Pennington: Pearl was at his best

Earlier this month, Bruce Pearl was featured on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” Andrea Kramer revealed, in the close to her report, that Pearl had told her he expects to hear from Indiana when the season ends.

(With Indiana being an Adidas school, like Tennessee, might a go-between have already tipped Pearl’s people to the Hoosiers’ interest?)

If and when Indiana does speak with Pearl, and if and when they do make an offer to him, forcing Tennessee to decide what to pay to keep him in Knoxville, the UT athletic hierarchy need remember only as far as Sunday afternoon to calculate Pearl’s value.

Tennessee’s win over Butler in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, in my opinion, might be Pearl’s best single game coaching job yet. Obviously, that’s saying quite a bit considering UT’s lightning quick turnaround under the man.

Sure the Vols were the higher seed. Yes, they had more athletes than Butler. But this game was dangerous with a capital D. And while the Vols’ last three games might have been graded “D” efforts, UT brought their “A” game out for the Bulldogs.

Tennessee has not looked like the Tennessee of early and mid-February these last few weeks. Perhaps they reached too many of their goals toward the end of the regular season. Perhaps success got to their heads for a brief period. Or maybe they now have a bigger target on their back.

Whatever the cause, things weren’t looking good in the SEC Tournament or against American U. in the first round of the NCAAs. And now Tennessee was having to face a Butler team that was ranked in the Top 12 and was the polar opposite of UT in terms of style of play.

Add to that a deteriorating situation at point guard and Sunday could very easily have been the Vols’ final fight of 2008. Ask fellow two seeds Duke and Georgetown.

But that’s where Pearl came in. Whether it was daring, desperation, or a little bit of both, his decision to place JP Prince into the starting line-up at point guard went from worry to wow in the span of 45 minutes. Not necessarily for Prince’s play at the point (which was solid until some late-game glitches), but due mainly to the fact that Prince is one of the Vols’ top five weapons. Getting him onto the court, at any position, was a good move.

Tennessee also turned in an improved performance on the defensive end, an area that had taken a late-season dip. Butler’s screens and cuts weren’t as effective against the Vols as they were last year in the pre-season NIT. They weren’t as effective as the screens and cuts that had gotten South Carolina, Arkansas and American so many wide open looks the past two weeks.

Tennessee’s scouting paid dividends as the Vols repeatedly read Butler’s plays before the Bulldogs ran them. Brian Williams and Tyler Smith had interceptions that rivaled the work of Eric Berry on the gridiron.

In addition, Tennessee showed a renewed interest in feeding the ball into the paint. That’s a good thing at tournament time. For one, it’s easier to stay hot from five feet than it is from 25. For another, Tyler Smith lurks inside there and anytime the ball is in his hands, good things seem to happen.

The Vols didn’t match their 83 points-per-game average and they certainly didn’t blow Butler out. But this was a return to the type of basketball Vol fans have seen for 95 percent of the 2007-2008 season.

Gritty, smart, athletic. Point guard by committee? Sure, they did that, too. And when the team needed a big bucket, a different person stepped up once again, this time one of the deposed point guards, Ramar Smith.

This was a brilliant job by the Vol coaches and it was an excellent effort by the Vol players.

Most importantly, the win versus Butler gets Tennessee to the “easier” part of their tourney run. Emphasis on run.

Louisville is a tremendous team (which blistered Oklahoma) and will give the Vols all they want. Get by the Cardinals and the reward will probably be a date with top-ranked, top-seeded North Carolina (which destroyed Arkansas).

But both of those teams would run with Tennessee. When teams run with Tennessee, you have to like the Vols’ chances.

American and Butler were the 63rd and 64th slowest teams in the entire tournament in terms of possessions per game (only Washington State is more deliberate on offense). That slow-down style doesn’t play to UT’s strengths.

When outside shots aren’t dropping, the Vols need to get points off of turnovers. American and Butler wouldn’t run, which meant less sloppiness, which meant fewer turnovers, which meant fewer fast break points for UT.

That won’t be the case with Louisville and North Carolina. One of those teams may well beat Tennessee, but it’ll be a fight more on the Volunteers’ terms.

That’s why, in the UNC-Washington State match-up, I think it’s actually best for Tennessee if the Tar Heels win. The Vols like the kind of game Carolina plays.

And the fact that we’re still talking about upcoming games is just another reminder of how valuable Pearl is to Tennessee. Sunday, he was at his best.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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