Bruce Pearl and Jimmy Collins call a truce

After a decades long grudge, former Illinois basketball assistant Jimmy Collins has forgiven former Tennessee head basketball coach, Bruce Pearl.

I wouldn’t exactly call Collins forgiving Pearl but he did accept Pearl’s apology when the two ran into each other in New Orleans Friday night.

If you don’t know the story I’ll give a cliff notes version of it. Pearl was an assistant at Iowa back in 1989 and Collins was an assistant at Illinois. Both schools were in a heated recruiting battle over the services of Chicago native Deon Thomas.

Pearl secretly recorded a conversation where Collins alledgedly offered thomas $80,000 and a Chevy Blazer. Illinois was hit with probation, Pearl and Collins were never on good terms, and Pearl eventually climbed the coaching ladder to Tennessee while Collins could only land the top job at Illinois-Chicago. Collins never bit his tongue when asked how he felt about Pearl and held a serious grudge against him. 

Eventually Pearl was done in at Tennessee for his own recruiting troubles and lying to NCAA investigators in a classic case of what goes around comes around.

Now it seems the two have made amends this past weekend.

“I saw Jimmy just before dinner about 7 p.m. on Friday; I put my hand out, and he shook it,” Pearl, the former Tennessee men’s basketball coach, said Sunday. “I told him I’m really sorry about what we all went through, and that Deon Thomas was a victim and there were a lot of victims.


“My apology was it was unfortunate it happened, and it hurt people, ultimately, including me.”

” … I looked up, he was walking toward me,” Collins told ESPNChicago.com. “When he got to me, he started to apologize for what had happened. He made it clear that he was young and didn’t understand things. He ended up saying he really felt bad because he knew Deon Thomas got hurt.

“The truth of the matter was it was fine. It was a guy who had gone through some changes, and as he’s gotten older, he realized some things were wrong, and he apologized for it.”

“I let it go; there’s nothing I can do with what happened then,” he said. “I’m not going around with a lot of hate in my heart. I’m not going to hold a grudge all your life.”

I can see why Collins was cold as ice to Pearl, but it was the unspoken oath that Pearl broke that caused the rift between the two. Maybe after what Pearl went through at the end of his Tennessee tenure he could see what he did wrong. At least he reached out to Collins and wanted to make it right.

Renaldo Woolridge aka "Swiperboy" Releases Song Praising Troops

Tennessee Volunteers basketball player, Renaldo Woolridge aka “Swiperboy“, is an aspiring rap artist. With the turn of events surrounding the death of Osama Bin Laden, Woolridge released a song praising our American military.

Pretty good song. I can’t even say anything cynical or critical about it. Good job Renaldo.

Goins Trying A Switch To Football

There’s been an increasing trend in college basketball players switching to the gridiron once their days on the hardwood are over. Tennessee point guard Melvin Goins is the latest to give it a try.

Goins is trying to make the Volunteers’ football team as a safety or corner. Coach Derek Dooley still sees Goins as a point guard.

“I see him as a point guard right now,” Dooley said when asked if he saw Goins as a safety or cornerback. “I can tell you, when we play three-on-three, he’s on my team. We’re going to be good when we get into the offseason three-on-three hoops tournament.”

This isn’t unusual or impossible. Duke’s Greg Paulus was the most notable player to succeed at this feat. 
Michigan’s Kelvin Grady also transitioned from the hardwood to the football field.

Goins knows he has a long way to go but is doing his best to make the team.

“I haven’t played in so long. It’s all coming back slowly,” Goins said. “It’s all mental right now. I’m used to basketball where you know the plays, you know where you’re supposed to go so you react off instinct. Now I’m thinking a lot, and that’s not really good. You want to be able to get the plays down and know your zones and know where you’re supposed to be at on the field.”

You never know, he could have a supporting role on the team. If he plays like he did in that debacle against Michigan in the NCAA tournament he can kiss any chance of making the football team goodbye.

   

Michigan Thumps Tennessee; Harris Says His Team Quit

The Tennessee Volunteers entered the NCAA tournament with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over their program. The Michigan Wolverines entered the tournament with confidence, feeling they could play with anyone. On the court in today’s meeting between the two teams Tennessee played listless and didn’t do coach Bruce Pearl any favors and Michigan continued to play with the confidence they exhibited throughout the second half of the year.

Pearl who pretty much has one foot out the door for lying to NCAA investigators, wasn’t given a vote of confidence by athletic director Mike Hamilton before the tournament. Hamilton stated in a radio interview that the “jury was still out” regarding Pearl’s status. Not exactly the right thing to say before the tournament. If he tried to turn this into a Bo Schembechler moment, he failed miserably. You would think the players would come together and have a win one for the gipper moment. The Volunteers simply couldn’t muster up that effort. It led to freshman forward Tobias Harris questioning his teammates’ heart and saying they quit. Based on their performance he may not be too far off.

“We just didn’t play with heart out there,” Harris said. “Michigan came out and made shots and we just did a terrible job of trying to cover them. On the offensive end, we rushed too many shots. Basically, just quit.”

Anyone who thinks Tennessee should get rid of Pearl, think about what the program was before he got to Knoxville. So be careful what you wish for.

