East Regional
DAYTON, Ohio -- I don't really know Bruce Pearl, but I know his teams. And I like them. So Friday was an exciting day for me: Tennessee against Oklahoma State. Tennessee against anybody, really, is going to be exciting for me -- because I know Bruce Pearl's teams, and I like them.
Only, I didn't recognize Tennessee. I don't know that team.
And I definitely don't like it.
Well, didn't. Have to get the verb tense right, because Tennessee technically doesn't have a 2008-09 men's basketball team any more. That team expired Friday, losing 77-75 to Oklahoma State to get bounced from the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
On the up side, I won't have to watch that group of disinterested athletes ever again. On the down side ... what the hell happened? I just watched a Bruce Pearl team, only I didn't see a drop of Bruce Pearl.
Tennessee didn't press. Didn't run. Didn't seem to care lots of the time. Not all of the Volunteers, of course. I'm not painting with that wide of a brush. Tyler Smith plays like his next meal depends on it. Bobby Maze gets after it on defense. Who else seems to care for Tennessee?
Nobody. That's who.
And I'll tell you why. This is a theory, but it's an educated theory. More than that, I talked to someone close to this Tennessee team -- someone who sits on the bench during games, OK? -- and ran my theory past him. And he nodded his head. Said my theory was right on the money.
And that theory is this:
Tennessee got too good.
See, Pearl's teams are at their best -- which is to say, they best play like Pearl's teams -- when they're as hungry as Tyler Smith. Pearl resurrected his career, after he was blackballed for turning in the cheating program at Illinois in 1989, at the Division II level, and only after winning enormously at Southern Indiana did he finally get a Division I head coaching job in 2001 at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Well, listen to me here. The only way you win big at Southern Indiana, and then at UW-Milwaukee, is if your players are as starving-hungry as you are. Pearl has always coached like he was voracious to win. His teams, consisting of under-recruited players, have played the same way. And the result has been fun to watch.
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| Bruce Pearl's exhortations for effort fell on mostly deaf ears. (AP) |
But those teams played like somebody.
This Tennessee team, it played like it wanted to go home. And I'll tell you why: Because Tennessee got too good.
Pearl's success at Tennessee turned into success on the recruiting trail. He brought in blue-chip players, and blue-chip players aren't hungry. Scotty Hopson is about the biggest recruit Pearl has ever landed at Tennessee, and he played Friday like he'd just pigged out on pancakes. He looked satisfied, is what I'm saying. Content. Not hungry in the slightest. He showed some interest for about three minutes, scoring eight points early in the second half, and then checked out. He was done. Those were the only points he scored all game.
And it's not just Hopson. J.P. Prince, another former McDonald's All-American who transferred after flaming out at Arizona, doesn't play hungry either. Maybe Hopson and Prince are rubbing off on people, because junior Wayne Chism looked awfully satisfied with himself, too. I know he can shoot the 3-pointer on occasion, but he was the biggest guy on the court Friday -- and he chucked up nine of them. He grabbed six rebounds. When your center and biggest player has three more 3-point attempts than rebounds, well, that's a problem.
And Tennessee has been a problem all season.
The Volunteers were a top 10 team earlier because of all that size and talent, but the Volunteers went just 21-12. If you saw Friday, you would know why. Tennessee doesn't play like Bruce Pearl wants to play. There is no pressing, no pressure at all. No frenzy. Team apologists would tell you that the Volunteers lack the quickness to press, but Lofton wasn't quick. Bradshaw and Howell weren't quick. And that didn't stop Pearl from employing the press.
But he didn't press Friday, or very much in recent months, and it's obvious why: His players aren't willing to work that hard. After one 3-pointer by Maze midway through the second half, Pearl called for full-court pressure and Maze was the only player to react. While Pearl was screaming and gesturing for energy, his satiated players were feigning ignorance: What, me pressure?
On offense, Tennessee didn't attack like Pearl teams of old. Tennessee, a bad-shooting team from the perimeter, chucked 33 3-pointers -- 10 more than the two-point baskets they attempted. Awful.
On defense, the Volunteers let Oklahoma State probe from the perimeter with impunity. Byron Eaton and Obi Muonelo and James Anderson and Terrel Harris were allowed to dribble into 15-foot range and pop jumpers at will. Marshall Moses got good and comfortable under the basket. When the Cowboys tried to get a good shot -- meaning, one inside the 3-point arc -- they were 23-for-32. That's 71.9 percent. For Tennessee, that's pathetic.
The basket that ended Tennessee's season with 7.2 seconds to play summed up the Volunteers' apathy. With Oklahoma State trailing 75-74, Eaton beat his defender on the perimeter and then got all the way to the rim, and finished, before one of the four remaining Volunteers bothered to offer help defense.
The Volunteers couldn't be bothered to play defense ... and all that was riding on it was their season.
That's hideous. Good riddance, Tennessee. Or whoever that was in the Tennessee jerseys.
