Tennessee's men are ranked 25th in the Associated Press preseason basketball poll released Monday.

Vols' coach Bruce Pearl said the ranking "is a great honor for the team,'' but it was obvious after Monday's practice that the poll is the furthest thing from his mind.

Pearl, virtually always upbeat and confident, was in an extremely rare mode of distress following practice.

"We've got such a long ways to go,'' Pearl said. "There is so much to learn and so little experience. We're not the 25th-best team in the country -- not even close.''

Pearl said he's not down on his players because the effort and intensity is there.

"I just have so much to throw at them,'' Pearl said. "We know so little about our opponent (Middle Tennessee State, 7:30 p.m. Friday); I guess it's a fear of the unknown.''

Upperclassmen Dane Bradshaw and Chris Lofton shared their coach's concern and had the same air of trepidation about them.

"That poll means nothing because we aren't there yet,'' Lofton said. "I need to do a better job of speaking up; I need to tell (the freshmen) it's not going to be easy. It's not fun and games, it's serious, and we have to get better each and every day.''

Pearl classified Monday's practice as "bad'' despite his team's effort.

"There's so many new guys,'' he said. "We spent some time on defensive fundamentals, and you do that at the expense of your team stuff. Our defensive fundamentals are so lacking. We are not well-coached yet.''

Powerful words from Pearl, but having won 20 or more games in 13 of his 14 years as a head coach, it's safe to say Pearl knows where these Vols need to be if they are to follow suit.

And the head coach and upperclassmen don't believe they are there yet.

"We need to take the approach that we aren't in the top 25, because nothing has been proven yet or established,'' Bradshaw said. "I think our freshmen are mature enough not to pay attention to that number.''

But do the freshmen realize Middle Tennessee could upset them in Friday's home opener , or that first-round NIT teams Fordham, Belmont or North Carolina-Wilmington could beat them in Nashville next week and cost them a trip to New York?

They'd better, Lofton said.

"You've got to know you can lose at any given time,'' he said. "If we lost one of those games, that would be the worst feeling.''

Pearl might have considered that very same feeling after watching his team's disappointing execution Monday.

"We get a lot out of playing at our tempo, and any time you get 36 turnovers and 20 steals you know they're playing hard,'' said Pearl, whose team did just that in a 100-57 exhibition win over Division II Tusculum on Friday night. "But we're not going to be able to rely on that (press) against some teams.

"As long as the players are willing to continue to practice hard and get better, we've got a chance.''

Jordan's Dilemma: Junior point guard Jordan Howell spent the offseason working harder than ever, and the results of his work were impressive in preseason workouts.

But the broken bone Howell suffered in his right hand on Oct. 5 continues to be a problem.

"The hand got banged again on Saturday, and it hurt so bad he got X-rays again,'' Pearl said. "The X-rays were negative, but he's still dealing with a great deal of pain.''

Pearl said following Friday's exhibition game that either Howell or freshman Marques Johnson would not be in the Vols' 10-man rotation the early part of the season.

Howell said he's not sure if he should continue to try to play through the pain, and potentially prolong the healing process, or rest the recovering hand and return full-bore at a later date.

Center Spot: Pearl said he hasn't decided who will start at center, freshman Duke Crews or freshman Wayne Chism.

"It might be a deal where we rotate them in the starting lineup,'' Pearl said. "It really doesn't matter. They are both good, and they'll both play a lot.''

Wingate Update: Former center Major Wingate is expected to arrive in Turkey today where he'll have a 72-hour tryout with a Turkish league team.

Wingate left Makedonikos Kozani, the team he played for in Greece, over financial matters. Wingate was averaging 13 points per game.

Former Vol Marcus Haislip also plays in the Turkish league.