Jerry Lucas tells Vols to get M-A-D

Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl bounded into his office excitedly Monday afternoon after the Vols completed the first day of individual workouts.

"Do you know who came here today? Jerry Lucas!'' Pearl said, clearly starstruck. "The Jerry Lucas. He came in halfway through our last individual workout session, and I just canceled everything. I said, 'we're done, get everyone out of the weight room, too, and bring them up here to listen to this man.' ''

Lucas, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and recognized as one of the top 50 NBA players of all-time, was still in Knoxville after a weekend with Grace Baptist Church, Pearl said.

"He's a guy who averaged 20 points and 20 rebounds per game for four straight (NBA) seasons, and he won championships at every level: high school (Middletown, Ohio), NCAA (Ohio State), NBA (New York Knicks) and even a gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

"It's just ridiculous what he did; I told the guys, 'you're looking at yesterday's Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.' He was also Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year (1961).''

Pearl said he enjoyed hearing Lucas talk to the Vols about being "M-A-D.''

"He said think about when you're playing and you get mad, you need to Make A Decision to Make A Difference,'' Pearl said, explaining the acronym. "He also talked about work ethic and being a team player. It was just a great message to our kids.''

Pearl said Lucas had seen the Vols play in the NCAA tournament against Ohio State and remembered the good job UT junior Wayne Chism did against Greg Oden, an eventual No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

Pearl said all of the players got their weightlifting work done Monday, and the team will be back on schedule today.

"Me and my assistants won't be back on the road (recruiting) until Sept. 9, so our focus is to spend as much time with our players as possible,'' Pearl said. "So tomorrow morning (today) at 6:30 I'll be with them on The Hill.''

The players run The Hill outside of Neyland Stadium as part of their offseason supervised conditioning workouts.

Pearl said that freshman Scotty Hopson went through his individual workout without event after suffering a slightly sprained ankle at the adidas Nations function in Dallas two weeks ago.

J.P. Prince, who underwent shoulder surgery in April, has been cleared to begin his individual workouts today. Senior forward Ryan Childress remains sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury.

Lofton Leaving: Former UT All-American Chris Lofton is on the verge of leaving for Turkey, where he will play basketball this season.

"I'm just happy to be playing professionally,'' Lofton said. "I'm just waiting on my passport.''

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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