Tennessee Volunteers basketball

Infobox CBB Team
name = Tennessee Volunteers

logo_size = 150
university = University of Tennessee
conference = Southeastern Conference
conference_short = SEC
division = East
city = Knoxville
stateabb = TN
state = Tennessee
coach = Bruce Pearl
tenure = 3rd
arena = Thompson-Boling Arena
capacity = 24,535
nickname = Volunteers
color1 = Orange
color2 = White
hex1 = FF9933
hex2 = FFFFFF
h_body=FF9933
h_pattern_b=_thinsidesonwhite
h_shorts=FF9933
h_pattern_s=_blanksides
a_body=FF9933
a_pattern_b=_thinwhitesides
a_shorts=FF9933
a_pattern_s=_whitesides
NCAAchampion =
NCAAfinalfour =
NCAAsweetsixteen = 1967, 1981, 2000, 2007, 2008
NCAAtourneys = 1967, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1989, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008
conference_tournament = 1936, 1941, 1943, 1979
conference_season = 1942, 1945, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1999, 2000, 2008

The Tennessee Volunteers basketball team represents the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA men's basketball competition. The Volunteers currently compete in the Southeastern Conference. The team last played in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 2008. The Volunteers are currently coached by Bruce Pearl.

History

The Volunteers have had 16 NCAA tournament appearances with an overall record of 11-16. A record of 8-6 in the first round, 3-5 in the second, and 0-4 in the regional semi finals. They have also been invited to the National Invitation Tournament 11 times. They have won nine SEC championships in 1942, 1945, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1999, 2000, and 2008. The 1972, 1977, and 2000 seasons were all shared championships with another team from the Southeastern conference. Their conference tournament record is 54-43 record with 4 championships in the years 1936, 1941, 1943, and 1979. Historically Volunteer basketball has produced several successful National Basketball Association players including Allan Houston, Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld, Dale Ellis, Tony White, Ron Slay, and Larry Robinson. Bernard King is one of only two players in the Volunteers history to every have a jersey retired (the other being Ernie Grunfeld). He finished his career averaging a "double double" per game of 25.8 points and 13.2 rebounds.

Bruce Pearl Turnaround

The team has been at the height of their success since hiring coach Bruce Pearl from Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2005. Pearl's assistants Tony Jones, Steve Forbes, Jason Shay, and Ken Johnson round out the winning staff that has helped bring the vols to the NCAA tournament three years in a row. In the 2006-07 season The Volunteers were ranked 4th nationally in attendance with an average of 19,661 fans in Thompson-Boiling arena, which has a capacity of 21,758. Since coach Bruce Pearl arrived in March 2005 the attendance has increased by an average of 7,436 per game. Bruce Pearl's style of fast pace, physical press defense, and up tempo game has fans waiting to watch every game. They averaged about 80 points a game in the 2006-07 season and fans like to see scoring.

NCAA Tournament Results

The Volunteers have appeared in 15 NCAA Tournaments.

* bold - Denotes returning starter.
* ↑ - Denotes number of games started by the player at the listed position during the 2009 season

Players of note

Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld, Dale Ellis, Allan Houston, Vincent Yarbrough, Marcus Haislip, C.J. Watson, Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith, and Tyler Smith.

Also, Kevin Nash, who went on to a highly successful career in professional wrestling, is a former Vols basketball player.

ee also

*University of Tennessee
*Tennessee Volunteers

Notes

References

* [http://www.utsports.com/ Tennessee Men's Athletics]