Since Marcus Haislip has taken his 38-inch vertical jump and 400-pound bench press to the NBA, the title of best athlete on the University of Tennessee basketball roster is up for grabs.
The heir apparent, in coach Buzz Peterson's opinion, is?
Elgrace Wilborn.
"He's our best athlete," Peterson said this week.
The sophomore lefty, for sure, has some hops. He can get from Point A to Point B in a hurry for a 6-foot-8 guy.
And anyone who's seen a pick-up game this summer can vouch for Wilborn's work in the weight room since his freshman season ended.
While Ron Slay and Brandon Crump figure to start this season, Wilborn's development will be crucial to a team that has no other experienced post players.
He averaged 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in 13 minutes a game last year, shooting 52.1 percent from the field, but only 47 percent from the free-throw line.
"He's got to play a lot more minutes," Peterson said. "We need somebody else to step up in the post and I've seen a lot of signs he can do it."
Wilborn's offensive skills need refinement, and, accordingly, the UT staff gave him a plan to work on this summer.
"If I had to pick out two or three kids who are really going to be a key for us this year," said Peterson, "Elgrace is one of them."
PLAY SMALL: Georgia's difficulty at getting signees in school leaves the Bulldogs on the short side.
Three signees, all big men, have been refused admission, and the status of 6-8 center Steve Thomas is uncertain as he faces trial on sexual assault charges. Jonas Hayes, who has been upgraded to 6-8 for this year, could be the tallest Bulldog on the roster.
Accordingly, at least one national publication has backed off making Georgia a preseason top-10 pick.
"I've won with small teams before," said coach Jim Harrick. "I don't know if you can win a national championship doing that, but you can certainly be competitive."
PLAY TALL: South Carolina has the opposite problem. The Gamecocks have lots of size but don't know who will replace guards Aaron Lucas and Jamel Bradley.
Chuck Eidson or Michael Boynton can run the offense, but who can spread the defense like Bradley, who led the SEC in 3-point baskets last year?
Plan A, was juco transfer Tim Pickett. But he didn't get into school.
"Losing Jamel is a problem," said coach Dave Odom, "because we've got some very capable post players, and one of the keys to giving them the ability to do the things inside they're capable of doing is a good perimeter game.
"Jamel provided that for us. The next shot could be the shot that set him off. He kept the attention of opposing coaches and the opponents he played against."
SHAPE-SHIFTING: Vanderbilt takes an even bigger hit in the 3-point shooting department, losing Brendan Plavich, Sam Howard and Chuck Moore. However, coach Kevin Stallings says it may be a blessing in disguise.
"Our team is kind of going through a change in personality," Stallings said. "Part of the reason we were such a dangerous 3-point-shooting team is why we couldn't do some other things.
"We'll be much more athletic, much better defensively and much better inside."
'U' DA MAN: Florida might tweak its personality now that space-eating center Udonis Haslem is gone. When he could avoid foul problems, Haslem was great at burying defenders and Florida's offense got him touches in position to score.
"A lot of things we did," said coach Billy Donovan, "were predicated on trying to get the ball to him and going from there."
Matt Bonner and David Lee can both play with their backs to the basket, but freshman Mario Boggan might be a Haslem on training wheels.
"Mario is a big, physical wide-body with great hands and good footwork," Donovan said. "He reminds me a lot of Udonis coming out of high school."
REBEL WITH A CAUSE: Maybe it's just motivational propaganda, but Ole Miss coach Rod Barnes is saying freshman Trey Pearson has a chance to start.
The Rebels need a point guard to replace Jason Harrison. Pearson, a prolific scorer at South Fulton High School in far west Tennessee, more likely will come off the bench behind David Sanders and Emmanuel Wade.
NAMES TO WATCH: Two new recruiting names for UT fans to watch surfacing out of the July evaluation period are Jermareo Davidson of Stone Mountain, Ga., and Courtney Sims of Dedham, Mass. Both are big men who caught UT's eye.
FREE THROWS: Remember Bill Carr, the middleman who helped connect UT with Jerry Green back in 1997? He recently helped Kentucky with its new athletics director, Mitch Barnhart. I like Michael Bush's attitude. The two-sport star from Louisville, Ky., will sign a football scholarship, but wants to get it in writing that he also will be allowed to play basketball. Guess he heard about Michael Collins at UT and Derek Smith at Kentucky Two Tennessee products are ready to test the SEC waters after redshirting as freshmen. Seven-footer Wesley Morgan of Gallatin has added 40 pounds at Mississippi State. Jonathan Loe, the home-schooled Memphis guard, will try to find some minutes at Ole Miss.
Mike Strange can be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.
