Emmanuel Negedu News

The Tennessee men's basketball team is ranked ninth in the country and is off to a 5-1 start, but the Vols remain a work in progress.

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands - Emmanuel Negedu's jersey was blue, not orange, and the half-speed drill lasted only 10 minutes.

Tobias Harris. Anyone who actually follows college basketball knows the name. He's quite possibly the most sought after recruit in the nation.A Schools like Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Syracuse, Tennessee, and others have all been in the running, and Harris has expressed interest in all of them.

KNOXVILLE - Forgive Coach Bruce Pearl if he sounds a little repetitive. His Volunteers have competed for SEC championships each of the four seasons he's been with the team, and Pearl expects this year to be no different.

All are pieces to the Big Orange Basketball puzzle. The question is, will they all come together to form a championship picture? Bruce Pearl leads his boys into battle for another season.

The last time Tennessee was ranked in the preseason top 10, it broke the school record for wins and claimed its first SEC regular-season title in more than 40 years.

We're not going with a typical, run-of-the-mill Top 25 rundown each day. Instead, we'll cut to the chase and tell you who will be left standing at the end of the season in the Elite Eight.

KNOXVILLE - Forgive coach Bruce Pearl if he's sounds a little repetitive. His Volunteers have competed for SEC championships each of the four seasons he's been with the team, and Pearl expects this year to be no different.

An indefinite suspension has turned into what appears to be the end of Josh Tabb's basketball career at Tennessee.

For the second-straight season, the Southeastern Conference finished last amongst BCS leagues and sixth overall in RPI standings in 2008-09. Just three teams made the NCAA Tournament, none of which made the Sweet Sixteen.

The pile of drool that has become Kentucky basketball this offseason has overshadowed a lurking menace to the SEC in the form of Bruce Pearl's Volunteers.

SCOUTING THE NEWCOMERS: Kenny Hall is a 6-8 freshman who was rated as one of the top power forward prospects in the country and was among Rivals.com's top 75 prospects.

Tennessee finished with 21 victories last season, but more was expected from the Volunteers , who lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Every year several top 25 teams inexplicably fall apart and don't live up to expectations.

Kyle sees our Record of Wrongs and raises one of Georgia's own . With Emmanuel Negedu out for the season and perhaps his career, Bruce Pearl is moving pieces around to shore up the front court .

Tennessee lost a piece of its puzzle when it was announced Tuesday that sophomore power forward Emmanuel Negedu will not play for the Vols for the 2009-10 season and is unlikely to continue his basketball career.

Left Veteran forward Brendan Shanahan left the New Jersey Devils after being told he would not be a part of their top three lines this season.

Tennessee sophomore forward Emmanuel Negedu is headed to the Cleveland Clinic for more tests after being released from UT Medical Center on Thursday.

Nigerian forward Emmanuel Negedu will remain hospitalized overnight on Tuesday as doctors continue to test and observe him after he collapsed following a basketball workout with the University of Tennessee.

The latest subject of our Hoops Q&A series is Tennessee's Tyler Smith, a senior forward who pulled his name out of the NBA draft pool in June.