Ron Slay, owner of the freshest, fastest and funniest mouth in college basketball, calls it the Boom Boom Room.

That's the paint. Slay's personal playpen. The hangout for the captain and MVP of the All-First Amendment Team.

	While Ron Slay owns the keys to the Boom Boom Room, he's expanded his offensive game this season.

The Boom Boom Room is where the Tennessee power forward throws 'bows, woofs, pushes off, chatters, hip checks, barks, leg whips and -- freedom of speech, baby -- yaps some more. Then the Eddie Haskell of the SEC swears he's innocent whenever the striped shirts look his way.

Cover charge is steep.

"Whole lot goes on in the Boom Boom Room," says Slay. "It's a club. There's no security, no exit doors, and you don't get out until after the game's over.

"We just reopened the Boom Boom Room in the Florida game. Everyone had to re-up their membership fee for that one."

And business is booming in the Big Orange Boom Boom Room. Slay (loudly) and the Volunteers (quietly) have become one of the surprise stories of the season.

The Florida game Slay mentioned was a 66-59 upset victory last Saturday, Tennessee's sixth straight in SEC play. It continues the Vols' elevation from afterthought to the upper half of the league. Tennessee (15-7 overall, 7-4 in SEC play) has surged past collapsing Alabama and into prime position for the fifth NCAA Tournament bid from a league that is starting to look a tad overrated.

"After Kentucky, I think Tennessee's playing as well as anybody in the league," said South Carolina coach Dave Odom, whose Gamecocks host the Vols Wednesday.

Along Tennessee's return course to SEC relevance, Slay has established himself as the leading candidate for something other than Undisputed Mouth of the South. He's the current favorite to be SEC Player of the Year.

"I think I'd have to cast one or two votes for myself," Slay said with a laugh. "But I'd have to put our team up there. Without my teammates, I wouldn't be anywhere.

"I came in this year with a different focus. I dedicated myself to team ball, and the individual accomplishments will come with it."

This is the New Ron Slay. The Grownup Ron Slay. The Team Ball Ron Slay.

He still emotes like a drama queen on the court, but less of it detracts from his game.

He still fills reporters' notebooks, but now as much of the talk is about his team as about himself.

And he even means it, according to his coach.

"He's been very positive all season," said Buzz Peterson, looking good in his second season at Rocky Top. "His leadership skills have been unbelievable. He's really tuned in, very responsible in practice. He's a much more mature person."

The mature Slay leads the SEC in scoring at 21.8 points per game. He's fourth in rebounding at 7.4 per game. And he's clearly the man in the Vols' locker room.

Slay's maturation process began after he blew out his knee Jan. 19 last year against Syracuse and missed the rest of the season. That brush with basketball mortality changed his perspective, and watching teammate Marcus Haislip being drafted in the first half of the first round that summer spiked his motivation.

Slay attacked rehab, toned up and pitched a tent in the weight room. When he reported for fall practice, his bench press had increased 50 pounds to 355 and his squat exploded upward 200 pounds to 500.

All the better to do battle in the Boom Boom Room. But he's getting out of the club quite a bit this season and seeing the rest of the floor. Slay hit 38 three-pointers his first three seasons at Tennessee and has 28 so far this season. His range and deceptive handle have made him that much harder to defend.

"No question in my mind, he's the best offensive player in this league," Odom said. "He really can get his points. He's terrific."

Terrific as he's been all season, Slay's help is starting to rise up to meet him. Freshman point guard C.J. Watson leads the league in assists at 5.6 per game, and sophomore center Brandon Crump has become the team's No. 2 scorer (10.8 per game) and rebounder (5.9).

"He's playing with a lot more confidence from eight feet to 17 feet," Odom said of Crump. "A year ago if he caught the ball in the high post, you could take your high-post defender and drop him in Ron Slay's lap and let (Crump) take all the shots you want, then go get the rebound. Now you've got to get out there and guard Crump."

Which leaves more space in the Boom Boom Room for Slay. He's more mature, but he's hardly been tamed.

You can't stop his attitude. You can only hope to contain it.

"I'm still the same old Ron," said Slay.

Peterson will never get the headband off Slay's melon, though he's tried. He won't get him to stop shaking the opposing coach's hand before the game. He enlivened the Florida pregame by arriving at courtside by coming down through the student section, stoking up his fellow students.

"He loves the game," Peterson said. "Loves to play it, and he gets excited."

And if Ron Slay leads Tennessee back to the Big Dance, the party in the Boom Boom Room should be off the hook.

Games of the Week

Alabama at Tennessee Saturday Crimson Tide growing desperate, Volunteers growing confident. Alabama has been so bad on the road this year that a win here would be a big surprise. Louisville at Cincinnati Saturday Looked troublesome for the Cards until the Bearcats were beaten by the Billikens at home. But you never want to count out a Bob Huggins team when it comes to at least competing against a big-name opponent. Mississippi State at Kentucky Sunday Wildcats have morphed into an almost-unbeatable monster in Rupp Arena, but the Bulldogs won't walk in at a dramatic talent deficit. A win could catapult State upward in NCAA seeding.

Will Work For Bid
Memphis' two years under John Calipari have resulted in two NIT bids -- not exactly what the school had in mind when it hired Cal, gave him an 82-percent raise to $1 million annually after one season and signed megastar Dajuan Wagner.

That might be why the Tigers appear to be playing with some urgency in recent weeks, racking up five straight wins against weak National Division competition before upsetting No. 3 Louisville on Wednesday. They've been riding the potent combination of strongman Chris Massie's inside work and a blistering perimeter shooting run by John Grice, Anthony Rice, Antonio Burks and Billy Richmond. Double Massie and the shooters go wild. Pressure the perimeter and the big man has room to operate inside.

That winning streak makes Memphis 17-5 and puts them in most projected NCAA Tournament fields as a No. 9 seed at this point, but it could definitely use an upset of Louisville in Freedom Hall on Wednesday to solidify its résumé.

"We didn't come here to win national titles in the NIT, though that was nice," Calipari said. "We are here to compete for national titles. Obviously, the first step is getting in the NCAA Tournament."

Beating Syracuse and Illinois early should get them there. But losses to South Florida, Saint Louis and Southern Mississippi (the last of those by 17 points) put them in this moderately precarious position. Now the Tigers played their first true marquee opponent since December, which might be why Calipari was in full spin mode Monday discussing the officiating for the game against the Cardinals.

"We have an NCAA Final Four crew on the game," Calipari said of Jim Burr, Curtis Shaw and Tim Higgins. "Which means you're not going to have the hand-checking, pushing, shoving, that kind of thing. ... There's not going to be shoving in the back on rebounds."

Gee, is it coincidence that Rick Pitino teams have been accused of such transgressions before? Think Calipari isn't trying to get into the heads of a few zebras and/or Cardinals?

"When people start talking about officials, you know you've got psychological problems," Pitino said.

He might've been joking, but he wasn't smiling.

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