- Scotty Hopson -- who is getting a lot of well-deserved national press this week -- received SEC player of the week honors for the second week this season. Also received by Hopson this week was the unofficial but still very prestigious kidbourbon "Wow" award. Hopson earned this award as a result of the silly silly baseline jumper that he drained with about two and a half minutes left in the second half. I'm sure you remember it. Disclaimer: I haven't been watching Tennessee basketball for as long as many of you, so take this for what it's worth. But that was the first and only play by a Tennessee basketball player that has inspired a "this guy is definitely playing in the league" reaction on my part. It was a thing of beauty.
- Bruce Pearl will continue to play the underdog card even if he has to reach back to preseason predictions -- which, as I noted months ago, were completely and utterly ridiculous -- to do so.
"I've got a chip on my shoulder and so do they," Pearl said. "When we get beat it will be because somebody outplays us and not because we're not ready for them."
- More recent predictions from blogs with names that I don't understand have us pegged as the outright favorites to win our league.
- Perhaps some of our early success is partially attributable to a different approach to offseason strength training that emphasized explosiveness and has our players easily leaping over tall buildings.
- Pat Summitt wants the Lady Vols to compete harder in an attempt to stop Baylor's Brittney Griner. I think the best strategy is to go with the "chop block" technique. That ought to slow her down.