Fingers
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2010
- Messages
- 6,348
- Likes
- 41,965
1. So pretty good start for Tennessee. What happens when Coach Pearl goes away for the start of SEC play?
DeCourcy: There may be no coach in college basketball better at getting his team to play at a feverish pitch than Bruce Pearl. He convinced a team with six available players, some of them walk-ons, they could handle top-ranked Kansas last January. He took his Volunteers into largely hostile territory last weekend and fired them up to overpower No. 3 Pitt.
Bruce Pearl is about to begin his SEC-mandated suspension. Mike Decourcy considers the Vols without Pearl as well as other issues around college hoops.
Not all his players deliver all the time, though. Wing Scotty Hopson apparently has to be convinced before every tip-off he needs to exert himself. He was extraordinary against Pitt and scored 27 points; he was far below average against Oakland.
This is not equivalent to Jim Calhouns sabbatical last season; Pearl is not restricted from preparing his team, only from leading it into competition. So the team will be able to improve incrementally.
There might be a few games when his leadership or strategic ability will be missed. It could ultimately cost Tennessee a league title, or maybe a seed line or two, but the punishments construction and this has been a theme throughout this ordeal is not designed to be punitive enough.
Starting Five: Tennessee braces for Pearl's ban - NCAA Basketball - Sporting News