The task is to pick a starting five from men's basketball players who have donned Tennessee orange this century. Who ya got?
There any number of directions you could go, depending on your priorities. If you're assembling a team with a heavy emphasis on fan-favorites, Dane Bradshaw and Wayne Chism are obvious selections.
If sheer ability is the top priority for your squad, then Tobias Harris, Tyler Smith and CJ Watson merit serious consideration.
If you want a mixture of those two elements combined with loyalty to the program, good luck finding a better group than the one that was assembled at midcourt during the first media timeout of Tennessee's win over Florida on Wednesday night.
Bobby Maze, Chris Lofton, Jordan McRae, Josh Richardson and Ron Slay were all at Thompson-Boling Arena for the game, and the ovation they received from the 16,000-plus fans was impressive.
They seemed more than happy to reciprocate the love. Often times, it can be somewhat uncomfortable to watch people with celebrity status interact with fans. But as the UT basketball legends mingled with fans in front of press row at halftime on Wednesday night, I was struck by how genuine their smiles seemed to be amid the stream of picture requests and greetings from strangers.
A guy like Josh Richardson, who signed a four-year, $42 million extension with the Miami Heat this past offseason, could have kept a low-profile during a return to his alma mater. Instead, he made himself available to the fans. He even participated in the halftime show. Read more on that here.
One thing that made the group on Thursday night special was that four of the five were four-year players at Tennessee. Maze, who played two years under Pearl and was the point guard on the 2009-10 Elite Eight team, is the exception.
The four who were four-year players dealt with their share of adversity while at Tennessee, but each chose to remain with the program through a coaching change.
Slay began his career playing for Jerry Green but played his senior year under Buzz Peterson
Chris Lofton was a freshman under Peterson but played his next three seasons under Bruce Pearl.
Then there's McRae, who was a freshman under Pearl but played the next three seasons for Cuonzo Martin.
Finally, there's Josh Richardson who played three years under Martin before sticking around for the glorious Donnie Tyndall era.
It would be an undersized starting five with Slay as the only true post player, but it would be a tough team to beat.
About the Lady Vols
You might think that a 6-6 record over the last 12 games would dampen the NCAA Tournament seeding outlook for the Tennessee women's basketball team. But as outlined in this story, the Lady Vols are still in decent shape at the moment.
Here's the preview box from this morning's Times Free Press on Tennessee's game at Florida tonight:
LADY VOLS HOOPS
' NO. 15 TENNESSEE at FLORIDA
' TONIGHT AT 7
' EXACTECH ARENA, GAINESVILLE, FLA.
' ONLINE/RADIO: SEC NETWORK +/102.3 FM
TENNESSEE (21-6, 9-5 SEC)
Projected starters: Ht. Pts.
G Evina Westbrook 6-0 8.5
G Meme Jackson 5-11 8.0
G Jaime Nared 6-2 17.8
F Rennia Davis 6-2 11.9
C Mercedes Russell 6-6 15.8
Key reserves:
G Anastasia Hayes 5-7 9.3
F Cheridene Green 6-3 4.4
FLORIDA (11-16, 3-11)
Projected starters: Ht. Pts.
G Funda Nakkasoglu 5-8 15.4
G Delicia Washington 5-10 10.6
G Dyandria Anderson 5-10 10.1
F Paulina Hersler 6-3 12.0
F Haley Lorenzen 6-3 12.9
Key reserves:
F Jalaysha Thomas 6-2 1.7
F Mikayla Hayes 6-2 1.6
Lady Vols report
Opponents have thrown Tennessee a heavy dose of sagging zone and man-to-man looks recently. The Lady Volunteers have been focusing on moving the ball against those defenses in practice. One way to beat such schemes is with outside shooting. The Lady Vols were 8-of-15 from 3-point range in Sunday's 77-73 loss at Missouri.
Gators report
Florida, which lost to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga earlier this season, snapped a six-game losing streak by upending Vanderbilt 88-71 on Sunday. First-year coach Cameron Newbauer's squad likes to shoot 3-pointers. The Gators have attempted a combined 89 the past three games, including 30 against Vanderbilt.
Key matchup
This is shaping up to be an up-tempo, high-scoring affair in which Tennessee will want to limit the number of Florida's extended runs. The Lady Vols can ill afford to get behind by double-digits early like they did in Sunday's road loss. It was also extended runs that did the Lady Vols in against Alabama last week.
David Cobb is the Tennessee athletics beat writer for the Times Free Press. He is stationed in Knoxville. Follow him @DavidWCobb on Twitter, or direct your emails to dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Oh, and go download the Times Free Press mobile app. It's free.