There’s a scene at the end of the movie “Goodfellas” in which lifelong mobster Henry Hill grouses about life in the witness protection program.
Fetching his newspaper in front of his cookie-cutter suburban house, Hill looks into the camera and complains how he misses the action and privilege of the old days. Now, he says, he’s just a “schnook” like everyone else.
Bruce Pearl didn’t use the term “schnook” Wednesday in describing last season’s Tennessee basketball team. But the coach admitted he didn’t enjoy surrendering the pizzazz that distinguished his Vols from much of the rest of college basketball.
“I didn’t like having to sit back and not be the aggressor,’’ Pearl said. “We didn’t press 94 feet. We just played at the same tempo and pace as everybody else.
“We looked like everybody else.’’
The 2008-09 Vols didn’t often look like Pearl’s first three helter-skelter UT teams. He hopes his 2009-10 Vols will.
One of the first issues Pearl addressed at UT’s preseason media session was his intention to speed up the tempo again.
“We’re going to try to extend the defense and play the games at the tempo we like to play,’’ he said.
It’s not as if the Vols disappeared into a basketball version of the witness protection program last winter. They still won 21 games, won the SEC East and earned an NCAA tournament bid.
They still led the SEC in scoring. In fact, their average of 78.4 points was just a 3-point basket down from the 81.8 they averaged the year before when they won 31 games, an SEC title and briefly wore the No. 1 ranking.
The more telling stat is steals.
In Pearl’s first year at UT, 2005-06, the Vols led the SEC with 10.03 steals per game. His next two years they led with 9.6 and 9.3, respectively.
Last year they ranked ninth, at 6.6 steals.
Pearl decided early in the season his team couldn’t execute the furious pressing style that helped him win 78 percent of his career games.
Too many new guards — who were better scorers than defenders. Not enough quickness across the board.
In hindsight, he wonders how success affected his recruiting philosophy.
“As we’ve gotten better and gotten more recognition,’’ he said, “we’ve been able to recruit higher-ranked players.
“There’s been some discussion on our staff that we need to do a better job of recruiting to our system. How did we get so non-quick?’’
He’s got essentially the same team back this year. Did it get quicker over the summer?
Perhaps in the addition of junior-college guard Melvin Goins. Goins is a defensive stopper who can get in front of the other team’s point guard.
“The style of play (Pearl) likes to play is perfect,’’ Goins said. “I like to get up and down.’’
Most players like to get up and down. They’re thinking offense. Run and gun.
But the commitment to do it Pearl-style — playing defense — is another story.
“It was a total adjustment from my high school team,’’ said Scotty Hopson, one of last year’s freshmen. “We ran the ball as much as we could but it’s nothing like Tennessee basketball.’’
Hopson thinks with a year of experience, added muscle and stamina, he can play Pearl ball as a sophomore.
Pearl sure hopes so. He wants Tennessee to wear people out. He wants the other guys to be gasping in the final two or three minutes when crucial plays decide outcomes.
No way, he thinks, should a Mississippi State team playing its fourth game in four days be able to hang with the Vols in an SEC tournament championship game if UT was playing the old style.
“Your number-one job as a coach,’’ said Pearl, “is to get your kids to play harder than the other guys. When you play the way we played (in the past), that’s done. Answered.
“What did our fans want from us when I first got here? ‘Coach, we just want you to play harder than we’ve been playing. We want to look like we’re playing harder than our opponents.’ I can do that.
“But last year I don’t know that we played harder than our opponents.’’
In short, they looked like everybody else.
A new season is approaching. Tennessee needs to be different again.
Mike Strange may be reached at strangem@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6276.
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Comments » 9
Ironcity writes:
Great insight. I think we will see a better team and a better game this year from our Vols. I don't know if we have the personnel yet to press the way Coach talks about here but I am sure we will do it better then we did last year.
bearbull95#206250 writes:
That pretty much sums it up. That up-tempo style defines what Tennessee basketball under Coach Pearl has been until last year. The fact that they were able to self-evaluate themselves so well regarding their recruiting says a lot about the entire staff. I have a sneaking suspicion this year's team will rekindle the frenetic forty minutes of fire that is Coach Pearl's brand of Vol Ball.
eduardo writes:
After looking at these photos on this article, Are we the Univ of Tattoos or Tenn.?????
miatatom writes:
As Coach Pearl said before the 2008 Memphis game, "BRING IT"! This year bring it in every game. GO VOLS!!!!
lomas98 writes:
Go look at just about every other college or pro basketball team and you will see the same thing.
richvol writes:
With Goins as the only real addition to the playing lineup I don't see us getting much quicker. I hope I'm wrong but where is it going to come from? Conditioning will only do so much. You need super quick guards and one of the forwards to be above average in quickness to be effective.
The issue last year was bone headed plays and not sharing the ball with one another. That has to be much improved to beat highly skilled NCAA tourney teams. Go Vols!
cc623 writes:
It's completely different game from the high school and junior college ranks to then come here and try to learn to play Bruce's ball.Now this team understands what is expected and we have 2 natural point guards instead on of and a converted 2 kid.The point dictates pace and this year we will all get a chance to see a Tenn team destined for greatness...
murrayvol writes:
We'll be better this year but how much better nobody knows.
We're going to miss Negadu more than we realize.
He made the team better when he was on the floor.
VOLnyc writes:
I slightly disagree with your conditioning comment. It can go a long way this season in addition to the previous year's experience. Hopson affirmed that he knows what the deal is going to be this year as compared to when he first joined, and I'm sure the last year's new guys now understand, too.
I loved being a different team from everyone else (much like college football having completely different styles of offense than the NFL) and hope to see the Vols go back to the helter skelter gameplan we loved to watch. Go Vols!
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