History
The Volunteers have had 19 NCAA tournament appearances with an overall record of 12-17. A record of 9-7 in the first round, 3-5 in the second, and 1-4 in the regional semi finals. They have also been invited to the National Invitation Tournament 11 times. They have won nine regular season SEC championships in 1936, 1941, 1943, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 2000, and 2008. The 1972, 1977, 1982, and 2000 seasons were all shared championships with another team from the Southeastern conference. Their conference tournament record is 54-43 record with 4 championships in the years 1936, 1941, 1943, and 1979. Historically Volunteer basketball has produced several successful National Basketball Association players including Allan Houston, Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld, Dale Ellis, Tobias Harris, Tony White, Ron Slay, and Larry Robinson. Bernard King is one of only three players in Volunteers' history to ever have a jersey retired (the other pair being Ernie Grunfeld and Allan Houston). He finished his career averaging a "double double" per game of 25.8 points and 13.2 rebounds.
In March 2009, the University of Tennessee athletic department made a statement saying that they would claim the 1916 National Championship, but would not hang a banner for such an occasion. Tennessee finished that year with a 16-0 record, the only time in Tennessee basketball history that a team has gone undefeated.
As of February 8, 2012, two former Tennessee Volunteer basketball players were on rosters in the NBA. C.J. Watson with the Bulls and Tobias Harris with the Milwaukee Bucks. Of the two, Watson is regarded as the more talented player and was recently recognized as part of the starting 5 of all-time Tennessee Volunteer Basketball players.
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“Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)
“If usually the “present age” is no very long time, still, at our pleasure, or in the service of some such unity of meaning as the history of civilization, or the study of geology, may suggest, we may conceive the present as extending over many centuries, or over a hundred thousand years.”
—Josiah Royce (1855–1916)
“I believe my ardour for invention springs from his loins. I can’t say that the brassiere will ever take as great a place in history as the steamboat, but I did invent it.”
—Caresse Crosby (1892–1970)