No Tennessee in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Top 25 men's basketball poll?

No problem, says UT coach Bruce Pearl. The Vols (10-2) have won six in a row with victories over Memphis, Western Kentucky, Oklahoma State and Texas in that stretch.

"We're 26th (in the coaches' poll) and 21 (in The Associated Press poll), so it's six of one, half-dozen of the other,'' said Pearl. "Polls don't mean as much for basketball as they do in football, and they mean absolutely nothing at this point of the season.''

Still, it has to be tough for Vols' fans to see Memphis (9-3) -- a team the Vols handled 76-58 in Knoxville on Dec. 6 -- ranked No. 23 in the coaches' poll.

Tennessee senior Dane Bradshaw said the rankings caught the players' attention, if not the head coach's.

"We're a little upset about the USA Today rankings, but at the same time we realize the RPI ratings are the most important thing when it comes to the (NCAA tournament) seedings,'' said Bradshaw, who took part in the team's return to the practice court Tuesday night. "We're not offended by the polls because we dug ourselves a hole (with loses in the NIT Preseason Tip-Off to Butler and North Carolina) and didn't take advantage of our preseason ranking.

"I think consistency in the program is a huge factor, so we need to play well this week. It's part of the growing process, and now we'll use the poll for motivation.''

As Bradshaw alluded, UT is sitting pretty in the most recent RPI, ranked 14th through games played on Dec. 23.

RPI is computerized "rating percentage index" that figures strength of schedule, results and other factors.

Kentucky (No. 8) is the only SEC team rated higher than the Vols in the RPI. Tennessee's strength of schedule is rated the 27th-most difficult in the nation.

UT also is getting props from ESPN, which named junior Chris Lofton as its national player of the week after his 20-point effort against Oklahoma State and career-high 35 points against Texas.

"No lead is safe with this guy,'' ESPN.com analyst Andy Katz wrote.

Lofton's reaction to winning the award?

"That's great,'' Lofton said, "but it's in one ear and out the other.''

Katz is a believer in UT's basketball program.

"When Pearl talked about the Volunteers being an NCAA bubble team, he clearly was snowing us,'' Katz wrote. "This squad already has wins over Memphis, Oklahoma State and Texas. A major collapse is all that could prevent Pearl from taking the Vols back to the tourney in his second season in Knoxville.''

Pearl said the Vols need to take care of business in home games against Tennessee Tech on Thursday and East Tennessee State on Saturday to ensure that doesn't happen.

"These are two trap games for us,'' Pearl said. "Both of these teams are going to come in here and play with a lot of passion.''

Daily Dane: Bradshaw is often kidded about the amount of attention and detail his injuries receive, first the wrist ligaments last year, this year the shoulder tendinitis. It's best to cover his Saturday ailments as "flu-like symptoms'' without greater detail.

"He had an I.V. before the game and at halftime,'' Pearl said. "I, myself, can't believe how little Dane played in the second half and overtime. No one was in need of this (Christmas) break more than Dane.''

Bradshaw, who played seven of the 25 minutes of the second half and overtime period of the 111-105 win over Texas, said he was proud to watch the team perform without him.

"There was no question in my mind this team could be successful without me on the court,'' Bradshaw said. "Think about it, that was the future of the program and next year's team out there. It was fun to watch the growth of those great young players.''

RPI Numbers: The Vols have played five teams in the RPI top 50: Butler (4), North Carolina (6), Oklahoma State (11), Memphis (23) and Western Kentucky (46).

UT has five more teams in the RPI top 50 on their schedule: Kentucky (8), Alabama (25), Ohio State (27), Arkansas (33) and South Carolina (39).

Notice anyone missing? Florida is 55th, LSU is 70th and Texas is 75th. It's a good bet all three will see their RPI increase dramatically once conference play begins.

Howell Update: Junior point guard Jordan Howell said he'll soon go for a new batch of X-rays on the broken bone in his right hand.

"I talked to them and they said I could maybe start playing again around the end of January,'' said Howell, who ran steps in Thompson-Boling Arena throughout practice and continued to work with his left hand. "It stinks not being able to be out there.''

Lottery Picks: In addition to playing some of the best teams in the country (UT's schedule features half of last year's Elite 8), the Vols are playing the top players.

ESPN.com's Fran Fraschilla said Ohio State's Greg Oden and Texas' Kevin Durant are "locks'' to be the top two players chosen in the NBA draft. Fraschilla also wrote in his ESPN notes column that Florida could have four first-round NBA picks. The Vols already faced North Carolina, which features potential first-round NBA picks Brandan Wright and Tyler Hansbrough.