re: UT Basketball Discussion -- UT: 16-15 (8-10) Final reg. Season

Some interesting talking points from Rob Lewis on Rob Lanier, Des Oliver, and the perception of UT basketball.

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One of the more intriguing things from the day was listening to Rob Lanier talk about the perception of this job from the outside and what he's learned about the program and the fan base since being here for a month. He is amazed and very pleasantly surprised at the passion and support he has found here. As an assistant coach at Florida under Billy D. Lanier obviously knew about the facilities and the campus but he indicated he had been blown away by the support from the fans.

I asked him for some examples of that and he pointed out that since leaving Texas, which is a prominent program in his own right, his amount of Twitter followers has tripled.

He went to make a great point that at Texas and Florida fans pay attention to basketball when it's good, and he added that he felt that both Barnes and Donovan had 'put a dent' in the perception of hoops at those two schools. However, in his mind, what Tennessee has that neither of those places have is a built in passion for hoops from a percentage of the fanbase that is present no matter what. His point was, you can't manufacture that. Really perceptive guy that is a lot of fun to talk to.

A lot of people know that he and Des Oliver are really good friends working together for the first time professionally. They were each the best man at the other's wedding and have known each other for over 30 years, starting as children in Buffalo. Lanier had a great story that shed some light on their roots, explaining that his family didn't have a phone, so when he was being recruited college coaches would call Oliver's house to leave messages and set up meetings.

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