Tennessee Vols Basketball Recruiting

#11,902
#11,902
McGeesPub said:
Kind of like UK for most of their mid-century success.
Click to expand...

To be fair to Kentucky, most of the traditional bluebloods established themselves as bluebloods by being the only school that prioritized basketball in their respective conferences. Kansas was getting their brains beat in by Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, etc. in football, so they focused on basketball. Indiana was getting their brains beat in by Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, etc. in football, so they focused on basketball. And so on. There just weren't many programs focusing on basketball back then, so the ones who did dominated and established tradition.
 
  • Like
Reactions: knox73, OptimusPrimerib and DowntownVol
#11,909
#11,909
If only we had some dedicated beat reporters who cover UT basketball and recruiting who could provide some insight, but I guess that's too much to ask
 
#11,912
#11,912
GregAmsler said:
To be fair to Kentucky, most of the traditional bluebloods established themselves as bluebloods by being the only school that prioritized basketball in their respective conferences. Kansas was getting their brains beat in by Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, etc. in football, so they focused on basketball. Indiana was getting their brains beat in by Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, etc. in football, so they focused on basketball. And so on. There just weren't many programs focusing on basketball back then, so the ones who did dominated and established tradition.
Click to expand...

A fair amount of truth in your statement, but UCLA was an exception that was highly successful in both major sports, as well as several other sports, doing that era.
 
#11,913
#11,913
GregAmsler said:
To be fair to Kentucky, most of the traditional bluebloods established themselves as bluebloods by being the only school that prioritized basketball in their respective conferences. Kansas was getting their brains beat in by Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, etc. in football, so they focused on basketball. Indiana was getting their brains beat in by Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, etc. in football, so they focused on basketball. And so on. There just weren't many programs focusing on basketball back then, so the ones who did dominated and established tradition.[/QUOTE

Both Indiana and Kentucky are basketball states because their rural high school districts were so small that basketball was the only sport they could play. There were HS state champions in the 40’s that had only 6 or 7 players on a team. Those high school players almost all stayed home and played for IU or UK. That, combined with the coaching of Adolph Rupp, Branch McCracken and Bobby Knight are the reasons why those schools dominated basketball and became powerful. There was no secret meeting where they gathered to mourn their football failure and replace it with basketball. There was a point where Indiana HS basketball was such a big thing, that people would take family vacations and drive to Indiana to watch it. With that history, those were the states you wanted to be in if you were a great coach like Rupp or McCracken. Those corn farm kids were 90% of the national talent.
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lankykong and NighthawkVol
#11,914
#11,914

No one is saying that there was a secret meeting. And you are correct. But Kansas, Kentucky, and Indiana (the schools, not the states), were focusing money and resources on basketball when everyone else in their conferences was focusing on football and largely ignoring basketball. It was a path of far less resistance and it gave them a head start establishing basketball tradition before everyone else. I remember going to the NCAA museum/HQ in Indianapolis a few years ago and there was a video they showed that talked about this phenomenon.

Obviously, the factors you mentioned played a huge role as to why they made this choice. They’re not in opposition to what I’m saying.

We’ve all heard the story about Rupp getting a Cadillac and Bear getting a watch. A select handful of schools chose to take the basketball path while most of America was focusing on football, at least as the heavy priority.
 
  • Like
Reactions: onevol74, Lankykong and Stoerner Fumbles
#11,915
#11,915
GregAmsler said:
No one is saying that there was a secret meeting. And you are correct. But Kansas, Kentucky, and Indiana (the schools, not the states), were focusing money and resources on basketball when everyone else in their conferences was focusing on football and largely ignoring basketball. It was a path of far less resistance and it gave them a head start establishing basketball tradition before everyone else. I remember going to the NCAA museum/HQ in Indianapolis a few years ago and there was a video they showed that talked about this phenomenon.

Obviously, the factors you mentioned played a huge role as to why they made this choice. They’re not in opposition to what I’m saying.

We’ve all heard the story about Rupp getting a Cadillac and Bear getting a watch. A select handful of schools chose to take the basketball path while most of America was focusing on football, at least as the heavy priority.
Click to expand...
Definitely. I was just making the point that all that in state talent from schools that could only afford basketball made it all possible. During the depression and WW2, even the medium sized schools couldn’t afford to play football.
 
#11,916
#11,916
Volfan1000 said:
Mike Wilson covers the basketball and baseball beats for the News Sentinel.
Click to expand...

Grant ramey is the best currently covering vols basketball in my opinion. Rob Lewis for years seemed to be the most plugged in source wise but like others have discussed it feels like he’s definitely fallen off in that regard as of late
 
  • Like
Reactions: allen phillips, TrapVol, AngryButchJones and 1 other person
#11,918
#11,918
VOLINVONORE said:
UCLA was also one of the first basketball teams which was bought. They truly had the best teams money could buy. Kentucky and others soon learned how it works.
Click to expand...
Papa Sam Gilbert paid players, but oddly after they were on the team. He bought them clothes and food, and it was definitely illegal. It’s just weird that they apparently didn’t use it to recruit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shadow Vol and cardvolfan
#11,919
#11,919
Stoerner Fumbles said:
Papa Sam Gilbert paid players, but oddly after they were on the team. He bought them clothes and food, and it was definitely illegal. It’s just weird that they apparently didn’t use it to recruit.
Click to expand...
I am certain they did use money and other incentives in their recruiting. That is the scuttled but that was going around when I was in school and had a brother who played football at cal Berkeley in the middle- late 1940s. He was connected with what was going on In LA
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: HeadVol77
#11,923
#11,923
I was just in Pratt Pavillion and the team was about to do workouts. I noticed a recruit getting shown around. Anybody know who is here this weekend?
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top