Giving Pearl his due

The Vols won the SEC East, finished 22-8 and Pearl earned Sporting News Coach of the Year along with SEC Coach of the Year from The Associated Press.

So what does the league think of him now?

Pearl showed he's still a media darling at SEC Basketball Media Days in Birmingham. Ala., last week, at one point saying to the horde of media surrounding him: "You guys need to move on to another table and talk to somebody else, or I'm gonna catch a lot of (junk) for this later!''

Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, who appeared irritated by all of the attention Pearl received last season, was full of smiles and good will for the media this time around.

Smith did his best to be complimentary of the Vols, and said he understands the excitement Pearl has generated in Knoxville.

"When you haven't done it in a while, that's the case,'' said Smith, who in what Wildcats' fans considered an off year won just as many games and went just as far in the NCAA tournament as UT. "Not that we're not appreciated for what we've done, but when it happens for someone else and it hasn't been a normal occurrence, you should throw a parade.''

The underlying message from Smith seems clear: Enjoy it while you can, UT fans.

Florida's Billy Donovan, who needed to win a national championship to replace Pearl in the spotlight, paid lip service to UT's accomplishments -- so long as the Vols don't get too carried away with their sweep of the Gators.

"More so than any team we played against, we had two fluke plays coming down the stretch,'' Donovan said. "I give Tennessee kids credit because they made plays that needed to be made.

"But there's nothing I would say we would do differently. It was two good teams going against each other and both came down to the wire.''

SEC dignitaries C.M. Newton, Sonny Smith and Eddie Fogler are quite complimentary of Pearl's coaching skills, but each man, in his own way, cautioned things might not be as easy the second time around.

"Last year his system was incredibly effective,'' said Fogler, a former coach at Wichita State, Vanderbilt and South Carolina turned TV analyst. "It's an excellent system. It's exciting. It's great for the fans, and it's great for recruiting.

"I do think though, as teams play against it more, they should get better at it, particularly the teams in the East that play them twice.''

Fogler said the more he faced Rick Pitino's system at Kentucky, the better his teams played the Wildcats.

Further, Fogler said, history suggests the Vols will struggle with younger players.

"You show me a team that plays a lot of freshmen, I'll show you a team that typically will have a lot of struggles,'' said Fogler, who was the Associated Press' national Coach of the Year in 1993 while at Vanderbilt. "The other side of that, I saw Bruce's team early last year and I didn't know if they could make the NIT.

"He's obviously a great teacher, and it's obvious the kids enjoy playing for him and playing the system.''

Newton, who at this same event last year projected Pearl would have great success, said UT fans need to be reasonable with their expectations.

"Bruce lost his best inside player and he lost his best point guard,'' said Newton, who won 340 games coaching at Vanderbilt and Alabama, third on the SEC's all-time list. "The key word for the Tennessee program is patience. They've got to give this team a chance to grow.''

Newton said Pearl's system will continue to be effective, particularly now that Pearl has depth.

"Here's the danger of playing against it: Are you willing to play as many people as Bruce is willing to play?'' he said. "It's a 40-minute game, and fatigue sets in. The fact Bruce didn't have nine or 10 players last year caught up with him; they were dead-legged at the end of last season.''

Smith is a big fan of Pearl's offense as well as his defense.

"Their spread is so hard to guard,'' said Smith, a two-time SEC Coach of the Year who led Auburn to conference title in 1985. "If you've got people that can make the three, and anybody that can do anything off the dribble to create two men on the ball or create mismatches, they can have the same success.

"The real key for them is can they rebound. I thought that would be a problem last year.''

Smith said Pearl's coaching ability can overcome some of the team's physical shortcomings.

"Major (Wingate) was a major loss, but with him Bruce showed what he could do with players,'' Smith said. "He took a player that was doing zero and turned him into a factor. Bruce is good at fitting players into his system.''

And, Smith said, Pearl impressed him with his recruiting.

"People always say the best basketball player in Tennessee are out of Memphis,'' Smith said. "That doesn't make a difference when you can go to Virginia and get the best player there, Duke Crews.

"I think Bruce is the real deal, myself, and I think he'll be consistent.''

SEC commissioner Mike Slive said he has an appreciation for what Pearl has done on and off the court.

"His personality reflects his style of play: energetic, exciting, optimistic and upbeat,'' Slive said. "I told Bruce when he came in the league that I didn't want him to change his style of play because I thought it would be helpful for the league to have a team that runs.

"We don't need him to change his personality, either.''