Do not count head basketball coach Donnie Tyndall among the multitudes of Vol fans enjoying their first look at their brand new team at the Rocky Top League.
The six-team league, comprised mostly of the top collegiate basketball players from East Tennessee, features 10 current Tennessee Volunteer basketball players as well as five former Vols.
The league that has been around for eight years now plays their games on Monday and Wednesday nights at Knoxville Catholic High School where they began competition on June 16 and will end on July 2.
“From the scores I saw there wasn’t a lot of defense being played and all we talk about in our workouts is defense and rebounding,” Tyndall said.
“Probably two extremes there, I know the Rocky Top League is fun and they have a good time. It’s great for our fans but on the flip side our workouts have been competitive and spirited. Guys have had great attitudes and energy and we’re making progress.”
In a frenzied pace, Tyndall and his staff have put a team together with a solid recruiting class led by two Junior College transfers Eric McKnight and Ian Chiles.
“They’ve been good,” Tyndall said, referring to the two transfers.
“In a large part having played two years of college ball even though it was at the junior college level, both were in competitive, good junior college leagues and both played for good coaches. So those two guys are ahead of the typical freshman.”
Tyndall was also able to snag four-star signee Detrick Mostella who has averaged in the mid 30’s for points per game in the Rocky Top League.
The only two players that have scored more than him in the league are current Vol Kevin Punter and former Vol D’Montre Edwards.
“He’s (Mostella) a talented young man, but he’s a million miles away from being an effective player at this level,” Tyndall said.
“He’s a great kid. He works hard, but he doesn’t have any detail in his play right now. He doesn’t have any idea how to play right now and that’s my job as the coach to get him to the point where he does understand and knows how to do those things. On the flip side of that, when you have a really talented guy to work with like Detrick you would expect that curve to be a little quicker where he picks things up at a pretty quick pace.”
Young and talented players are great to have, but leaders must anchor them. For that task, Tyndall will look to senior Josh Richardson and junior Armani Moore.
“Those two guys (Richardson and Moore) along with Brandon Lopez (senior point guard) have been fantastic,” Tyndall said.
“They are high energy guys. I love guys that walk into the practice floor and they’ve got a smile on their face and trying to encourage teammates. I’m proud of those three. They have shown great leadership to this point.”
Moore had his own comments about Tyndall’s leadership.
“He’s a pretty hard-nosed guy,” Moore said.
“He comes at us in all types of ways. We just have to do a really good job of taking the pressure. He’s always yelling. He stays intense the whole time.”
Moore said he is excited about the new season and the different style of play under Tyndall.
“It should be fun,” he said. “We don’t have a natural set offense. It’s basically just pressure the ball on defense and get out in the open court and run. I like that style.”
