FanHouse TylerSmith

This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.

Today, we have enlisted RBK of the BruceBall Blog to break down the Tennessee Volunteers.

The Tennessee Vols are coming off of back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances under Coach Bruce Pearl, and last season's 31 wins were tops in the program's history. Tennessee fans were disappointed in the finish, hoping that the 2007-2008 Volunteers would be the first ever to break through to the Elite Eight. It was not meant to be, and this year's Vols appear to be in somewhat of a transition mode after the loss of three senior guards including the SEC's all-time three-point shot leader, Chris Lofton.

The crowd was standing all game, making a lot of noise for their Musketeers, and when Bruce Pearl picked up a technical foul with just under four minutes to play it looked like Tennessee was coming apart. The players had more composure than their coach, though. They forced four turnovers in those final four minutes and closed with a 13-2 run for an 82-75 win.

Tyler Smith was the standout for the Vols during that run. He scored six of his 12 points, blocked a shot and had a key steal to help the Vols to their biggest win of the season. They wouldn't have been in position to pull it off if not for the great first half turned in by J.P. Prince. With Chris Lofton and the normally deadly Vol three-point shooters shut down, Prince, playing just his third game in orange, kept driving through the perimeter focused Musketeer defense. He had 16 points in the first 20 minutes and his play off the bench will make Tennessee a dangerous team as the season progresses.

The loss is a tough one for Xavier to swallow.

In two years on the job, Bruce Pearl has already done more with Volunteer basketball than anyone could have expected. Yet suddenly, the expectations are about to get higher than ever before. Tennessee native Tyler Smith has transferred to Tennessee from Iowa and was granted a waiver that will allow him to play for the Vols this season. Smith was released from Iowa and granted the waiver in part because his father, who lives in Tennessee, is ill.

The Tyler Smith saga has been interesting, to say the least. It was just a couple of years ago that Smith had signed with Tennessee as a Buzz Peterson recruit. But when Buzz was fired, Smith wanted out of his commitment, while Pearl wanted a chance to re-recruit him. Smith opted to play at a prep school instead of coming to Tennessee, then went to play for Peterson's friend Steve Alford at Iowa. When Alford and the Hawkeyes parted ways, Smith asked to be released so he could move back closer to his ailing dad. Now, instead of sitting out the requisite year that usually accompanies a transfer, Smith will join the team immediately.

Just as immediately, expectations for the 2007-08 season are rising to unprecedented levels.