Strange: With Pearl, Vols can keep on keeping on

Bruce Pearl: Challenges and strengths for the '08 season

Video

UT basketball head coach, Bruce Pearl, talked about the seven inexperienced players on the Vols '08 team. This year, the Vols have five true freshman, one redshirt freshman and a junior college transfer on the team. Pearl talks about each of them. Watch »

What a year. A fantastic year. Maybe the best regular season of any team in the country.

It's history, however, the 2007-08 Tennessee basketball season. Enjoy the commemorative highlight DVD if you will, but a new adventure is just around the corner.

This one has a significant disclaimer: Five of the top nine players from that magical season are gone, scattered from Dallas to Bowie State to Turkey.

"We're starting practice way behind where we were a year ago, because of that inexperience,'' coach Bruce Pearl said Tuesday at UT's annual media day.

"If we scrimmaged last year's team right now, we've got a lot of work to do.''

So, the Vols fall back into the scrum, rebuild and start the uphill climb again. Isn't that how it works?

Not exactly.

As the preseason magazines and assorted rankings trickle out, the Vols are still getting a lot of national love.

From the prestigious Blue Ribbon Yearbook (No. 9) to cbssportsline.com (No. 11), to Athlon (No. 10) to Dick Vitale (No. 14), it's clear Tennessee hasn't faded back into oblivion.

"What happens is you've got to put somebody from the SEC up there,'' Pearl said with a shrug.

But Tennessee? The Vols lost four of their top five guards. Seven of the 13 guys on the roster are new. The grizzled veteran is junior Wayne Chism.

Yep, Tennessee. In several Top 25 polls, the Vols are the only SEC team mentioned. Florida climbed in a couple of other rankings.

This speaks to two factors.

One, the SEC is perceived to be down.

Two, Tennessee in the Pearl Era has staying power.

You can take away anchors Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith and part-time starter Jordan Howell. You can run off Ramar Smith and Duke Crews. But over the past three years, Pearl has proved that Tennessee can keep on keeping on.

It's what good basketball programs do. The faces change but the fill-in-the-blank (Bruins, Huskies, Spartans, Gators, etc.) hang around on the scene. It's called continuity.

"I didn't think we'd be picked to win the SEC because we lost so many great guys,'' junior Tyler Smith said, "but the way coach recruits, he knows what he needs and he did a great job.

"As long as Mr. Pearl is the coach, that's going to continue.''

Tennessee is celebrating its 100th year of basketball. On Tuesday, former coach Don DeVoe talked about Ray Mears, about the rich history. A couple of times DeVoe mentioned how Kentucky had cast a shadow across UT and every other SEC team.

There's no shadow on the Vols these days. They were picked to win the SEC last year and did. Now they're picked to win it again.

Pearl didn't duck the pressure last year. He believed UT was in fact the best team in the league. Almost everyone returned from a Sweet 16 team and was adding Smith and J.P. Prince.

This year, given the shifting roster, it's not so obvious.

" I think we'll compete,'' Pearl said. "We're in position to defend but I don't think we're clearly the best team in the league this year.

"I don't see - including Tennessee - a dominant team. But I can understand why we're picked there. I wouldn't pick anybody heads and shoulders above us.''

With that qualified endorsement, the Vols begin practice Friday. One month from today they open a rugged schedule that might well shoot them to the top of the RPI again this year.

And they're not exactly starting under anybody's radar.

"It's flattering, it's nice,'' said Prince, "you want to be ranked high.

"But as you can see in football, you can be ranked very high and fall. Preseason polls mean nothing.''

Still, it's better to be included in them than not. Preseason polls are based in part on what you did last year and Tennessee did plenty. You earn respect.

Now it's up to a few old faces and a bunch of new ones to justify that respect.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strangem@knoxnews.com.