Recruiting base isn't an excuse for state of Tennessee basketball. I grant you the competition is greater than Florida, but Florida kids didn't grow up dreaming of going to Gainesville until Donovan (Kruger's flukish Final Four aside).
Heck, Chiozza is from Memphis and Florida's back to back NCs probably wouldn't have happened without a couple of TN HS players.
I don't think any of that core was from in state for them.
Weak argument.
Haha. You just look for my posts so that you can take the other side. Tennessee has very little basketball talent less than 3 hours away. A majority of talent is from West TN, and we all know it's tough for UT basketball to make that pull.
Chris Chiozza went to UF because Josh Pastner didn't make him a priority. If so, he would have most likely gone to Memphis. I will give you Corey Brewer, but we had Buzz Peterson.
Udonis Haslem, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Scottie Wilbekin are the 4 UF players that have been named to All-American teams in the last 20 years. Haslem and Wilbekin were from Florida. Horford was in high school in Michigan but was born in the Dominican Republic.
The 2013-2014 Final Four team had Kasey Hill, Michael Frazier, Patric Young, Chris Walker, and Scottie Wilbekin- all from Florida. Casey Prather was from Jackson. I didn't say their entire rosters are from Florida, but when you can fill 1/3-1/2 of your roster from places like Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville then you can pick and choose everyone else. Those three relatively large cities that are less than 2 hours from Gainesville. Florida has to compete with FSU and Miami, and these cities are closer to Gainesville. If UT has to recruit a kid from Nashville, then Vandy, UK, and Memphis are close.
So, yes, UF has an inherent recruiting advantage in almost every sport. I did say that basketball wasn't as strong as the others, but they still do. Oh yea, and kids don't dream about playing for UT basketball either. Maybe if Pearl was able to stick around. But Billy Donovan was successful for an entire generation, and Florida is a dream destination for many athletes who get division one offers.