The Tennessee men’s basketball team suffered a major loss when senior center Major Wingate was dismissed from the team last week.

Not only was Wingate one of the most popular players with fans and teammates, he brought a physical presence to a front line chock full of youth.

So how does UT coach Bruce Pearl replace a 6-foot-10, 245-pounder with three years of SEC experience?

The answer, of course, is he can’t.

That means a huge chunk out of Pearl’s 2006-07 playbook will be missing.

"It hurts our front line, and that’s not good against some of the teams we play outside the conference and division,’’ Pearl said. "Gate was able to negate players like Randolph Morris, Jermareo Davidson and Glen Davis. None of them really had big games last year against us, but now they might be more apt to.’’

Don’t get Pearl wrong, he has plenty of confidence that Wayne Chism (6-foot-9, 240) and Duke Crews (6-7, 235) will mature into great players while Dane Bradshaw (6-4) has proven his worth on the front line and Ryan Childress (6-8, 240) has enjoyed a tremendous offseason.

But ask yourself this: Right here, right now, who would you take in a 3-on-3 game between Wingate, Andre Patterson and Stanley Asumnu vs. Chism, Crews and Tony Passley?

That’s essentially the front line tradeoff that’s taking place.

Furthermore, Pearl’s plans to show Tennessee fans a few more of his coaching tricks likely will be on hold until the Vols can land another dominant big man.

With players like J.J. Hickson (6-9, 230) and Mac Koshwal (6-8, 230) looking UT’s way — both were on campus this weekend on official visits — that might not be too far off.

"I was looking to do something a little different because we had legitimate size,’’ Pearl said. "Now, we’ll play a similar hand to last year.’’

That means an undersized front line, an uptempo offense, and shallow depth on the front line.

Pearl said opponents will have a better idea of what to expect from the Vols.

Florida coach Billy Donovan might even figure out it’s not a good idea to run with UT.

"Just like an offensive or defensive coordinator in football, you want to throw some wrinkles out there,’’ Pearl said. "Our wrinkles will be our new players.’’

Problem is, those new players will not only be asked to step up — they’ll need to step up big, quite literally.

Chism, once projected to play power forward, becomes a center. Crews, who could have created match up problems at small forward, becomes a power forward. Childress, expected to work his way into more minutes, gets thrown into the fire. Bradshaw, who had hoped to play some guard, winds up battling big men again, and Passley goes from being a matchup problem at shooting guard to a small forward.

"Obviously, Major’s situation is unfortunate for us, but his misfortune is another individual’s opportunity,’’ UT associate head coach Tony Jones said. "It’s an opportunity for our young guys to step up and garner more time, more leadership responsibilities and more of the production load on offense and defense.

"As a team, we’ll miss Major. But our coaching staff believes in the talent we have right now, and we’re looking forward to competing against this schedule.’’

Indeed, Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith, and Jordan Howell are one year older, stronger and better.

Freshmen guards Marques Johnson and Ramar Smith will add dimensions not seen in a UT backcourt in years while the injured Josh Tabb remains a bit of a mystery.

At 6-6, Johnson can play both guard positions and small forward.

As for Ramar Smith, he might fill C.J. Watson’s shoes faster than expected at the point, particularly in the scoring column.

All is certainly not lost, but it’s going to take another synergetic effort from Pearl and his Vols to win the SEC East and advance in the NCAA tournament this season.

Mike Griffith covers University of Tennessee men’s basketball. He may be reached at knsgriff@aol.com.