Throwback Week has arrived for SEC men's basketball. Make that the rest of SEC basketball.

It's been going on all season at Tennessee.

For the coming week's games, SEC teams will wear "throwback" uniforms from days of yore. They also will do so at the SEC tournament in Nashville.

Not bothering with the old-time uniforms, the Vols jumped the gun under first-year coach Bruce Pearl, creating a buzz that has rarely been seen since the heyday of coach Ray Mears three decades ago.

Their 10-1 SEC record going into Saturday's visit to Alabama (4 p.m., TV: WVLT) is the program's best conference start since 1976-77.

Fittingly, UT selected the uniforms from the 1970s to wear during Throwback Week at Alabama and Florida and at home against Arkansas.

The promotion is sure to get the league some attention on ESPN and wherever highlights are shown. It's also sure to sell some $70 throwback jerseys.

"Anything we can do to draw attention to the SEC and the history of the SEC is the right thing to do,'' South Carolina coach Dave Odom said.

Each school selected the era from which to throw back. The Vols, not surprisingly, chose the look from the Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King days.

"Actually,'' said Pearl, "it reminds you of Lady Vol colors. There's some light blue in there which we haven't had (in the men's uniforms) in a long time.''

Senior Andre Patterson dubbed the Vols' throwback look "sweet'' in giving two thumbs up.

"Nice color,'' he said. "They've got a little bit of the girl color in them with the baby blue and the orange.''

The coaches would have a mass mutiny on their hands if they went faithfully retro and copied the short shorts of yesteryear.

"Can you imagine Glen Davis in hot pants?'' said LSU coach John Brady.

No, we couldn't.

"They're knee high,'' said Patterson of UT's shorts. "You can't get into that much retro. They ain't going to try to show these legs.''

For the Arkansas game on Feb. 25, UT has invited players from the 1970s to return. Fans are encouraged to wear an orange tie in honor of the Orange Tie Club started by Mears.

There also will be a display of 1970s memorabilia on the concourse at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Gottfried Factor: The NCAA win over Alabama last March by Wisconsin-Milwaukee helped position Pearl to get the UT job. But it wasn't the first time Alabama coach Mark Gottfried influenced Pearl's career.

Still at Southern Indiana, Pearl was involved in the Middle Tennessee State job search in 1996. He said a big factor in not taking the job was playing in the Ohio Valley Conference with Gottfried.

"Mark had a great team at Murray State,'' Pearl said, "a team I didn't think anybody in the Valley could beat.

"And knowing the OVC was probably only going to get one (NCAA bid), it was a real factor with me at Middle. I stayed away from it because of Mark.''

Gottfried got the Alabama job in 1999, two years before Pearl moved on to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Matador Defense: Seeing offensively challenged Auburn shred UT's half-court defense in the second half of Wednesday's 105-89 win was disconcerting.

The Tigers came in averaging 58 points a game in SEC play, but scored 64 points in the second half on the Vols while hitting 24 of 36 shots.

Several Vols dismissed it Thursday as an aberration in a game the Vols knew they had in hand.

"What it all boils down to,'' said C.J. Watson, "is we can stop people if we want to.''

Patterson noted that the Vols scored 63 points in the half and shot 64 percent.

"I've never seen two teams not missing a shot like that,'' he said. "There won't be too many games like that.''

Brother Act: The brotherly battle between Jordan Howell of UT and Brett Howell of Auburn on Wednesday was rare but not unprecedented.

Reader Michael Splinter pointed out that it wasn't even the first brother battle involving those two schools.

In 1970-71, Jimmy England of UT played twice against brother Gary England of Auburn. Jimmy, a senior star, outscored Gary, a sophomore reserve, 44-0, as the Vols won both games.

The brothers were from Knoxville's Holston High School. Gary went on to become a captain at Auburn.