Next to the word "mismatch" in the basketball dictionary, there is a photo of Corliss Williamson being guarded by Clint Newman.

Williamson was a 6-foot-7, 250ish low-post load in his days at Arkansas. He's spent the last decade in the NBA.

Newman was a walk-on guard at Tennessee. This mismatch was brief but poignant in the winter of 1994-95.

Hey, Kevin O'Neill was desperate. He looked at his bench and there wasn't anybody else there.

It's often like that in transition years. After a scorched-earth roster purge from Wade Houston's last team, O'Neill was down to eight players for his first SEC campaign.

Dennis Felton might have gone winless his second season at Georgia without playing and even starting walk-ons. Jeff Lebo's first Auburn team could have played in a 6-5-and-under league.

It's not quite that drastic for Bruce Pearl as he begins another transition at Tennessee. But make no mistake, Pearl will be fighting with a short stick.

Don't be shocked to see guard Dane Bradshaw playing a little power forward in the season opener.

When the Vols open practice Friday night, Bradshaw will be the No. 2 option behind freshman Ryan Childress.

The NCAA allows 13 scholarships for men's programs. UT opens with nine eligible players and a 10th, Andre Patterson, in suspension limbo.

"We've got enough to go out there and compete,'' Pearl said Tuesday at UT's media day.

"To beat the best teams on our schedule, we would like to be at full strength and I don't know whether we'll ever get there this first year.''

The reality is that teams with 13 eligible scholarship players are in the minority. Maybe three or four clubs in the SEC this winter will be fully armed.

When coaches come and go players inevitably do likewise.

UT lost prized recruit Tyler Smith in the switch from Buzz Peterson to Pearl.

One of Pearl's signees, Anthony Passley, isn't eligible because he attended one day of class at Wisconsin-Milwaukee last year. He'll have to redshirt.

Pearl had another scholarship to use but said he chose to save it rather than give it to a marginal prospect.

And then last week, he dismissed senior Jemere Hendrix from the team over an incident that led to Patterson's indefinite suspension.

"It's easier to make tough choices when you're talking about a back-up,'' Pearl said. "It's harder to do when you're talking about your potential starting power forward and his backup on a team that's already shorthanded.

"But it was a no-brainer. You just do the right thing.''

If Patterson does enough of the right things in the coming weeks, he'll be reinstated.

"He's trying,'' Pearl said.

Assuming Patterson makes it back, it takes a load off Childress. But the freshman will have to contribute, regardless of whether he's starting or coming off the bench.

Childress has size and attitude going for him. Still, he's a true freshman who originally signed with Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a mid-major program, and now is stepping up in class to the SEC.

"I knew when we got him to come here we were really going to be glad he was here,'' Pearl said. "It's my job as a coach to not put him in a position to fail.''

Under the circumstances, that could be tricky. Somebody will have to guard guys like Chuck Davis of Alabama.

The Vols are thin in the paint. Another freshman, Damion Harris, is the only backup for Major Wingate in the post.

Pearl's history is that at least eight and usually nine players average 12 minutes a game. Childress and Harris don't have the luxury of easing into college basketball gradually.

"Our fans have got to be patient with him if a freshman is thrown out there,'' said Pearl.

That goes for the whole team. It's a transition year.