Despite the recent charges against four members of the Tennessee men’s basketball program, the Vols highest profile recruit is standing by the school.
Tobias Harris, a 6-foot-8 senior forward from Long Island who signed in November with Tennessee, said he views the program as “family” and stands by his commitment.
“When members of a family go through adversity, you remain strong,” he wrote in a text message. “You can name a lot of negatives about the program right now but you can name some very important positives, such as me being the leader I am and a first-class kid on and off the court that I can have a greater impact in turning this situation around in a more positive way than it is now, not only with basketball but with everything else.”
He added: “We are going to wait and see how everything plays out with the players and team and go from there. I don’t know too much information right now.”
Harris chose UT over a slew of high-profile programs, including Syracuse, Louisville, Kentucky and West Virginia.
Senior forward Tyler Smith, sophomore guard Cameron Tatum, junior center Brian Williams and junior point guard Melvin Goins are facing misdemeanor drug, gun and alcohol charges. Knoxville police arrested the four Friday after stopping the car they were in for speeding.
Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl formally apologized to the school and to Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt Saturday.
“This is tough. This is so hard because we’ve worked so hard to try to do the right things,” Pearl said, according to the AP.
The four players are indefinitely suspended, and Pearl says dismissal could be an option once he has more information about the incident, according to the AP.
(The AP contributed)
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JessieWildcat / January 2, 2010
Harris should wait and see…
Things like this usually have some history.
Is this the first time??
Bruce loose handle of the BB program is getting some second looks.
( I hear Cali is attempting a Josh S. on Harris….can it be TWO for Brucie?)
Note:
So, Cousins FOUL was not dileberate.
He was not kick out of the game….in order to save the win.
Come on.
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Owensboroky / January 3, 2010
The Harris family lacks any credibility at this point , it i quite obvious why Harris picked Tennessee ,when you pick a school that lacks of your must haves in a school , how many players has Pearl put in the NBA ??ZERO.. Harris’s sold a bunch BS .Just like u bought a line from Pearl . Go on to Tennessee and be Kentucky Bi*,* .Look on the bright I bet there is alot of playing time to be had there ..LOL
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jbodner / January 3, 2010
Jessie Wildcat
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jbodner / January 3, 2010
Jessie Wildcat
If you would watch the replay you would see that Reginald Delk kicked Cousins in the head FIRST, then he got what he deserved. It was obvious Pitino instructed his kids to come out dirty and try to get under our skin. Newsflash, it didn’t work. 15-0.
Go Blue, or GO HOME.
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Jenkins / January 3, 2010
Pearl has only been at Tenn. for 4 years. He HAS put 1 player in the NBA , CJ Watson plays for Golden State. For you to say “the Harris family lacks any credibility at this point…” is typical of a Kentucky fan that is sour grapes over the fact that Tennessee has finished ahead of KY all 4 years Pearl has been Tennessee’s head coach.
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CUSA_NEWS / January 6, 2010
Correction,
Pearl has put ZERO players in the nba. Watson was never drafted therefore Pearl receives no pub for Watson finding his way (the hard way).
Link provided below illustrates a pretty steady graph of ZERO for draft picks in the nba for UT since 2002. Only players drafted are attached to a coach’s “I got this player in the nba” stat sheet….
http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/tennessee/nba_draft
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