Old Spice will make Pearl sweat

Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl said the draw for the Old Spice Classic is not one he’ll give thanks for when his team hits the court to play on Thanksgiving Day.

The Vols open the tournament in Lake Buena Vista Fla, at noon, Thursday, Nov. 27, (ESPN2) against Siena. The teams meet at the “Milk House” at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in the first round of the eight-team tournament.

The winner of the Vols’ game plays the winner of the Georgetown-Wichita State game at 1 p.m. Friday (ESPN), while the losers meet at 10:30 a.m. Friday (ESPNU). The tournament concludes with four games on Sunday, the championship set for 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2).

The other first-round games are: Michigan State vs. Maryland and Oklahoma State vs. Gonzaga.

“There really isn’t a good draw out there, but there’s three things about this match up with Siena,’’ Pearl said. “Siena just drilled Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament, they have six seniors coming back, and their conference (Metro Atlantic) is the host of this tournament.’’

Pearl has done his homework; Metro Atlantic representative Marist topped Minnesota in the first round of the tourney two years ago en route to a third-place finish and Rider upset Penn State last year.

Ironically, Pearl was sitting in the same gym the tournament will take place in watching a 17-under AAU tournament when he heard about the draw Tuesday. Pearl said Siena coach Fran McCaffery was also in attendance, but he had no plans to talk to him about the match up.

There probably isn’t a whole lot Pearl could say about the match up to McCaffery, who in three years has turned the Siena program around. The Saints beat Vanderbilt by an 83-62 count in the first round of last year’s NCAA tourney before falling to Villanova (84-72) in the second round.

Siena beat eventual Sweet 16 finisher Stanford 79-67 and Western Athletic Conference champ Boise State 93-70 in a bracket buster game during the regular season.

“We will be playing a very experienced team in Siena,’’ Pearl said. “I know I have made it hard on us this season with the schedule, because I’m sure at times our team will show its youth.’’

Pearl has said throughout the offseason that this year’s Vols’ team is talented, but with five freshmen and a junior college transfer, the Vols’ youth and inexperience will make it challenging to play well consistently.

Tennessee plays exhibition games at Thompson-Boling Arena against Indianapolis (Nov. 3 ) and Tusculum (Nov. 7) before opening the regular season with home games against UT-Chattanooga (Nov. 15) and UT-Martin (Nov. 18). A trip to play at Middle Tennessee State follows (Nov. 21) before the Vols head to the Orlando area for the holiday tournament.

“You look at that next round of the (Old Spice) tournament, and obviously we have a history with Wichita State,’’ Pearl said. “Not only did they beat us in the second round of the NCAA Tournament three years ago, but their coach is Gregg Marshall, who was the Winthrop coach when we played them in the first round, so there are reminders of that Greensboro (N.C.) trip.

“Georgetown is one of the most talented teams in the country; we tried to schedule them last year.’’

Pearl said he’ll approach the Old Spice Classic as though it were the beginning of the NCAA tournament. With the caliber of teams — seven of the eight played in the postseason, five in the NCAA tournament, and two in the Sweet 16 -- that might not be such a stretch.

“You look at this and say, `let’s see if we can get to the Elite Eight,’ ” Pearl said. “It’s a field that, in three days, you can really find out a lot about your club.

“If you aren’t playing well, there’s no place to hide.’’

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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