To every thing, there is a season.

Connecting with tradition and building on history has been Bruce Pearl's agenda ever since the day he was hired as Tennessee's basketball coach.

But connecting with Tennessee's postseason history isn't such a hot idea.

That's why Pearl was smart to change his tune Sunday at the NCAA tournament bracket gathering.

By the time the team, media and invited fans gathered at Neyland Stadium, his message had already been implanted in his team:

Forget history. Live in the moment.

"I want to take that burden off them,'' Pearl said. "We're not responsible for the past, but we are for the present.''

The present is shaped like an opportunity.

Despite a one-and-done exit at the SEC tournament, the NCAA selection committee gave the Vols a respectable seed (5), a desirable destination (Columbus) and, best of all, a winnable four-team bracket (Long Beach State, Virginia, Albany)

"The committee had our back,'' said junior JaJuan Smith. "They put us where we wanted to go and now we've just got to make something happen.''

Ah, there's the rub.

Tennessee's postseason history is, as Pearl alluded, a burden.

You can bring Bernard King or Ray Mears or Allan Houston back to a regular-season game and enjoy a great moment at Thompson-Boling Arena.

What NCAA tournament memory do you bring back?

Squeaking past Delaware only to get humiliated by Southwest Missouri State?

An injured King in street clothes watching a first-round loss to VMI?

Blowing a Sweet 16 lead against North Carolina?

"So much of our postseason history isn't positive," Pearl said.

"I want to look at Long Beach State, not what coach Mears did. I want to look at Virginia and Albany, not what Ernie Grunfeld did or didn't do.''

Tennessee's forlorn postseason history is largely inherited. However, the Pearl era has contributed its own regrets.

There have been two early exits at the SEC tournament and a failure to capitalize on a favorable NCAA scenario last year in Greensboro.

As a No. 2 seed, the Vols survived 15-seed Winthrop on Chris Lofton's buzzer-beating shot and then lost to No. 8 seed Wichita State.

"There were a lot of ifs and buts going on in our heads at the time we lost that second game,'' said Smith.

The Vols had a bit of the just-happy-to-be-here syndrome last year.

It was the first postseason exposure for any of them, coming at the end of a giddy season.

"It was just a new experience,'' said senior Dane Bradshaw, "and you can't have a substitute for that, as best as you try to stay level and stay grounded.''

The main thing that got grounded was UT's projected advance toward the Sweet 16.

"All the guys who return,'' said junior Jordan Howell, "realize we missed a golden opportunity.

"Coach Pearl is trying to tell us to put all that behind us because we've got a great opportunity in front of us right now.''

The losses to Wichita, or Southwest Missouri State or VMI?

Erase the tape.

SEC tournament fizzles?

Flush it.

A 16-0 home-court record this year? Thrilling wins over Texas, Oklahoma State and Florida?

It got you a No. 5 seed but it won't get a single rebound against Long Beach. Clear the decks.

All that matters now is a four-team tournament, Tennessee, Long Beach State, Virginia and Albany.

"And one of those teams is going to the Sweet 16,'' said Pearl.

"I want these kids to live in the moment.''

At Tennessee, living in the moment is the smart play.