Asumnu is back playing hoops

Diving for loose balls, battling on the boards, pressing and playing defense

Stanley Asumnu looks more like a player trying to make the Tennessee basketball team in the Pilot Rocky Top League than one who left it a season ago.

Everyones telling me I look like I havent lost a step, and that makes me feel great, said Asumnu, whos averaging 18.5 points per game while shooting at a .545 clip from the floor. Im really happy to be back playing, because basketball is where my hearts at.

Asumnu is so happy, in fact, that hes changed his professional aspirations back to basketball after a one-year experiment in football.

Now, if someone calls me to go to an NFL training camp in July or wants to work me out, Ill go, Asumnu said. But I think I have a better chance with basketball because of the time Ive spent playing it and the connections that I have.

Asumnu said hes still not yet back into basketball shape, but he can definitely see where his year with the Vols football program helped him.

The conditioning of the two sports is totally different, Asumnu said. In football, you run for 10 or 12 seconds, and then you get a break.

Basketball, its up and down and up and down and up and down without rest.

Asumnu said five minutes into his first Pilot Rocky Top League game, he was ready for a break.

Thats something that had never happened before, he said. But in another way, having been out for a year, I feel fresh and anxious to get back into the basketball grind.

Asumnu said he has no regrets about his football experience, even though the UT coaches were unable to make use of his athleticism.

Football tested my mental toughness, and it has made me bigger and stronger, Asumnu said. Im proud I was able to withstand the whole year and compete and battle.

Now, Asumnu is battling alongside JaJuan Smith and Wayne Chism for the Kingston Alley team, which despite its 1-1 record remains among the league favorites with Jalen Rose, of the NBAs Phoenix Suns, expected to join the team next week.

Injury Update: Ryan Childress said the strained tendons in his ankle have forced him to miss five weeks of offseason conditioning, but he anticipates playing in the PRTL the first week of July.

Jordan Howell missed opening night because he was sick, but he showed no after-effects Wednesday, pouring in 30 points — 24 coming on eight 3-pointers — in First Tennessees last-second win over SunTrust.

Great Dane: Dane Bradshaw missed Wednesday nights game to return to Memphis in preparation for his one-week trip to Frankfurt, Germany, for a European League evaluation.

Bradshaw said he wouldnt return to the league until July.