Adams: UT is in basketball recession

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When the clock struck midnight and Saturday turned into Sunday, Tennessee basketball fans should have broken out the champagne. Party hats and horns would have been just as appropriate.

A new week was worthy of a New Year's-size celebration. The best thing about the new week: It couldn't be worse than the last one.

In fact, you could make a compelling argument that the last week was the worst in the history of UT basketball.

Ladies first: The Lady Vols drew coach Pat Summitt's wrath after being out-rebounded by 13 in a home-court loss to Duke. They followed that with an even less impressive effort in losing to a mediocre Kentucky team. Summitt was so infuriated she kicked the team out of its plush locker room.

And why not? Two losses in one month used to be regarded as catastrophic failure for the Lady Vols.

UT men's coach Bruce Pearl was as furious as Summitt following his team's 77-58 loss to Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Saturday. Afterwards, he apologized for his team's effort and his own coaching.

But that game wasn't an aberration. It was a follow-up.

The Vols looked every bit as inept in an 81-65 loss to Ole Miss. Thanks to CBS, they just had a bigger audience Saturday.

A member of the Kentucky media who had witnessed the worst of UT's two basketball programs in the same week was so struck by the similarities that he asked point guard Josh Tabb if the men's and women's teams hung out much together. Either he was working on a guilt-by-association scenario or suspected a virus had been passed from one team to the other.

The two UT teams have something else in common: A dismal March forecast.

Summitt can kick her team out of its locker room or boot it off campus. She can't turn it into a Final Four team. It's just not good enough to reach what has become the acceptable standard for Lady Vols basketball.

The Gentleman Vols have the same problem.

I still expect them to squeak into the NCAA tournament. But I don't expect them to stick around long. Instead, I envision some mid-major program with a major league backcourt knocking UT out of the tournament in the first round.

Pearl blasted his team for quitting against Kentucky. Center Wayne Chism blamed the performance on a lack of focus.

Those shortcomings are controllable. But the bigger issue can't be resolved. This team isn't that good.

The Vols haven't come close to replacing the production provided by guards Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith. Moreover, they're right where they were last year at point guard.

Last season ended with Pearl desperately moving J.P. Prince to point guard in hopes of stabilizing a position that was unraveling. A year later, the Vols are still struggling at the position.

Freshman Daniel West was ruled academically ineligible in October. Junior college transfer Bobby Maze hasn't played up to his preseason billing. And Tabb, an unnatural point guard, has done his best to play a position at which his experience is limited.

With a deficient backcourt, a greater burden is transferred to Tyler Smith, and he's not always up to it, as evidenced by his 1-for-11 shooting against Kentucky.

As bad as Smith and his teammates looked against Kentucky, they didn't look nearly as bad as the media's preseason predictions, mine included, which had them at least winning the SEC and maybe making a run at the Final Four.

Pearl wasn't as optimistic. But his efforts to temper the preseason expectation were written off as coach-speak.

He was right. The media was wrong.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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