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Knoxville: Basketball’s become a big Orange deal

By: Mark Wiedmer
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Rumor has it that the hottest drink on the Knoxville bar scene is a curious concoction called the Scotty Hopson.

In tribute to the first McDonald’s All-America basketball player signed by UT coach Bruce Pearl, the drink supposedly consists of Kentucky bourbon — given that Hopson’s hometown is Hopkinsville, Ky. — and orange juice, of course.

“Yes, I’ve heard about it,” said Vols assistant coach Jason Shay, who was subbing for Pearl at Tuesday night’s Big Orange Caravan stop at the Choo-Choo. “If it helps promote our players, if it helps gets Scotty’s name out there, I’m all for it.”

At least he’s almost all for it.

Said Shay after a brief pause: “As long as he doesn’t drink them.”

The UT faithful came to the Choo-Choo to drink the Big Orange Kool-Aid, so to speak. Shay subbed for Pearl because Bruce Almighty was busy recruiting, hoping to use Hopson’s signing to lure even more Top 10 talent to K-town.

Dean Lockwood subbed for women’s coach Pat Summitt for the same reason. Having just won her eighth national championship, Summitt was also on the recruiting trail, hoping to land the next Candace Parker or Chamique Holdsclaw in hopes of grabbing her ninth.

If nothing else, Vols football coach Phillip Fulmer deserves high praise for giving the Chattanooga fan base at least one UT head coach’s autograph to cart home from the event.

Yet with no disrespect to Fulmer, Tennessee is becoming a basketball state and school. Memphis reached the national championship game, after all. Pearl’s Volunteers made the Sweet 16 for the second year running. Belmont almost pulled off the upset of the tournament against Duke in the opening round. Vanderbilt and Austin Peay also made the field.

And according to Lockwood, who’s been an assistant in both the UT men’s and women’s programs, that’s exactly the way many inside the athletic department envisioned it when Thompson-Boling Arena opened two decades ago.

“Back then, people were making such a big deal that it was bigger than (Kentucky’s) Rupp Arena,” said Lockwood, who arrived at UT in the fall of 1986 as an assistant to Don DeVoe, then returned four years ago to assist Summitt. “It was a time of great excitement. Even then, when the crowds were nothing like now, you had a sense of what a special basketball school UT could become.”

Lockwood spent 22 years in the men’s game before joining Summitt. He freely admits he misses certain aspects of coaching the guys.

“I sometimes miss the camaraderie with the coaches,” he said. “Hanging out at the Final Four, stuff like that. Obviously, I don’t have as much of that now.

“But I’ve also found that women are so receptive to coaching. It seems like a much higher percentage of women are receptive to carrying out a game plan.”

Shay’s game plan would seem on track to land him a head coaching job sometime soon. He’s in his mid-30s, generally regarded as the sharpest of Pearl’s tacticians and a former University of Iowa point guard.

Yet none other than Lockwood says of Shay’s future: “Be patient. Jason does a lot of things to help them win that aren’t always visible. But he’s a bright young man who does a great job. We (Summitt’s staff) talk to Jason a lot about X’s and O’s.

“We ask about what’s hard to guard. What have you seen that you like in other programs? He can come up with stuff at the drop of the hat. If he stays the course, and they keep winning, everybody (on Pearl’s staff) will get opportunities to leave.”

But you sometimes wonder why they would. The Vols — both men and women — pay as well as any program in the country. Lockwood may miss the camaraderie of the men’s game, but there seems to be a friendship between the UT men’s and women’s staffs that may be unique nationally.

“Bruce deserves a lot of credit for that,” said Lockwood. “He sought out Pat’s advice and help the minute he got the job. That made a big impression. I think we’re really spoiled here to have these two great coaches (Pearl and Summitt) at the same school.”

Shay agrees.

“Obviously, the respect is mutual,” he said. “We share a lot of information. We’ve helped them with some offensive sets. They’ve helped us with some zone-defense principles. That interaction has also helped us in recruiting.”

On that subject, Shay was one of the first major college coaches to see big-time potential in Hopson.

“He was at a summer camp in Indianapolis between his sophomore and junior years,” Shay said. “Scotty was a super athlete with some skills — a long, lanky guard. After I watched him make big play after big play in a couple of games I thought, ‘This is a guy we’ve got to get.’”

Despite Hopson committing to Mississippi State last year, he signed the national letter of intent last week to play for the Vols. If Hopson’s as good as advertised, both UT basketball and Kentucky bourbon may be altered for years to come.

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