University of Tennessee Athletics
RAISING THE BAR IN '07
October 12, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 12, 2006
By Austin Ward, UT Sports Information
Sooner than they thought, the magic ran out.
This wasn't how the dream was supposed to end.
Not like this. Not looking up at the scoreboard in Greensboro, N.C. - Wichita State 80, Tennessee 73 - heading back to Knoxville without a second - or third - weekend in the NCAA Tournament.
No, the dreams don't usually include walking off the court without a freshly-cut strip of nylon in one hand and Billy Packer's microphone in the other.
Nobody thinks about the day after losing in the NCAA Tournament or looks forward to a summer of wondering what might have been.
But it's in the reality that sets in just after a team's dance card has been revoked - the realization that just one team will win its last game in Bracketville - that helps determine if a program is capable of `One Shining Moment' the next year.
Somewhere in their memories is 80-73, driving the Vols to improve. Remembering the surprising loss to the Shockers now, so they can try to erase it later in the season.
Dane Bradshaw laughs and rolls his eyes like the thought had never occurred to him.
Watch the film of the last game of 2006? Thanks, but no thanks.
"I never saw it," Bradshaw said.
Later the senior, who still can't be pigeonholed into one position for the Vols, will say that he also hasn't watched all of the tape from either four-point win over eventual national champion Florida - both games that he iced with late lay-ups to put away the Gators.
"We just move on and try to get better," he said. "The only time we really watch film is to learn from mistakes."
Besides, Bradshaw said the Vols had more than enough motivation this summer without having to sit through a screening of their last game.
"It was terrible, especially watching the way the tournament panned out and George Mason with the run they had," he said. "You went through a lot of `could'ves and should'ves' in your mind.
"Wichita State played a good game and they beat us, but I think in the long run it'll be good for us and we'll learn from it."
Bradshaw scored just two points in the season-finale, shooting 1-for-7 from the field, and finished with four rebounds and three assists - all of which were below his season averages.
For the unquestioned leader of the Vols, the message was clear this summer for himself and his teammates: Get better.
"You hate to have to learn from a loss, but hopefully it'll benefit us," he said. "It really affects you for a while, but you always have goals and you want to get better. You don't want to let just one loss affect you that much, and we were able to get over it, but it still motivates you.
"Raising the bar is what we're trying to do around here."
Even if Bradshaw won't bother watching it later.
Regrets?
Second-year UT coach Bruce Pearl said there really aren't any from his first season at Rocky Top - one of the most successful in school history.
Thompson-Boling is once again packed with fans. The Vols finished the season with 22 wins and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Not to mention that SEC Eastern division crown that looked even more impressive after Florida and South Carolina both ended the postseason with tournament championships.
Well, maybe just one.
"We could have played in front of (former Vol standout and current Wizards President of Basketball Operations) Ernie Grunfeld and taken our players to our nation's capital," Pearl said. "That's one of my great regrets is that after that game we couldn't go to the D.C. Regional.
"I couldn't give our players the opportunity to be hosted at the Senate or Congress, and we missed out on some of that culture and that experience. And not playing in front of Ernie and not practicing at the Wizards' practice facility. Not getting to D.C. was definitely a setback."
But Pearl said he won't dwell on the loss. He didn't lose any sleep thinking about what the Vols could have done differently, and he's not exactly afraid that UT won't soon be back in the Big Dance.
"Moved on. Moved on quickly," he said. "There's just nothing to be gained from it.
"I do know that one of our goals this year, if we can get to postseason, is to advance. We didn't advance in the SEC Tournament, and we didn't advance very far in the NCAA Tournament. We had only won eight NCAA Tournament games in our history and we got another one, but advancing in postseason if we can get there is definitely a goal for this year. They did what they could (last year), but we got beat by a very good team."
The Vols also beat a very good Winthrop team in the first round - thanks to a Chris Lofton jumper at the last second - so it's not like UT came home with nothing but a bitter taste in its mouth.
"Obviously, it was a great game and a close game," Pearl said. "Winthrop was one of the best 15-seeds in the country, maybe of all-time, and they were really good.
"Lofton gave us another memorable moment. It was another `One Shining Moment' for a very special season. Unfortunately, that may have capped it. I was looking for another one against Wichita State, and then it would have been on to Washington D.C."
A top-10 recruiting class was watching at home.
Or, in some cases, not watching because the outcome was thought to be a foregone conclusion.
"I watched the end of it," freshman guard Ramar Smith said of the Vols' last game of last season. "I really didn't watch the whole game. I was focusing on other things, and I thought Tennessee was just going to blow them out."
When it didn't turn out that way, the attention shifted almost immediately to a group of newcomers stocked with blue-chippers that ranked among the nation's best haul in the offseason.
Smith and Duke Crews, both ranked among the top 30 players in the country coming out of high school, watched their new school fall far sooner than they expected - perhaps increasing expectations on the players just a bit, but also giving the pair some motivation to help the Vols get over the hump into the Sweet 16 and beyond.
"It was a great season, so I can't necessarily say that I was disappointed," Crews said. "It was fun to watch, I can tell you that. Chris Lofton hit his last-minute shot - that was real fun to watch - so I can't say that I was disappointed by anything. They had a great season last year.
"With the class that we have, you can see bright spots on our team where we can possibly push for something like that. We all just have to work hard and take it game by game."
"Things happen for certain reasons," Smith said. "That gives us another reason to work hard this year." After all, happily ever after rarely comes on the first try.
