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2008–09 Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball team

2008–09 Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball
UT Volunteers logo.svg
SEC East Division co-champions
NCAA Tournament, Round of 64
Conference Southeastern Conference
Division East
2008–09 record 21–13 (10–6 SEC)
Head coach Bruce Pearl
Assistant coach Tony Jones
Assistant coach Steve Forbes
Assistant coach Jason Shay
Home arena Thompson-Boling Arena
Seasons
← 2007–08
2009–10 →
2008–09 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
East
South Carolina 10 6   .625     21 10   .677
Tennessee 10 6   .625     21 13   .618
Florida 9 7   .563     25 11   .694
Vanderbilt 8 8   .500     19 12   .613
Kentucky 8 8   .500     22 14   .611
Georgia 3 13   .188     12 20   .375
West
#21 LSU 13 3   .813     27 8   .771
Auburn 10 6   .625     24 12   .667
Mississippi State 9 7   .563     23 13   .639
Alabama 7 9   .438     18 14   .563
Ole Miss 7 9   .438     16 15   .516
Arkansas 2 14   .125     14 16   .467
† SEC Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2008–09 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team represented the University of Tennessee in the 2008-09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was the fourth season for Bruce Pearl as the Volunteers' head coach. The team, a member of the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference, played its home games at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The 2007–08 Volunteers finished the season 31–5 overall with a 14–2 mark in conference play. They won their first outright SEC regular season men's basketball championship in 41 years. In postseason play, the Volunteers earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The team went on to lose in the Sweet Sixteen to the Louisville Cardinals and finished ranked at #7 in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

The Vols lost three seniors from their team during the off-season: Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith, and Jordan Howell. Also, sophomore forward Duke Crews and sophomore point guard Ramar Smith were dismissed from the team for a combination of "violations of the University of Tennessee’s substance-abuse policy and academic shortcomings."

On November 3, 2008, the SEC released the rosters for the preseason All-SEC first and second teams. Junior forward Tyler Smith was chosen for both SEC Player of the Year and first team All-SEC. Wayne Chism and J. P. Prince were selected for the second team All-SEC, thus tying Tennessee with LSU for the most All-SEC selections (3).

Bruce Pearl was able to pull together a highly ranked recruiting class for the 2008–09 season. The class included: Emmanuel Negedu, rated 13th among power forwards in the Class of 2008 by Rivals.com; Renaldo Woolridge, the 11th ranked small forward; Bobby Maze, a junior college guard averaging 20.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game; and Scotty Hopson, a McDonald's All-American and ranked 5th overall by Rivals.com. The class also includes point guard Daniel West and center Philip Jurick. Rivals.com ranked the class as 7th best in the nation.


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Wikipedia

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