The 2008–09 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team represented the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

in the 2008-09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was the fourth season for

Bruce Pearl Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, and the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team. He previously served as the head coach at Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana. Pearl led Souther ...

as the Volunteers' head coach. The team, a member of the Eastern Division of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

, played its home games at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Preseason

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 The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

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 Christopher Franklin Lofton (born March 27, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for Seoul SK Knights of the Korean Basketball League. He played college basketball with the University of Tennessee Volunteers. High school Chris Lof ...

, 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 Devon Dwayne "Wayne" Chism (born June 16, 1987) is an American-Bahraini professional basketball player who last played for the Magnolia Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played college basketball for the Tennessee Volunt ...

and

J. P. Prince John Edward "J. P." Prince (born July 14, 1987) is an American professional basketball player who recently played for Astoria Bydgoszcz. He played collegiately for the Arizona Wildcats and Tennessee Volunteers. Professional career Prince started ...

were selected for the second team All-SEC, thus tying Tennessee with

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

for the most All-SEC selections (3).

Recruiting

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 Brian Scott "Scotty" Hopson (born August 8, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Tennessee Volunteers before playing professionally in Greece, Isr ...

, a

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger ...

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.

2008–09 Roster

Schedule and Results

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Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Tennessee Volunteers basketball seasons

Tennessee Volunteers basketball The Tennessee Volunteers Men's Basketball Team is the collegiate men's basketball program for the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. The Volunteers (commonly referred to as the "Vols") compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athlet ...