Ninja, Tatum is a very underrated prospect, I think we also knew that Tatum wouldn’t be able to qualify this year and gave away our last scholarship to another up and coming player. I remember just the other day pulling against your Vols in GBoro. You pulled out a lucky one over Winthop haha, might have to visit the site sometime.
Hate to tell you but Pearl won’t stay in Tennessee long, after another good couple of seasons, you will see him land a more prestigious job. But, you guys have probably already sensed it.
But good of you to stop by. Good luck next season.
Thanks for the well wishes. 
The prospect of Pearl leaving is nothing new to us, and most of us know that he could leave for a “better” school in a few years. However, the same was said of Donovan, and he is still there and just won a NC. Florida is still a football first school like Tennessee. Reasons Pearl would stay:
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He could make his own legacy at Tennessee, unlike at other big name basketball schools where he would be filling some big shoes.
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Tennessee has a huge athletic budget, and an AD in Mike Hamilton who is a basketball fan and will do whatever it takes to keep Pearl around. UT can match anyone, so Pearl would not leave because of higher pay.
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The SEC is a strong conference.
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Tennessee fans are starving for good basketball, as evidenced by the 17,954 average attendance (5th nationally). That’s just in his first year. He will not leave because of bad attendance.
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Top-notch facilities. A brand new practice facility is on the way.
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It is well-known that Pearl made an agreement with Mike Hamilton to be here for the long haul when he took the job. The “long haul” may not mean until he retires, but I think it means Pearl will be here at least for a few years - until he turns Tennessee into a regular national contender and can leave the program in good shape. In addition, he has said he is grateful to Hamilton for giving him this opportunity when many other schools would not (because of his “past”). I believe Bruce feels a certain amount of loyalty to him.
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He has an extemely good relationship with the rest of the coaches (Pat Summit, Phillip Fulmer, Rod Delmonico, etc.), and a good relationship with the athletic department.
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He and his family love it in Knoxville. Yes, it could be coach-speak, but there’s reason to believe they really do like it here. Knoxville is a nice area to raise a family, and specifically the part of Knoxville he resides in is a very nice area to live.
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Pearl has a history of being at each school for a long period of time, and generally doesn’t like to skip around much.
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Recruiting is no problem at Tennessee, as he has shown with an arguably top 5 recruiting class in his first year. Tennessee, specifically West Tennessee, is a consistent hotbed of talent.
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He feels a certain amount of loyalty to his first recruiting class. He made a point to call all of their parents and assure them he was staying at UT when the rumours started flying.
I believe the only reason Pearl would leave is if a school that he has a special fondness for came calling. Boston College, his alma mater, is one, but they are in good shape right now. He would not leave for the Big Ten, because of the Illinois fiasco he was involved in. Will he leave eventually? I think that is a very real possibility, but I don’t think it will be for at least a few years - long enough for him to turn Tennessee into a national power. Remember, the same thing was said about Donovan, and Florida was a nobody in basketball before he came along. Tennessee at least has SOME tradition. If the time comes that he does leave, we will miss Bruce, but I trust our AD to make another good hire and keep the ball rolling.
Welcome to the board OrangeNinja!
Let me just say as a UT grad and secondary Vol fan, I wish the Vols nothing but failure on this one (Sorry). Like I said, I think Tatum is headed for a 2007 frosh year, and I’d still love to have him in Niner green.
It will be interesting to see what he says and where he plays if he misses on his grades/scores for 2006.
New article up on rivals - [URL=http://charlotte.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=535968]here[/URL].
Here are the schools he says are interested;
Wake Forest, Miami, Kansas, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Tennessee and Charlotte
Already visited Tennessee (still his leader) and plans on visiting Georgia. He’ll also visit Wake if his transcripts look good. Out of the class we had coming in this year he was the one I was most excited about, hope we can still pull this one out but it looks like we may miss out on Tatum (this year or next…).
No wonder Tenn. is his leader.
From Doyel’s Dribbles:
“Tennessee: The Volunteers’ latest commitment, Ramar Smith, has coaches elsewhere up in arms. They say there is no way Smith can be eligible as a freshman in 2006-07 after hop-scotching his way from high school to high school. UConn eased out of Smith’s commitment last year for those same concerns. Now he’ll get eligible at Tennessee? Maybe so, but expect the NCAA Clearinghouse to take a long look.”
I have to agree with you Orange that Knoxville is a nice place to live. The city really embraces the school and everywhere you look you see Tenn. Orange. That is something that is sometimes and a lot of the times that is lost here in Charlotte. Although it is well known, we get lost in the shadow of the ACC schools a lot of the time and the school isn’t thought about on the spur whenever the city is mentioned. Of Course, Charlotte is big city with PRO teams, so the argument has many positions. Just stating the obvious though. :biggrin:
The more I read about this kid the more upset I get that we lost him.
[QUOTE=49erWhit;170002]The more I read about this kid the more upset I get that we lost him.[/QUOTE]
Same here Whit. I just don’t get it - I understand he wants to look elsewhere but he said he wouldn’t write us off and it looks like he has. This kid really could be something here.
[QUOTE=forDniner;170004]Same here Whit. I just don’t get it - I understand he wants to look elsewhere but he said he wouldn’t write us off and it looks like he has. This kid really could be something here.[/QUOTE]
Could you imagine in 2 years: Booker, Wilderness, Beasley, Tatum
Now that would be NICE
[QUOTE=49erWhit;170005]Could you imagine in 2 years: Booker, Wilderness, Beasley, Tatum
Now that would be NICE[/QUOTE]
And add Harmon to that.
you do know harmon decommitted too right. benny moss was the guy who recruited him. or that was my understanding of the situation.
you also forgot about ian andersen, dewhurst, leemire, and carlos williams and jerrell lewis.
[QUOTE=the daxified one;170035]you also forgot about ian andersen, dewhurst, leemire, and carlos williams and jerrell lewis.[/QUOTE]
We were talking about highly rated freshman recruits (at least that’s what I thought we were talking about). So that’s why you’re list got left off. I would be excited about the entire group but especially the highly rated freshman we have and would have in our list.
And Harmon was actually a Hill recruit. There was an article on NinerReport after Hill left about Tatum and Harmon saying both were looking at what else was out there but Harmon said he was still commited to Charlotte (although if UConn offered he may go there). That was the last article on him from Rivals (just checked) and Rivals still shows that he’s commited to us.
well anjuan wilderness was on that list. so i was thinking we should just include everyone then.
dax, do you have a different source of information from everyone else?
no i just heard that benny recruited harmon that is all. someone on this board other than myself mentioned it.
Dax is actually right on this one. Benny did recruit Harman, not Hill. We still have a good shot at him, though. And I really hope someone clears up the spelling of his name before he gets here. The Patterson school roster spells is Harman but everyone else (rivals, scout, etc) spells it Harmon.
SEE I KNEW I WASN’T CRAZY!!! haha thank you lefty for clearing that up a little bit. so how do you exactly spell his name?
Harrmin