Tuesday Morning Orange Juice

I decided to come up with a catchy name for posts here that address happenings around the interwebs -- quick hits if you will. Some call them talking points, daily roundup, quick hitters, etc. You get the idea. So, along those same lines, I decided to call ours.... "Morning Orange Juice".

Yes, I realize it's corny but it's the best I could come up with -- and it does include the word orange, which just happens to be Tennessee's primary color (in case you were unaware). Keep in mind, there is a fine line between corny and cleverly genius.

Moving along.

• I voiced my displeasure of Tennessee basketball fans in Sunday's post-game piece. Expectations were set so high to start this season that many consider 19 wins and a co-SEC East championship to be a disappointment. It's a shame, really, that Bruce Pearl has to build up his teams' accomplishments as he did in yesterday's press conference. Even the University was forced to point out that this year's team has plenty to be proud of.
• Chris Low sat down with South Carolina's Alshon Jeffrey to talk about the recruiting process and Jeffrey had an interesting comment regarding Lane Kiffin:

According to Jeffrey and Wilson, Kiffin told Jeffrey that if he chose the Gamecocks, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina.

Should Kiffin have said something like this to a potential recruit? Probably not. I certainly don't think it helps his cause -- it didn't with Jeffrey. But on the other hand, I'm sure it's not the worst thing ever said on the recruiting trail. Typically most kids just choose not to pass those tidbits along to the media.

• A poster on VolNation.com (I spend a lot of time there and consider it my "home" board) posted a nice story about bumping into Charles Davis. The former Vol has done very well for himself, but most impressive to me is I've never heard anyone say anything negative about him.
  
• Does anyone else find it ironic that talk out of Camp Kiffin this week is, typically, it can take two years to implement a new system and see positive results from it? In Hooker's piece he quotes Monte citing Nick Saban's transition from a 7-6 team his first season to a 12-2 title contender in year two. Can you think of anyone else who claimed a two year time frame was needed when installing a new system? That's right, the much ridiculed Dave Clawson and his Clawfense.
• Drew Edwards put together a list of big things (his words, not mine) for the Vols as spring practice starts. While I don't completely agree with his list, he hits on a few of them. I'm putting a lot of stock in number five: the players buying in. I fully expect they will, yet I'm very interested to see the on-field discipline, especially of the offense, which has been clearly lacking under non-Cutcliffe coached Tennessee teams.
  
• While not totally sports related, I found it very interesting that the four major newspapers in the state of Tennessee (Knoxville News Sentinel, The Tennessean, Memphis Commercial Appeal, and Times Free Press) will begin sharing content. More evidence that the print media business is really struggling.
• The Georgia Sports Blog, in reference to the Dawgs' ongoing coaching search, put together a list of salaries earned by college basketball coaches around the country. Of those, Billy Gillespie at $2.3 million stood out to me. Hmm.
• The ACC & SEC Blog projects Southeastern Conference teams in the NCAA Tournament. I agree with their top four (LSU, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Auburn), but I disagree that Kentucky and Mississippi State are 'likely out'. I contend that the league's automatic bid is the only way either will make it. Patrick Patterson will play in the NIT, like it or not.