Pearl-less Vols stumble again
The University of Tennessee lost late Tuesday night to Florida in overtime. The 81-75 setback was game No. 2 in the eight-game SEC hiatus handed to UT coach Bruce Pearl for his off-the-floor shenanigans that included lying to the NCAA during its investigation.
The Vols are now 10-6 overall and 0-2 in the SEC, and gone are the dancing visions of a top two or three seed in the NCAA tournament – a very real and understandable image after beating then-unbeaten Villanova and Pittsburgh, by the way. Now the Vols have to race to get to 18 or 19 wins and a 9-7 conference mark to put themselves in position just to be in the tournament.
It’s impossible to know with any certainty whether Pearl’s presence on the sideline would have resulted in a different outcome in either game. The 5-at-10 believes the Vols likely are 2-0 in the league with Pearl on the bench and certainly would be 1-1 – Pearl has always fared well against Florida and the Vols let the Gators off the hook Tuesday.
Funny, SEC commissioner’s Slive’s eight-game suspension was done in part to help alleviate the punishment handed down by the NCAA. At this pace, Pearl’s eight-game absence may cost the Vols a spot in the NCAA tournament – which is a much bigger penalty than ever imagined, especially if the NCAA decides it wants to add to it.