What do you get when you put six new players on a college basketball team?

A whole lot of fun.

And "fun" is a great thing to associate with sports for a change.

This past week, Vol fans were reminded just how lucky they are that all those post-Buzz rumors about Bobby Knight coming to Knoxville were nothing more than just that - rumors.

Bruce Pearl has turned into ESPN's Dr. Feelgood and Mr. Soundbite, all in one high-energy, sweat-drenched package.

Knight? Well, he's still a bully that brings negative attention to his school and his sport.

There are plenty of bad stories like Knight's out there to cover. There also are some good stories, but just by the nature of fandom, many fans don't allow themselves to enjoy them.

Take UT football, for example.

A couple of years ago, I asked Big Orange super fan David Keith to make a guest appearance on my television show. This was when the show aired on Saturday mornings before UT football games, rather than in our current Sunday morning timeslot.

Keith politely declined, telling me that he gets too keyed up to be making any public appearances before UT football games.

"My knuckles are white, my teeth are clinched. Tennessee football is way too important to be enjoyed," he said.

Now I couldn't be certain over the phone, but I'm pretty sure I heard him ram his head into a locker at that point.

And he's not the only one. I would say that the majority of UT football fans take gridiron escapades so seriously that they really can't enjoy it purely as a game.

"I enjoy it in my own way," they would say.

That way often includes yelling at referees, fretting about pollsters and computer rankings, unearthing every possible slight delivered by the media, and just generally worrying about the next game. Even before the current game is finished.

Where's the fun in that? (And I know what I'm talking about. I'm a Braves fan, which until this year meant ruining 95-win seasons by dreading the inevitable October fold.)

But the fact that so many people see UT football as life or death, and the fact that there are so many crummy stories out there to cover, well, that's why I'm so looking forward to covering this year's UT basketball team. This team is about fun.

It has to be. Anyone who turns such a youthful basketball team into a life or death situation will be spending an awful lot of their time dead.

This team will frustrate the devil out of you. Youth does that. Ask my parents.

But watching these guys grow into a team will be the most exciting thing to hit a UT basketball court since the late days of Ray Mears and the early days of Don DeVoe.

You'll shout, "what was he thinking," as Ramar Smith tries a behind-the-back pass that sails hopelessly into Section 114.

You'll whine, "why did he do that," when Duke Crews (and the goatee he's borrowed from the Duke Blue Devils mascot) drives the lane over four opposing players and gets called for an obvious charge.

But it won't matter. Because the talent of Smith and Crews and Josh Tabb and Marques Johnson and Wayne Chism and Tony Passley (and even the re-sculpted Ryan Childress) will be clearly evident.

Watching this year's basketball team will be like watching a child learn to walk. Toddlers know what they want to do. They just can't quite tell their bodies how to do it.

So they bump their noggins a time or two. It's still fun to watch those first bumbling steps. Because you know they'll eventually get there.

Trust me, Pearl's second team will fall head-first like a toddler on more than a few occasions. But once their brains catch up to their bodies? In the words of The Steve Miller Band, "ooh lawd." This looks like it's going to be one high-flying bunch.

There was a time when UT couldn't string together three consecutive victories against Catawba, LMU and the University of Corryton at Rutledge Pike.

This year, young as they are, they're already 3-0 and headed to New York along with teams like North Carolina and Gonzaga.

But this isn't just about wins. It's about athletic newcomers. Pearl's high-pressure scheme and ringmaster marketing. A homecourt advantage. JaJuan Smith's defense. Chris Lofton's new Popeye-esque arms. Dane Bradshaw's same old everything.

Sloppy, out-of-control, and inexperienced also will apply. But fun is the operative word.

Even fire-eating fans like Keith would agree with that. F-U-N.

John Pennington hosts The Hall's Salvage Sports Source on Sunday at 11 a.m. on WATE.