Today On Rocky Top: Is A UT-Bruce Pearl Reunion Likely?

Mar 9, 2013; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view Thompson Boling Arena before the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Missouri Tigers. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

From The Tennessean

"The floor is open for debate on the performance of Cuonzo Martin asTennessee’s basketball coach, but one factor should be removed from the discussion: Bruce Pearl.Forget about him. He’s not coming back. Get over it.Look, I feel your pain. I like the guy. Of all the people I’ve dealt with in this job, Pearl is one of my favorites. He is approachable, accommodating and glib. It’s never dull.And the guy is one heckuva coach and promoter. He took a flat-lined program and made it special. He got the Vols to No. 1 in the nation for one heady week in February 2008. His 2010 team came within one defensive stop of going to the Final Four."

From The Times Free Press

"On Wednesday, the University of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga lost men’s basketball games. They lost them by differing margins and in differing manners. But all losses are not created equally.UTC lost by 15 on the road at UAB, and coach Will Wade sounded somewhat pleased. And he should be.UT lost at home by seven to a very pedestrian North Carolina State team, and Volunteers coach Cuonzo Martin sounded deflated. And The Conz should be. Or he should be outraged. Or maybe even worried about his employment."

From The Times Free Press

"Jeronne Maymon never worried that he and his Tennessee men’s basketball teammates would play a better second half than they had the first against North Carolina State on Wednesday night.And it really had little to do with the fact that it might have been impossible for the Vols to play worse than they had in trailing the unranked Wolfpack by 37-20 at intermission.“We always look like a different ball club in the second half,” said Maymon at the close of a 65-58 loss, UT’s fourth of the season in 10 games. “We’ve just got to do a better job in the first half.”"

From College Spun

"One of the most important and often underrated aspects of qualifying for a bowl game, according to most college football coaches, is that it allows a team to get several more weeks of practice in at the end of the season, which can help the team build on things for the following season, and can specifically give younger players a chance for more reps than they would have received during the regular season. In Butch Jones’ first season at the helmet of the Tennessee Volunteers, things didn’t go exactly as he planned, and his team didn’t qualify for a bowl, meaning that extra practice time won’t be an option for it. But he is still expecting his guys to stay motivated and in shape on break:"