, he had to bring up the bodypaint. "We're competitors. I'm never going to paint my body."
  

Pearl didn't just stand idly by. "Why would he like orange," Pearl responded when told of Cal's comments. Pearl also apparently had the last word:

When told of Calipari’s body paint comment, Pearl was asked if there was anything Calipari does that he wouldn’t do. Pearl paused for effect, smirking at the media before answering and drawing raucous laughter: "I don’t know all the things that he’s doing."

Meanwhile, things were more diplomatic for the ladies. Pat Summitt said she thought Tennessee ranking second in the SEC preseason poll was too high and that she was thinking "somewhere around fourth." Georgia coach Andy Landers LOLd at that saying, "That's borderline being dishonest." Hey, she is taking after Lane Kiffin and everything, right?

GVX is reporting that Tennessee basketball player Emmanuel Negedu passed out during a workout and was rushed by ambulance to UT Medical Center. He was apparently conscious and alert during transport, and I believe that UT tests all athletes for sickle cell trait and other latent conditions, so there's no need to fear the worst at this time.

More as it develops and as time permits.

[Note by Joel, 09/28/09 7:14 PM EDT ] UPDATE: Negedu is in stable condition, will undergo "an extensive battery of diagnostic tests," and will be held overnight for observation.

According to one of Tyler Smith's tweets from last Friday, the team is really working hard. Negedu, though, had already gone through a strenuous workout Monday morning and had gone on to attend classes before returning for a lighter session. It was after that session, when he and Bobby Maze were leaving, that he passed out.