This season, as we take a Total Access look at Tennessee, we'll also have quick visits with the Lady Vols. Freshman Bashaara Graves, a 6-foot-2 freshman forward/center who ranks second on the team with 15.1 points per game, is the first to take on our Tenn Questions survey:
1. If you could be any super hero or cartoon character, which one would you be?
Bashaara Graves: I'd be Sponge Bob. He's so funny. I used to watch the show when it first came on years ago, but recently I started watching it again because my roommate (teammate Jasmine Jones) is obsessed. I'm seeing it a lot differently now. When you're little, you're laughing at it, but not understanding exactly what they're talking about. But you see it in a different way, and it's an adult cartoon, not a children's cartoon. Our channel stays on Nickelodean, so "Sponge Bob" comes on every morning pretty much.
2. Who is your basketball idol?
Graves: Lisa Leslie. When I first started wanting to play basketball, I was in Texas watching a Sparks game. I told my dad, "I want to be like her." She's always been my idol.
3. What's your favorite movie?
Graves: My favorite movie is "Twilight," the whole series. I watched every single one. I went to "Breaking Dawn Part 2" on opening night. Every one, I usually go with my sister [Keke Ogburn, who's at Columbia State]. She's read the books. So I usually go with her. But we're apart now. So I went with my teammates, there were about four of us. It was kinda cool. I liked it because it summed up everything.
4. If you could listen to only one singer/musician/band for the rest of your life, who would it be?
Graves: Chris Brown. But I can't listen to him before games. I have to listen to hype music before games, like 2 Chainz and Future.
5. What was your childhood nickname?
Graves: Everybody called me Bee. Now, [Tennessee assistant] Coach [Jolette] Law calls me "Marley," because I like Bob Marley. People call me Shar. Most of my teammates call me Shar. Holly [Warlick] and Dean [Lockwood] call me Bee.
6. Why do you wear No. 12 at Tennessee?
Graves: I wore 11 in high school. But I couldn't get 11 here [sophomore Cierra Burdick wears No. 11]. So I wear 12. I graduated in the Class of 2012, and we had this saying at school: "Don't you wish you were 1 2?" So I just went with that.
7. Person -- male or female -- you most want to play one-on-one?
Graves: Candace Parker. For one, she's a Lady Vol. And I just love the way she plays. Plus I want to learn how to dunk, how she does it.
8. Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions?
Graves: I have to listen to music. If I don't, I feel so awkward.
9. What's your favorite comfort food? What's your favorite pregame meal?
Graves: I love milk chocolate. My favorite pregame meal is grilled chicken.
10. Finish this sentence: Life as a Lady Vols is Â…
Graves:
Life as a Lady Vol is the best life you could ever have. Lady Vol nation!