Last week, we took a look at the Tennessee Volunteer Roland Ratings and found what we expected (Wayne Chism is consistently our best player), what we didn't expect (Steven Pearl had the second-best RR of the Vols over the SEC season), and a hopeful, positive pattern (J.P. Prince and Scotty Hopson were trending toward positive consistency). With the SEC regular season in the books, here are the final numbers:
| MSU | AR | KY | FL | SC | GA | KY | Van. | SC | LSU | FL | GA | AL | Miss. | Au. | AVG | |
| Williams | 26 | 15 | 23 | -17 | -2 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 8.3 | |||||||
| Chism | 28 | -17 | 7 | -1 | 14 | 11 | 11 | -7 | 28 | 5 | 19 | -7 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 7.2 |
| Prince | 16 | -9 | 17 | 3 | 20 | 21 | -23 | -15 | -4 | 9 | -1 | 5 | 5 | -8 | 8 | 2.9 |
| Pearl | -42 | 1 | -7 | -7 | -18 | -5 | 5 | 31 | 8 | 15 | -1 | 23 | -11 | 16 | 16 | 1.6 |
| Goins | -16 | 3 | 7 | 7 | -8 | -3 | 9 | -5 | -10 | 11 | 1 | 23 | 1.6 | |||
| Hopson | 14 | -1 | 23 | 13 | 8 | 5 | -17 | 13 | 12 | -1 | -13 | -5 | -13 | 6 | -22 | 1.5 |
| McBee | 3 | -19 | 1 | -8 | -25 | 29 | -19 | -2 | 5 | 13 | -13 | 7 | 0 | 4 | -1.7 | |
| Maze | 16 | -5 | -7 | -17 | 8 | 9 | -9 | 1 | 4 | -7 | -1 | -1 | -19 | -12 | 4 | -2.4 |
| Tatum | -14 | 17 | -17 | 5 | -18 | -12 | -9 | 1 | 13 | -3.8 | ||||||
| Hall | -20 | -3 | -27 | 35 | 4 | -17 | 11 | -7 | -18 | -5 | -13 | -23 | 1 | 0 | -6 | -5.9 |
| Woolridge | -8 | 3 | -23 | 5 | -18 | -23 | -5 | 7 | 7 | -30 | -10 | -8.6 |
Let's just say we should be glad to have Brian Williams back, as he's overtaken Weezy as the guy with the best RR. He and Chism are clearly the most important guys to have on the floor. Prince is next, and he and Hopson continue their six-game streak of mostly-positive indirect contribution.
As noted by Incipient_Senescence and golfballs03, the RR is vulnerable to criticism due to its accounting for off court plus/minus numbers in addition to on court numbers, so here are the full plus/minus charts for the past two games (once again culled from StatSheet.com):
| vs. Arkansas | Plus/Minus | Off Court | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIN | RR | +/- | + | - | +/- | + | - | ||
 |
W. Chism | 27 | -17 | -5 | 48 | -53 | 12 | 32 | -20 |
|
B. Williams | 26 | 15 | 11 | 50 | -39 | -4 | 30 | -34 |
|
B. Maze | 26 | -5 | 1 | 46 | -45 | 6 | 34 | -28 |
|
J. Prince | 23 | -9 | -1 | 40 | -41 | 8 | 40 | -32 |
|
S. Hopson | 31 | -1 | 3 | 60 | -57 | 4 | 20 | -16 |
|
S. McBee | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 2 | 71 | -69 |
|
K. Hall | 8 | -3 | 2 | 13 | -11 | 5 | 67 | -62 |
|
M. Goins | 14 | 3 | 5 | 38 | -33 | 2 | 42 | -40 |
|
S. Pearl | 21 | 1 | 4 | 46 | -42 | 3 | 34 | -31 |
|
C. Tatum | 21 | 17 | 12 | 50 | -38 | -5 | 30 | -35 |
| @ MSU | Plus/Minus | Off Court | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIN | RR | +/- | + | - | +/- | + | - | ||
|
W. Chism | 25 | 28 | 22 | 51 | -29 | -6 | 24 | -30 |
|
B. Williams | 27 | 26 | 21 | 53 | -32 | -5 | 22 | -27 |
|
B. Maze | 26 | 16 | 16 | 54 | -38 | 0 | 21 | -21 |
|
J. Prince | 29 | 16 | 16 | 55 | -39 | 0 | 20 | -20 |
|
S. Hopson | 31 | 14 | 15 | 62 | -47 | 1 | 13 | -12 |
|
R. Woolridge | 2 | -8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 71 | -59 |
|
K. Hall | 12 | -20 | -2 | 22 | -24 | 18 | 53 | -35 |
|
M. Goins | 15 | -16 | 0 | 21 | -21 | 16 | 54 | -38 |
|
S. Pearl | 14 | -42 | -13 | 20 | -33 | 29 | 55 | -26 |
|
C. Tatum | 19 | -14 | 1 | 33 | -32 | 15 | 42 | -27 |
Weezy's numbers against Mississippi State really show why the plus/minus is an important stat to coaches. He scored a total of one point against the Bulldogs and had only six rebounds, yet he was the team's best indirect contributor in that the team outscored its opponent by 22 points while he was on the floor. Credit Chism's perimeter presence and how it drew shot-blocker Varnado out of the paint.
If our best players -- Chism, Williams, Prince, and Hopson -- can all continue to play their best basketball with the consistency they've shown over the past six games, this team could be a lot of fun to watch in both the SEC and NCAA Tournaments.