For a basketball program on the bubble, finishing strong is the difference between making the NCAA tournament or not. Consequently, it doesn't take a CSI autopsy to decipher why the Vols have been repeat NIT participants.

Two seasons ago, they lost six of their final eight games. Last year, it was five of seven.

UT coach Buzz Peterson is determined to halt the trend and he started with the offseason strength and conditioning program.

"I've felt like our conditioning wasn't the best toward the end,'' he said. "(Brandon) Crump was playing 10 pounds too heavy and C.J. (Watson) is wearing out. We've got to have him full strength.''

Peterson enlisted strength and conditioning coach Johnny Long to step in and get hands-on with the offseason program.

Long answers first to football, but over the spring and summer he had time to inject his brand of enthusiasm into Peterson's players.

"Basketball players,'' said Peterson, "hate to lift weights. Sometimes they need somebody there to be highly motivated to push them.''

Long, an acknowledged motivator, agrees.

"They're so much taller than football players,'' he said, "so they have such long levers. When you have to make an athlete like that squat, it's very uncomfortable.

"I put a little extra umph into them,'' he added with a chuckle.

Roderick Moore has worked with the basketball players for several years. Peterson said wanting a fresh face involved wasn't a slap at Moore.

Moore, in fact, has been promoted from assistant coach to an associate coach. He'll work primarily with football.

Troy Wills, a former graduate assistant who now works full time, has been working with the basketball team and will be the hands-on guy now that Long has football on the front burner.

The offseason program focused on flexibility and core strength, emphasizing the lower back, abdominal muscles and hips.

"Rod had touched all the bases,'' said Long. "I just tried to re-implement and be a stickler on some things.''

Peterson's concerns with the late-season wilts have him considering eliminating his merit system in which players can avoid sprints.

Players can accumulate "plus'' points as rewards for various accomplishments and cash them in to get out of some conditioning sprints.

"I may do away with that and have us do all our conditioning as a team,'' he said. "Sometimes change is good.''

Team Notes: Look for the 2004-05 schedule to be released in about a week. The "name" opponents are Louisville, Xavier, Nebraska and New Mexico, plus a star-studded field in the Maui Invitational.

Peterson will hold a staff retreat beginning Monday near Crossville.

"I did that at Appy (Appalachian) State a couple of times, but I've never done it here,'' Peterson said. "It's something I've been wanting to do. We've got everybody back and we'll talk about the administrative part, recruiting, the basketball part, everything.''

Only Dane Bradshaw and Jordan Howell were around for the second session of summer school.

Watson's short stint at the USA Basketball juniors tryouts last month might have had something to do with his passive demeanor.

Peterson said USA coach Kelvin Sampson told him he liked his point guards to be vocal leaders and that Watson wasn't.

"I said, 'I've had him for two years and I know what you mean,' '' Peterson said. "If he'll talk and be a leader for us this season, I like our chances, but that's something C.J. has got to really improve on.''

Familiar Faces: Jenis Grindstaff has returned to the UT program as a graduate assistant and Brandon McCormack is sticking around in a similar role.

Grindstaff battled back from knee surgery to letter for the Vols in 2001 and 2002. McCormack, a Bearden High School graduate, has been a manager since 2000.

Around the SEC: Mixed in with the NCAA probation news this week, Georgia learned top-100 signee Robert Dozier did not qualify. The 6-foot-8 forward was projected for immediate playing time for the Bulldogs, who will have only eight scholarship players. The league has five Wooden Award nominees on the 50-man preseason checklist: Anthony Roberson, David Lee, Chuck Hayes, Kennedy Winston and Lawrence Roberts.

Other media contributed to this report. Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276.