Strange: Summer night's dream

On a mid-June Monday evening, the bleachers at Bearden High School were filled with the afflicted.

They came, they tried to find a parking place and then they sweated.

They came to see the past, present and future of Tennessee basketball mingle in something called the Pilot Rocky Top League.

"This is what we envisioned,'' said Bruce Pearl, posted up on the baseline, surveying a packed house.

"The kids were balling, the fans were jamming and the place was hopping.''

Before some Vanderbilt fan phones the NCAA to report Pearl for a violation, let the record note he was only present to watch the second of three games, which is kosher because his son Steven was playing.

"And I'm not going to get thrown out of the gym,'' quipped Pearl.

So, a packed house in June for essentially a pick-up game with referees and a scoreboard. And did we mention no air conditioning?

It's all Pearl's doing, of course.

A local fellow named Andre Whitehead deserves the credit for putting together the nuts and bolts of the league, the rosters, the schedule, etc. But if Pearl doesn't light a fire under UT basketball over the past two years, who wants to come to Bearden in June and sweat out a summer-league game?

The concept was previously floated in the early 1990s at Austin-East High School. A few curious souls, myself included, went out one night to get a peek at ballyhooed signee Alonzo Johnson.

If you recall, the early '90s weren't exactly a zenith of UT basketball. Fittingly, the coveted Johnson looked like (and proved to be) a dud.

Forget duds. A couple of studs were strutting their stuff Monday night.

In the first game, incoming Vol transfers Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince put on a show in what amounted to their Knoxville public debuts.

"It's a good league,'' said Prince, "good competition. We enjoyed it.

"Get some air-conditioning, a couple extra cups of Gatorade on the bench and I'll be happy.''

I left at halftime of the second game, at which point the score was 80-something to 60-something. Team defense isn't prohibited per se, merely frowned upon.

Chris Lofton played the third game.

"It's better than I thought,'' Lofton said, looking around at the packed gym.

"I came in the parking lot and couldn't find nowhere to park so it's great to play in front of crowds like this.''

Better late than never, Pearl figured.

"Guys like Ron Slay, Vincent Yarbrough, if this was here, they may have made their home in Knoxville instead of Nashville or back down in Cleveland or Chattanooga,'' Pearl said.

Slay is one of a number of ex-Vols participating. Yarbrough is expected after the German league playoffs are over.

But the crowd in force to see the current Vols, all of whom are sprinkled among the six teams, as well as the immediate-future ones.

"Ask Tyler Smith what the Prime-Time League in Iowa City was like,'' Pearl said. "Every game is on statewide television.

"You mean to tell me if a cable company came in here and televised this, you couldn't sell advertising?

"You wouldn't have people all over the state dying to see J.P. and Tyler play? And see what (signees) Cameron (Tatum) and Brian (Williams) look like?''

"Look at this: We're in Knoxville, Tennessee, and this gym is full in the middle of the summer.''

If you will, a midsummer night's hoop dream.