Tennessee's complete men's basketball schedule will soon be released.

More importantly, more of the games will be seen on national television.

The Vols' game at Ohio State in January will be broadcast on CBS, and their games with Memphis (Dec. 6) and Oklahoma State (Dec. 18) will be televised on ESPN2. ESPN will pick up Tennessee's game with Texas (Dec. 23).

It's likely the Vols will have some of their SEC contests broadcast by ESPN or ESPN2, and coach Bruce Pearl said he's hopeful there will be another CBS game in the schedule.

Tennessee also has an opportunity to see TV time via ESPN coverage should it make the finals of the NIT, where possible games with North Carolina, Gonzaga, Indiana or Notre Dame -- to name a few -- could come about should the Vols win their first two NIT contests in Nashville, against Fordham (Nov. 13) and the winner of the Belmont-UNC Wilmington game (Nov. 14).

Last season, UT's national exposure was limited to the Oklahoma State, Texas and Kentucky games, along with their regional postseason coverage.

Pearl said the Vols might not be as polished as he'd like in the early non-conference showdowns, but the exposure is critical to the program's continued growth.

"I realize that even though we'll have a lot of first-year players out there, this is why they came to Tennessee,'' Pearl said. "It's why we had the best recruiting class in the SEC.''

Tennessee will open its regular season at home Nov. 10 against Middle Tennessee. It's the first time the Vols and the Blue Raiders have met on the basketball court since Jan. 21, 2002. The Vols also have Western Kentucky on the schedule Dec. 16 at Thompson-Boling Arena, marking the first time the schools have met in basketball in their history.

Other games previously announced by opponents include a Dec. 28 home date with Tennessee Tech and a Dec. 30 home game with East Tennessee State.

Pearl II: Steven Pearl played the role of sixth man as the U.S. "A'' team defeated Canada in the championship finale at the Maccabi Australia International Games on July 20.

The Maccabi Games represent a spiritual, cultural and athletic experience for Jewish athletes around the world.

Pearl averaged 9.8 points, four rebounds and three assists per contest, and scored 15 points in the title game.

Pearl, a former West High School standout, is 6-foot-5, 225 pounds and is expected to compete for a role at small forward as a walk-on at UT this season.

Smith Update: Prized recruit Ramar Smith has been informed that he will hear something from the NCAA Clearinghouse by the end of this week.

The point guard from Detroit's Martin Luther King High School wasn't able to enroll for the second term of summer school after his transcript was held up at the NCAA Clearinghouse. Smith re-took a standardized test in June.