The Southeastern Conference has just three men's basketball teams with winning league records through the first four games: Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee.
That is the same trio that represented the SEC so well in last year's NCAA tournament, and Kentucky is hardly a current surprise given that John Calipari's top-ranked Wildcats were the overwhelming preseason No. 1. Billy Donovan's Gators were No. 7 in the preseason, while Donnie Tyndall's Volunteers were pegged 13th.
Of course, that was 13th in their 14-member league.
"I've competed against Donnie's teams in the past, and he's an outstanding coach," Donovan said Monday on the SEC teleconference. "There is always going to be a transition period that you go through as a coach with your team, and they do have some players back who have been in that program a while and have a little experience.
"Donnie is going to do a great job there, and they've certainly been playing good basketball with some of the wins they've had as of late."
Entering tonight's trip to South Carolina, the Volunteers have been the early surprise of the league. They are 3-1 in conference play, tied with Florida for second, and they could be even with undefeated Kentucky had they not gone frigid late against Alabama on Jan. 10, when a 36-35 lead over the Crimson Tide gave way to a 56-38 loss.
Tennessee's standing does not reflect a team that ranks 11th in the league in field-goal percentage and 12th in scoring and rebounding, but the Vols have found other ways to race out to an 11-5 overall start that includes victories over No. 15 Butler and No. 19 Arkansas.
"We force turnovers, and that gives us a few more possessions that maybe balance some of those other things out," Tyndall said. "Our assist-to-turnover ratio isn't great, but it's almost 1-to-1, so we're doing a decent job of taking care of the basketball. The biggest thing is that we're defending pretty well.
"We make people shoot more 3s than they probably would like, and I guess the zone does that to a lot of people. When you take teams out of rhythm and make them score over you and guard at a pretty good percentage, that's probably the biggest reason why we've won some close games."
Missouri attempted 22 3-pointers and shot 36.4 percent from the floor in Saturday's 59-51 home loss to the Vols, and that's downright sizzling compared to Mississippi State's output against Tennessee. On Jan. 7, Rick Ray's Bulldogs shot 30.6 percent, including 11.1 percent from long range, in a 61-47 home loss.
Ray credited Tennessee's ability to fight and make life quite miserable for opposing offenses.
"Donnie keeps everything really simple on the defensive end for them," Ray said. "Most people on defense worry about how to guard a certain ball screen, down screen or back screen, but they will stay in a 2-2-1 and then switch to a matchup zone and won't worry about the intricacies of guarding a man offense. What Donnie forces you to do is that he makes everybody on the court be a decision-maker, and that's what people struggle with.
"Most teams have one or two guys who are the decision-makers, but when you are playing that matchup zone and you get the basketball, you have to make a decision on when to attack and when to pass and when to take a shot, and it forces guys to make decisions fast. Most guys are uncomfortable with that."
Adding to Tennessee's stellar defensive efforts are the duo of senior guard Josh Richardson and junior forward Armani Moore, who are playing with more consistency. The 6-foot-5 Moore was named Monday as the SEC player of the week after collecting 14 points and eight rebounds against Arkansas and 15 points and 11 rebounds at Missouri.
Richardson leads Tennessee with 15.9 points per game and is averaging 4.3 rebounds per contest.
"I remember Josh as a high-school kid out in the Midwest, so I've seen how he's grown and the job he's done," South Carolina's Frank Martin said. "I don't want to say he was a secondary player, but obviously with Jordan McRae and the two big guys they had, he kind of snuck in on you. Now he's taken the bull by the horns and is playing at a high, high level.
"He's playing like a first-team, all-league player, and that takes a special young man to continue to be patient and wait his turn."
The way Tyndall sees it, Richardson is among several special young men on his inaugural Vols roster.
"We have a group of guys who do not resist coaching or have bad body language or want to talk back and become a chemistry problem," Tyndall said. "We have a lot of limitations regarding depth and physicality, but one thing we aren't limited in is how hard we work."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.