Tennessee Hoop Talk Host - Matt Kizer

Rick Byrd is a Knoxville native, a Nashville icon and a Tennessee coaching legend.
In Episode 13, the Hall of Fame coach reflects on his early days on the sideline with Coach Ray Mears at the University of Tennessee, how the greatness of Don Meyer and David Lipscomb pushed him and his program to improve and stories of his greatest teams and players.

Coach Hubie Smith is a Tennessee coaching legend. He finished his coaching career with 707 wins and just 250 losses.  He won his first state title at Bartlett in 2001, won the girls title twice at Ensworth and won four straight championships back on the boys side at Brentwood Academy.

In this episode Coach Smith reflects on some of those teams. He also discusses how Rick Byrd changed the way he taught motion offense, the art of shooting the basketball and what he thought the first time he saw Darius Garland.

From his early days of battling his older siblings in the driveway, to starring on one of the winningest teams in TN high school history, to ultimately ending up a fan favorite for the TN Vols, Dane Bradshaw has always been a winner.

In episode 11 of Tennessee Hoop Talk, Dane shares his work ethic as a youngster, stories about his legendary high school coach Terry Tippett and what he's doing these days to get his b-ball "fix".

Alysha Clark is currently a professional basketball player and most recently a WNBA champion with the Seattle Storm. She shoots a staggering 39.8% from 3 (2nd among active players) and has twice been named to the WNBA All-Defensive Team; however, Alysha’s road has not been typical and most definitely has not been easy. 

In Episode 10 of TN Hoop Talk, we talk to the former Mt. Juliet star about her unique basketball journey! She shares her experiences from trying to figure out what a pivot foot was in that first HS practice, to her first couple of years at Belmont and the final two dynamic years at MTSU.  Alysha has continued to work hard and adapt her game at every level and she shares some of that journey with us!  This is a feel good story about good people that work hard and are rewarded.

Basketball is a family affair for the Bone brothers, Josh and Jordan. In Episode 9 of TN Hoop Talk, we caught up with the first family of basketball in Tennessee. Listen in as we discuss their early hoops years in Nashville and how they are inspired to work by doubters. They also share insight into playing for legendary high school coaches, George Pitts and Ricky Bowers and college coaches, Bruce Pearl and Rick Barnes.

Ron Slay is one of the most dynamic basketball players and personalities in Tennessee basketball history.   Having lived all over the state, he is a TN kid through and through that settled in Nashville where he became a legend.  In Episode 8 of TN Hoop Talk, listen in as Ron shares stories of his high school career at Pearl Cohn, how he almost ended up at the University of Kentucky and how you always have to “shoot your shot.”