Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl is taking his basketball team on a field trip.

"Why do you take field trips?'' Pearl asked. "To learn and have fun outside of the classroom.''

The Vols are headed to Nashville on Sunday afternoon where they'll watch Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat work out and then stage a practice from 3-5 p.m. EST in the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

"This is our only chance to practice there before we play Murray State,'' said Pearl, whose team plays the Racers at 8 p.m. Nov. 30. "We're playing Murray State there because that's where the SEC tournament is and we want to have some experience in the building.''

It seems where basketball is concerned, Pearl thinks of everything and keeps all his bases covered.

Everyone loves a winner, and right now Pearl is undefeated as UT's coach and coming off a Sweet 16 appearance as Wisconsin-Milwaukee's former coach.

Pearl acknowledges this is his honeymoon period, and he rides the momentum for all it's worth.

For example, Pearl points out that the teams recruiting against UT can't use the program's relatively weak tradition against him.

After all, those disappointments occurred before he arrived. So, he argues, who's to say the Vols won't turn it around?

Not Pearl, and not the three top 50 players he has gotten to verbally commit for the signing Class of 2005: Duke Crews, Marques Johnson and Wayne Chism. Certainly not the Tennessee players, who put in their first five days of full practice before taking off Thursday.

"We've had some spurts with our defense,'' Pearl said. "C.J. (Watson) and Chris (Lofton) are great players, and they are playing like that.

"Major (Wingate) has been terrific; I expected that, but he's probably doing better than some fans might think. Dane Bradshaw is shooting the ball with a lot of confidence.

"Stanley (Asumnu) has also shown out well.''

So has Andre Patterson, who has been suspended the past 2A 1/2 weeks after an off-court altercation involving former UT football player Daniel Brooks.

If Patterson's academics check out well, he could be back on the court any day now.

"At this point, I'm going to evaluate it,'' Pearl said. "If you see him come back anytime soon, it's because my evaluation is complete. If he doesn't come back soon, then at this point the evaluation is incomplete. Not necessarily because it's a negative.

"He has acted accordingly off the court, and he has trained well with a graduate assistant. We just need to evaluate his academic class work.''

That would give Pearl 10 scholarship players to work with. That's better than nine but not as good as the 12 or 13 Pearl's accustomed to having at practice.

The shortage of players has led Pearl to adjust.

"Because our numbers are down, I can't practice as long as I'd like,'' Pearl said. "In order to play tougher and more physical, there are certain drills I'd like to do, but I can't do those drills because I can't risk losing somebody (to injury). So the only contact we have is the contact we have to have.''

Perhaps Pearl should borrow some of the green "no-contact'' jerseys from the football team's receiving corps -- as long as they don't start dropping passes and failing to score.

In all seriousness, the practice limitations hurt.

"You want to create a practice situation that's more competitive and demanding than any game,'' Pearl explained, "so when you get to the game, it's a piece a cake.''

Sounds like a good theory, but it takes players to win games, and the reality is that UT basketball has its work cut out for it.

But as Sunday's field trip indicates, Pearl is going to make sure the Vols have a good time along the way, which should lead to a healthy work ethic and positive team image.

It's a good start.

UT basketball fans wanted reason for optimism when Buzz Peterson was dismissed, and so far, Pearl has delivered just that.