Strange: Senior moments can last forever

If you can't recall Tennessee's Senior Night at Thompson-Boling Arena last year, it's understandable. It wasn't much of an affair to remember.

Ryan Childress, whose final season consisted of eight minutes, got a polite round of applause, after which the lethargic Vols were upset by Alabama.

The calendar has rolled around to another Senior Night. The pregame business will be considerably more involved Wednesday night with three meaningful players to send off.

My hunch is the business afterward with Arkansas will likewise take on a more upbeat tone.

Coach Bruce Pearl was asked Monday if he preferred coaching a team with seniors to a team without any. Not surprisingly, Pearl replied that he likes seniors.

He especially likes them as a season draws toward conclusion. Seniors, he said, have a greater sense of urgency.

His UT seniors have borne that out.

C.J. Watson was tireless, playing hard to the end in his only season under Pearl - and his only NCAA tournament appearance. Dane Bradshaw's career ended in a Sweet 16 loss to Ohio State, an agonizing bucket short of the Elite Eight.

Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith were the driving force in a repeat Sweet 16 march a year later.

Lacking seniors last season, the Vols figured they would be returning virtually intact for another run. Thus, any unfinished business could be addressed in 2009-10.

Does that explain, in any part, a loss on Senior Night? A loss in the SEC tournament championship game? The first first-round NCAA tournament loss of Pearl's tenure?

We will never know. Still . . .

"I just think that you fight and claw and scratch and prepare a little differently with seniors,'' Pearl said. "It matters a little bit more.

"There's just a little different edge when you don't know if the next game is going to be your last game. And then you try to get your teammates to care about it as much as you do.''

The team that walked off the court in Dayton last March after a heartbreaking loss to Oklahoma State figured to have five seniors this winter. It figured wrong.

Josh Tabb fell to the wayside before practice opened. The dismissal of Tyler Smith 12 games in leaves three.

Wayne Chism, J.P. Prince and Bobby Maze will answer the starting bell tonight. (Quinn Cannington, a walk-on practice player, also will be recognized.)

Smith's stunning departure impacted the roles Chism, Prince and Maze would play over the final months of their collegiate careers.

Maze and Prince became more featured as go-to guys when the Vols need a crunch-time basket. They are more likely to have the ball in their hands.

Chism became the lone scoring threat in the paint and is defended accordingly.

"Playing without Tyler is disappointing,'' Chism said as he reflected on his final home game. "You're so used to Tyler doing a lot of things on the court, so it turns over to you that you've got to do a lot of things on the court.''

And in the locker room, the weight room and the meeting room.

"From a leadership standpoint,'' Pearl said, "they've all done really well, in their own way.''

But now, on the cusp of March Madness, leadership is not the primary parting gift Pearl asks of his seniors.

"I would really like them to concentrate on being the best player on the floor at their positions now,'' he said. "Particularly Wayne.

"I would like Wayne to focus on nothing else but him playing his best basketball and not worrying about leading the team and not worrying about anything other than just playing.''

Playing as if it might be his last game in a Tennessee uniform.

Playing with the sense of urgency only a senior can comprehend.

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