It’s GAMEDAY!!! A ramble . . .

After a long layoff, it’s finally time to get going with SEC play. Last night, Florida’s young talent came back to defeat an inept Crimson Tide team in Tuscaloosa. If you have seen Alabama play lately, you know what I mean. Defensively they seem clueless. What is Gottfried doing?

At any rate, SEC play is now underway and BruceBall will get into the act tonight vs. Ole Miss (see extensive preview below). Also on the SEC slate is Vandy at home vs. South Carolina and Mississippi State at LSU.

I just heard a nice Bruce interview on a Memphis radio station (thanks for the heads-up, Hoopsville). Is he a great salesman, or what? It’s nice to have a coach that’s so media savvy in addition to being a fine coach. He’s a great representative for this university. He also pretty much flat-out refuses to give in to John Calipari on playing the Memphis series in Nashville. Keep it up, Bruce. Cal’s afraid of the Memphis talent seeing your team play.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about Scotty Hopson, a highly rated wing with a big upside. He has, for all practical purposes, decommitted from Mississippi State and seems to be a Tennessee lean. He would be the most highly rated signee fo the Pearl era if he chose UT, and would certainly help the Vols, who will have to replace the 3 senior wings (Lofton, Smith, Howell) that they lose after this year. He’s not a perimeter shooter, though, so again it makes me wonder if the 3-point shot will be de-emphasized in Pearl’s system. If so, the timing is good, with the 3-point line moving back next year. The 3-point shot will be less of a weapon for everyone, and Pearl’s personnel may no longer rely on it.

Here’s a nice TV schedule for college basketball for the remainder of the year. Again, thanks to Hoopsville for the heads-up and thanks to Matt for his work on the schedule.

Enough rambling. Everybody tune in tonight (Raycom or SunSports) to see the Vols vs. the Rebels and pull for a Big Orange victory.