The Clownshow That Is Tennessee Volunteer Basketball

Wayne Chism was the poster boy for Tenneesee's mental struggles.

Over the last few years there has been continually hype surrounding the Tennessee Volunteer basketball team. They've received preseason rankings, of #20, #13, #11, and #7 in the last four years, only to find themselves exiting the NCAA Tournament in the first round.

The Volunteers have been blessed with some of the finest talent in all of the United States. However, these guys are about as far from polished basketball players as humanly possible. Highly touted recruits like Wayne Chism, Bobby Maze, Tyler Smith and Ramar Smith were immense disappointments once the Vols reached the bright lights of the NCAA Tournament. Tennessee Volunteer basketball was a little bit like watching a bunch of clowns play street ball at Rucker Park. At times it was a sight to see, watching Wayne Chism posterize people or watching Bobby Maze was embarrassing opponents on his way to the basket. But at other points it seemed like the Volunteers weren't even interested in the game. Don't get me wrong these kids had elite talent, but they didn't always use it.  It was, in large thanks, to their terrible head coach Bruce Pearl, who illegally recruited most of these thugs. Pearl was fired last year for lying to NCAA investigators about those same allegations, and for Tenneessee's sake they might as well be thanking god.

Lapses in concentration are almost always associated with the head coach, and in this case it's no different. Bruce Pearl recruited them, coached them and let them run wild both on and off the court. But Pearl was way more interested in grabbing his own attention with his hideous orange jacket and his blinding arrogance. His players didn't simply feed of that attitude, they embodied it. Wayne Chism had a signature look similar to a clowns. Chism wore his head band on the top of his head instead of wearing it normally right about his eyebrows. He probably thought the more ridiculous he looked, the better the chances he would show up in The Source or XXL. Chism and co. came to play seemingly only in big games. Ranked opponents were the only ones these guys woke up for. Like last year when the Volunteers beat #7 Villanova and #3 Pittsburgh in a 3-game span, only to follow that up with a three game losing streak to the likes of Oakland, Charlotte and unranked USC. The Volunteers were disappointments in all-but-one of the 6 straight NCAA tournaments they made starting in 2006. In 2006, Tenneesee was a #2 seed, but lost in the 2nd round. In both 2009 and 2011, the Volunteers were a dark horse team seeded at 9. As you can guess both times the Vols lost in the first round.

Fortunately for the Volunteers, Bruce Pearl is gone. Now they can start to rebuild their basketball program around hard-working, committed individuals instead of a bunch of overhyped athletes who thought eh world revolved around them. Watching the Tennessee Volunteers for the last six years was sort of like a mystery box. One game they would display their elite talents by working a top 5 team. The next you'd see them falling asleep at the wheel while a severe underdog picked them apart. They simply need to find a consistency in the players their recruit, and maybe they'll find that, now that their recruiting legally.

I always enjoyed the Bruce Pearl-led Volunteers, not because they were a treat to watch, but because I thought I was watching a comedy.