Youthful Vols face growing pains

Second-year Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl has his work cut out for him in his sophomore season at the helm of the resurgent Vols’ basketball program. UT’s first season under Pearl was nothing short of a fairy-tale. With two wins over eventual national champion Florida and a Southeastern Conference Eastern Division Championship, new energy circulated through the once dreary basketball program. Pearl’s upbeat attitude and clever marketing schemes gave him universal appeal to a reeling fan base. Fresh off of the first losing season of the Phillip Fulmer era last fall during football season, Pearl rode into town on a white (and orange) horse. His arrival revived a sleepy arena and soothed the Volunteer faithful with an exciting and new style of play for the basketball Vols. Pearl and his staff then followed up their successful season with a stellar off-season of recruiting. Several highly touted athletes signed their names on Tennessee paper, making the buzz around Knoxville even greater. The class was heralded as one of the best nationally. But, of course, with recruits comes inexperience. This year’s version of the Big Orange hoopsters has a completely different makeup than last year’s squad that somehow earned a number-two seed in the NCAA Tournament last March. The biggest missing piece to the Tennessee basketball puzzle this year appears to be at point guard. In a typical case of ‘don’t know what you got till it’s gone’, the Vols have looked lost at times over the first month of the season without four-year starter C.J. Watson, whose understated way of running the show last year made him somewhat underappreciated to the Vols’ faithful. Having a four-year starter at point guard in Watson was the catalyst to UT’s success last year without a doubt This year, Pearl has to really earn his keep. He has a new cast of characters, and some of the strengths from last season’s team have turned into weaknesses. Pearl’s second year features a team in search of leadership. The cast includes six freshmen that play significant minutes. The first case in which Tennessee’s youth became evident was in New York City during their preseason NIT match up against Butler. Butler, a perennial NCAA tournament team is especially strong this year. Butler has a level of team unity that can only be achieved through having several three and four-year starters. “These guys have played together for three years now. They know what everybody else is thinking,” said Pearl of the Bulldogs. Tennessee gained control of the contest early only to let it slip away in the second half. It was inexperience versus experience, and in the long run, the raw talent gave way to the smart play of the seasoned Bulldogs. The Vols showed some heart the next night against a highly-favored North Carolina team who was also coming off of a loss and ranked at number two at the time. The Tar Heels distanced themselves from the youthful Vols, but several individuals had good games against the national powerhouse. Those two games will be reference points later in the year if, or when, Tennessee gets ready for post-season play. Arguably the two most highly sought-after players that the Big Orange landed were Wayne Chism and Duke Crews. Chism is a 6’9” Forward with good range, while Crews is just an inch shorter but seems to play bigger than he is. “We all have to get used to playing with each other,” Crews said following the Vols recent home win over Coppin State. “Once we get the team chemistry going, we’ll be alright. “Almost every team in the SEC has somebody with some sort of accolade, especially with the big men. So we have to be ready, we don’t have a choice.” Pearl understands that this year will not be like the last. Only time will tell if Pearl’s dynamic coaching ability will have this team ready by the end of what should be a much longer season. The next four games Tennessee will play are against teams who should make the NCAA tournament, starting with Memphis at 9:00 on Wednesday at Thompson Boling Arena.