Vols’ 07-08 hoops slate one of nation’s toughest

Coach Bruce Pearl said the schedule was among the toughest in the nation.

‘The schedule is everything you could want,’ he said in a statement. ‘It will send my players the message that I think it will prepare us. As a team, I think we can handle it.’

Ten of the teams the Vols will play went to the NCAA tournament last season. All the coming opponents combined to win 522 games and had a .621 winning percentage.

The regular season will begin when Temple visits the newly renovated Thompson-Boling Arena on Nov. 9. It will be the first meeting of the teams since 1973, when the Vols won 11-6 ‘ the lowest-scoring game in NCAA history, although it came before the 3-point line was adopted in 1986.

Knoxville will be one of four opening-round sites for the Legends Classic Nov. 14-16, along with New Mexico State, Texas and West Virginia. All eight participating teams will go to the championship round Nov. 23-24 in Newark, N.J.

The Southeastern Conference slate begins Jan. 9 with a visit from Ole Miss. They face the national champion Florida Gators in Knoxville on Feb. 5, then away on March 5. They take on Vanderbilt at home on Jan. 17 and in Nashville on Feb. 26. They visit Kentucky Jan. 22 and host the Wildcats on March 2.

Notable non-conference matchups include away at Memphis on Feb. 23, at Xavier on Dec. 22 and at Gonzaga on Dec. 29. Ohio State, the NCAA runner-up to Florida, visits on Jan. 19.

The Vols also will play Chattanooga on Dec. 4 for the first time since the 1982-1983 season and Middle Tennessee on Nov. 20.

Season tickets go on sale Sept. 10, while individual game tickets go on sale in October.