Staff Photo by Danielle Moore Josh Simer, front, and Joey Higgins of Prater's Hardwood Flooring lay court planks at the Tennesee Pavilion in preparation for the UTC Blue-Gold basketball game on Saturday. Owner John Prater said it usually takes them about four hours to put an entire basketball court together.

Dante Harvey said he'd do a little research after Friday's basketball practice.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomore said he'll fire up YouTube, maybe file through some old DVDs, perhaps even pull out a VHS tape to study the art of the slam dunk.

"Some guys like Dr. J, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Jordan, you know," Harvey said. "I may come back and practice a couple of those."

That's all because Harvey wants to win the dunk contest during the Blue-Gold Tip-Off beginning at noon today in the First Tennessee Pavilion.

This will be the public's first opportunity to see the basketball Mocs and Lady Mocs on a court. It's a portable floor designed and built for this event by Praters, a Chattanooga company which constructed the McKenzie Arena floor as well as the 2009 Final Four floors.

But it's not expected to be a traditional scrimmage so much as an interactive event with fans -- a showcase of both teams with contests and maybe surprises as a prelude to UTC's 2 p.m. football game against Western Carolina.

"Saturday at noon is fun," men's coach John Shulman said. "We're going to have fun, and I hope people will be coming out there. My main concern is that we start with 14 guys out there and have 14 guys coming back healthy."

The men will have a 90-minute practice on campus before heading over for the showcase.

"The morning is about business," Shulman said. "Then the guys can have fun in the afternoon."

The coach has predicted Harvey to win the dunk contest.

"That's a no-brainer," Shulman said. "He goes where most people can't go."

The men's 3-point champion could be up in the air with no clear front-runner. Las Vegas would probably put the best odds on sophomore Ricky Taylor, but he hasn't played basketball outdoors since junior high -- not once on the blacktop, somebody's driveway or using a hoop hanging from a big red barn.

"I'm waiting to see what's going to happen, to see a crowd and how we all react to being outside," Taylor said. "When I got a membership to the YMCA, I lived inside the gym. I did all my work in the gym, not on the concrete."