With or Without Pearl, Vols Would Have Lost the Last Two

The Tennessee Men's Basketball team is two games into what will be an eight game suspension for their Head Coach Bruce Pearl. The suspension was handed down by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive after Pearl admitted to both NCAA violations and lying to college athletics' largest governing body about those violations. Was the suspension fair? Not sure. I know it was unprecedented. Was it Slive's place to suspend? Many have said no. However, the Conference Athletic Directors gave him that power at their latest annual meetings. The one thing I do know is it was all preventable. Bruce Pearl has been the most successful basketball coach in Tennessee hoops history (referring to the men, of course). That in no way excuses what he did. The position he finds himself in is one that could have easily been avoided. With all that said, Bruce Pearl's suspension is not the reason why the Vols find themselves 0 and 2 after two conference contests. The reason is simple, DEFENSE. Had the Vols played defense the way they did on Saturday afternoon and Tuesday night then it wouldn't have mattered if Phil Jackson, John Wooden, Red Auerbach, and James Naismith were combining to fill in for Bruce. The Vols were going to lose those games regardless.

Arkansas shot 50 percent from the field on Saturday. Florida topped that last night with a 52.5 percentage. Arkansas was 46.2 percent from behind the three point line. Florida was at 50 percent. Those two opponents have combined to make 56 out of 109 shot attempts. Staggering. In fact, in Tennessee's losses this season opponents are shooting an incredible 48.4 percent across six games. In Tennessee's wins opponents are shooting only 37.9 percent.

After watching the last two games and digging into the statistics I have changed my view on what exactly I think is ailing the Vols. Just eight days ago as Tennessee was preparing to take on Memphis I wrote that when the Vols had been good they had hit shots, when they had been bad they hadn't (http://checkerboardchatter.blogspot.com/2011/01/vols-and-tigers-limp-into-annual.html). To a certain degree that remains true. However, I think the bigger issue is that the Vols defense has been so poor that not only is UT giving up easy buckets they are also not able to get into transition and play an offensive style that suits them. If Tennessee has to walk the ball up and play against a sagging man-to-man or zone defense they are going to struggle. They have to be able to get stops on defense that turn into transition opportunities and quick buckets. Tennessee will not be successful waiting until five seconds remain on the shot clock before making an attempt. Maybe that whole "defense wins games" thing is true after all.

Much has been written and said about Bruce Pearl's replacement, Tony Jones. I think a lot of the talk is overblown. Pearl is able to coach the team all week long and be with the guys through every step of preparation. He just can't be there on gameday. Make no mistake though, this is Bruce Pearl's team. The gameplanning, the match-ups, the scouting, its all still being overseen by Pearl. The only difference is Jones is on the sideline during the heat of battle. My point is that if Tennessee continues to play as badly on defense as it has in the last two games as well as the other losses this season it won't matter who is on the sideline. Bruce Pearl's return might not bring the fix for which many Vol fans hope.

Things don't get any easier. Have you seen the schedule? Vanderbilt at home on Saturday followed by a trip to Georgia on the 18th.

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