Tennessee men's basketball team only thought last year was its coming out party.

The Vols will be on national television more than ever this season with at least 10 appearances between ESPN, ABC and CBS.

Another six games will be shown regionally on Lincoln Financial (formerly Jefferson Pilot and seen locally on WVLT), CSS is signed up for at least two more yet-to-be-determined Tennessee games, and Fox Sports Net South has an option for select UT games.

The Vols had just three nationally televised regular-season games last season.

UT released its complete schedule Tuesday and placed various season-ticket packages on sale.

"We made an impact with our play last season, and that speaks volumes for guys like Chris Lofton, Dane Bradshaw, Major Wingate, JaJuan Smith and Jordan Howell,'' said UT coach Bruce Pearl, who guided the Vols to a 22-8 record, an SEC East Division title and an appearance in the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years.

"On the road, we were 6-2 in SEC games, so we demonstrated we could be competitive there, too, but a major statement for us is our following,'' he said. "Television isn't coming to Knoxville because there are no fans in the building.''

John Currie, who oversees UT's men's basketball program as the senior associate athletic director for external operations, said an attractive home schedule that includes half of last year's Elite Eight should lead to sellouts and a targeted home attendance of 20,000.

"We play Memphis and Texas at home, then from the SEC West you have Alabama and LSU,'' said Currie, who also oversees marketing and ticketing. "You have all the SEC East teams, and when you look at other non-conference games there's Sunbelt Conference teams like Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State, which are decent RPI games.''

Pearl said the Vols' schedule, which opens with a Oct. 31 exhibition game against LeMoyne-Owen at 7:30p.m., figures to be even more difficult than last season, when the schedule ranked No. 6 in the RPI ratings, leading UT to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

"The SEC is going to have some of its games on national television, but we chose to play Texas, Memphis, Ohio State and Oklahoma State,'' Pearl said. "So by stepping up our schedule, we've put ourselves on television.

"The exposure is a reward for our players and an opportunity for our school.''

Bob Kesling, who's entering into his eighth year broadcasting Vols' games with Bert Bertelkamp, said having Pearl for a head coach has rewarded the program.

"The television games are a statement about last year and how well Tennessee played,'' Kesling said. "But Bruce Pearl has captured the fancy of a lot of people around the country, and he coaches an exciting brand of basketball.''

Not only has the animated, at times sweat-soaked, other times orange-jacketed Pearl caught the cameras on the side court, he also drew exposure working as an analyst for ESPN, CBS and CSTV in the postseason.

"There has been more anticipation than I've seen in my eight years here,'' Currie said. "We've had people calling an e-mailing about tickets all summer.

"It's a tribute to Coach Pearl and his players who worked so hard and overachieved, and now there's a very highly rated recruiting class coming in.''

Ramar Update: Currie would not pinpoint the stage of compliance UT signee Ramar Smith is in, but he did issue the following statement: "We're in a process we have confidence in, and we're optimistic it will conclude successfully as soon as possible.''

The NCAA Clearinghouse apparently has a hold-up with the center where the point guard re-took a standardized test in June.

Ticket Deals: UT athletic director Mike Hamilton promised more affordability in the 300 level, and he delivered with a plan that costs $154 for a side court upper-level seat that includes 16 home games and two exhibition games.

A "Family Plan'' season-ticket package is also available in the upper level, where four season tickets may be purchased for $320.

Currie said fans interested in the upper-level seats can actually view and select their seats when purchasing online.

Tickets for the two preseason NIT games and the Oklahoma State game in Nashville may be purchased separately on UTsports.com.

Worth Noting: Kentucky has 12 nationally televised games in all and LSU has six. Florida and the rest of the SEC have yet to release their schedules... Previously, the most national television appearances the Vols had scheduled was seven, during the 2000-01 season. ... Currie said single-game tickets will not go on sale until October. ... The Bruce Pearl television show will be shown by WBIR on Saturday afternoons starting in January.

... WVLT-TV has the rights to the Lincoln-Financial regional games.