Griffith: Memory is motivation for Vols

Remember the Alamo?

Tennessee mens basketball coach Bruce Pearl does, and so it is that Remember the Alamo is the teams official offseason slogan, to the point of being printed on the teams weightlifting T-Shirts.

Pearl wants his team to remember how hard they worked to reach the Sweet 16 in San Antonio, how free-throw shooting (8-of-17) led to a one-point loss to Ohio State, and how the team must improve to get back there.

San Antonio, of course, is the site of this years Final Four.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Or should we?

With the addition of transfers Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince, its hard for Tennessee fans not to believe the Vols are a national-championship contender.

While its true that departed senior Dane Bradshaw was the glue that held UT together the past two years, it would seem the versatility and talent of Smith and Prince could act as cement.

There are two obvious road blocks: Team chemistry and free-throw shooting.

Pearl doesnt seem too worried about the chemistry.

I have spent the majority of my time at the top of the leagues, and you have to manage the talent, said Pearl, the third winningest active collegiate coach. This is the deepest, most talented roster weve had, but that doesnt mean it will be the best team.

So how to sort it all out? Who starts? Whos first in off the bench? How do the minutes shake out?

Many of our guys are very interchangeable, Pearl said. As far as who plays and what roles, these guys will make all the decisions for me. Theyll make those decisions in the classroom.

Theres going to be some really tough calls. Well, guess what? Ill play the better student.

Seems simple enough.

As for the Vols well-documented free throw woes, that has proved to be more challenging for Pearl.

Through two games of Pilot Rocky Top League action, current Tennessee players have combined to make 57 of 108 free throws, which translates to a .528 shooting percentage.

Perhaps no one in the league is taking the free throws seriously, you might say.

The numbers suggest otherwise: The rest of the league has combined to make 79 of 116 — .681.

Unacceptable, Pearl said, clearly frustrated.

The Tennessee players have been shooting a minimum of 250 per week under Pearls direction. That number has gone up since Pearl has heard of his teams embarrassing Rocky Top League woes.

Im glad our free-throw percentages are pointed out publicly, Pearl said. It puts us on notice its a weakness.

Remember the Alamo?

Pilot Rocky Top League Honors: Chris Lofton was PRTL player of the week for week one. Lofton, who leads the league in scoring with a 40 points per game average and is second with 13 3-pointers through two games. Lofton led Toyota of Knoxville to a 120-110 win over the News Sentinel on Wednesday without having Dane Bradshaw at his side.

Toyota of Knoxvilles Rick Campbell is an easy pick for coach of the week after his team emerged as the leagues only undefeated squad through week one.

Campbell, who was an assistant coach at Lincoln Memorial, is a middle school math teacher in Hancock County.

League Records: Loftons 48 points set a standard, while JaJuan Smith canned a record 11 3-pointers in a game.

Quotable: Us old dogs need to show the young pups some new tricks. We want to pass the torch. — former UT player Ron Slay.