Today On Rocky Top: Cuonzo Martin Not Worried About Job Talk

Feb 18, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Cuonzo Martin during the first half against the Georgia Bulldogs at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

From Go Vols Xtra

"The Tennessee men’s basketball team enters its second-to-last week of the SEC regular season as one of seven teams tied for fourth place. It’s not where UT (16-11, 7-7) expected to be in coach Cuonzo Martin’s third season. And during his weekly media luncheon on Monday, Martin addressed the elephant in the room — chatter about his job security — that has grown with each loss.His approach?Block it out.“Don’t waste time and energy on it,” Martin said. “The next game presents itself. Move forward.”"

From Rocky Top Talk

"The conversation about Cuonzo Martin and the future of Tennessee Basketball is certainly a valid and meaningful one, with a vocal majority meeting little resistance right now. This particular article isn’t written in favor or opposition of Cuonzo keeping his job. It’s simply to say, we’re not out of the NCAA Tournament picture yet.Tennessee’s second loss to RPI 120 Texas A&M leaves the Vols at 59 in those same rankings with four regular season games to play. That’s where Tennessee ended its season last year after an SEC Tournament loss to Alabama, which as you know was just enough to keep us on the outside looking in. Because we’re quite familiar with the bubble around here, we’ve studied who gets in before. You can find a full summary of every bubble team’s RPI over the last eight years here. Since field expansion to 68 no major conference team with an RPI better than 50 has been left out."

From Bleacher Report

"Spring practice kicks off for the Tennessee Volunteers on March 7, and there hasn’t been a more highly anticipated session in more than a decade.It would be difficult to find any program in the country that has more excitement surrounding it than Tennessee does, even in the wake of four consecutive losing seasons.Fourteen newcomers will bring a serious injection of much-needed talent, and with so many players exhausting their eligibility from Derek Dooley’s disastrous three-year tenure, it truly is the dawn of a new era on Rocky Top.If all 32 UT signees make it to Knoxville, 54 of the 85 scholarship players on the 2014 roster will have been recruited by Butch Jones before the first snap of his second season. That’s a ridiculous roster flip, but given the lean years at UT, the changes are tinted with positivity."