As for Michigan, a date with long time nemesis Duke awaits. I don’t expect them to win, but I do expect them to play with the confidence, grit, and heart they’ve played with all year. The Wolverines have shown they can play with the nation’s elite. They were close losses, but with a few more breaks they could’ve won those games. I know horseshoes and hand grenades. I believe Michigan can make this game competitive and possibly throw a scare into the Blue Devils. If they play like they did today against Tennessee they could possibly pull what could be the tournament’s biggest upset.

Stu Douglass is looking forward to the next round.

“It was a great rivalry, great history,” Douglass said, “and it’s a new day.”

Pearl Laying Down The Law Before His Suspension

With his team looking shaky in the last six outings, including two wins in that stretch, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has made it known that those who play defense will get the majority of the minutes. With an upcoming date with Memphis and the SEC season starting in a week Pearl has to do something to get things in order in Knoxville.

I know it may seem like I’m picking on the Volunteers. I just call it as I see it. I believe they started reading their own press clippings and got fat and sassy. i watched the game against Charleston and the defensive intensity was lacking. They played a lot of one on one basketball on offense. I don’t see them attacking and wearing teams out like in previous years. I don’t know what it is with this year’s team. Maybe they miss the leadership of J.P. Prince and Wayne Chism.

“It’s no longer about fatigue,” Pearl said. “The minutes will be played based on over a period of time who needs to be out there.”

That means there will be some angry players picking wood on the sidelines. I do believe Pearl when he says it’s fixable. Maybe he should try selling the players on what got them to a No.7 ranking earlier. Which means team play and defense.

Tennessee Should Get Off It’s Own Hype

There’s still a lot of college basketball left to be played and there are a lot of upsets out there to be made. Yes, that would include you too Duke. Some teams made early impressions. One of those teams was the Tennessee Volunteers.

A couple of weeks ago the Volunteers went into Pittsburgh and dismantled the then No.3 Panthers 83-76. And the score really wasn’t that close. They were blowing them out by 21 before Bruce Pearl called off the dogs. Prior to that they beat Villanova 78-68. The Volunteers looked good in beating two of the Big East’s better teams and subsequently rose to No.7 in the national rankings. Well, we all know rankings don’t mean jack until you get in conference. Unless your Duke or Kansas. And Tennessee found this out the hard way. After beating Pittsburgh, the Vols dropped three in a row. All to inferior opponents. Oakland, Charlotte, and USC. Two of them at home.

I’m not taking anything away from those teams. Oakland is a much more difficult opponent than what people think, don’t look at the Ohio State game as an indicator. Charlotte had just lost it’s best player (Shamari Spears) and USC just hasn’t been the same since the O.J. Mayo controversy. Last night they narrowly escaped Belmont, 66-65. Definitely not the same Tennessee team I saw a few weeks ago.

In my opinion, as it seems with some teams, is they get on their own hype. They start thinking they can underprepare for opponents and just show up and win. Only a select few teams can get away with that and the Vols are not one of them. Don’t get me wrong. They are plenty good and should be one of the SEC’s best this year. But they shouldn’t be overlooking other teams. That’s what I think happened. It’s good to believe in yourself, just don’t get too overconfident.

With conference play starting in two weeks, we’ll see if Tennessee can regain their focus, like they had against ‘Nova and Pitt. They’ll have to because Bruce Pearl will be sitting out the first eight conference games for lying to the NCAA. The Vols will have to be at their best with games against Memphis, Arkansas, and Florida looming in early January.   

Dirty Business

College athletics is a dirty business. This isn’t new. It’s something everyone has known for years. I only mention this because Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl got hammered. And this wasn’t by the NCAA, at least not yet. Pearl admitted he covered his ass when the NCAA hounds came knocking in July. I give Pearl credit, he knew he was wrong and he came clean about it. Although this is kind of ironic that many moons ago Pearl turned in Illinois to the NCAA about the recruiting inducements given to Deon Thomas, when he was at Iowa. Pearl will lose $1.5 million in salary and will not be able to recruit on the road for a year. All this before the NCAA honks will come along and drop hammer on the Volunteers.

This is nothing new. No college program is pure and clean, no matter how some media figures will tell you they are. Even Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams are completely clean. That may ruffle some feathers but its damn true. I’ve heard stories about Dean Smith that may or may not be true. Like I said, no one is clean. It’s just that some do it better than others. I’m sure Bob Knight may have pulled some of the same tricks Jerry Tarkanian used. It’s just that Tark had always been in the crosshairs where Knight wasn’t. I believe Billy Tubbs might’ve cheated at Oklahoma, but he probably was just trying to keep up with Norm Stewart and Larry Brown. And before anyone tells me how honorable LB was, remember he got out of town right before Kansas was put on probation. I hate to say it, but Jim Valvano was thought to be crooked until he started dying. Now he’s looked at differently. And don’t let me get started on the Universtiy of Minnesota. It seems like anytime they happen to be a player on the national scene, they get caught cheating. And being from Michigan, I’m all too familiar with the Ed Martin scandal. Thing is, Martin had been around the program since the early 80’s. I can go on all night about this, because this is just basketball I’m talking. Just peep the recent events in college football regarding cheating. Better yet ask Lou Holtz.

Everyone does it. Everyone gets their hands dirty in some way, shape, or form. Its just that some are better at it than others.