A few of his teammates already were in the meeting room and the rest shuffled in as Ricky Taylor grabbed a dry-erase marker and wrote on the white board before practice Sunday.
“We’re 4-0,” his message started. “Why can’t we go undefeated?”
Less than a quarter of the way through its Southern Conference season, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team indeed is 4-0 and alone atop the North Division standings.
“We’ve got a good team this year and why can’t we go – that’s the question,” Taylor said. “Davidson did it a couple years ago, so why can’t we do it?”
He said the Mocs were capable “if we play every game to the best of our ability.”
Coach John Shulman walked in the room last. He looked at the board and smiled.
“I just wanted to make sure all the words were spelled correctly, and they were because Ricky’s a good student,” Shulman joked Monday. “But seeing that lets me know that they are thinking about it and it’s important to them.”
Then the coach pulled out the official thought of the day.
“If we continue playing how we’re playing now, there is no way we can win a championship,” Shulman said. “We have to keep getting better, and as long as winning is important we will get better.”
The Mocs last started a SoCon season 4-0 during the 2007-08 season – the same season Davidson went 20-0 – with Kevin Bridgewaters and Marcus Watts as UTC seniors. They grew the undefeated record to 7-0 but later lost in the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament.
“What I remember from that year is that it seemed like we started with 75 home conference games,” Shulman said. “We built it to 7-0, then we hit all kinds of disaster with one guy [Matt Gwynne] getting suspended and others getting hurt.”
The Mocs play again Thursday at The Citadel (5-11, 1-3) which is led by point guard Cameron Wells – the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Shulman took his first look at the Bulldogs on Monday. He made a deal with his family that he and his sons would go sledding in the morning and he’d watch tapes in the afternoon since he couldn’t leave Lookout Mountain.
The players were told Sunday that they would have Monday off from practice. They received a bonus when Monday’s classes – the first of the spring semester – were canceled.
“I’m sure they were doing a snow dance last night,” Shulman said. “It’s a bonus for them.”