Duke & Ramar Kicked Off Team

Wow. Again.

The basketball Vols' off-season keeps producing headlines like Tyler's return, Lofton's cancer and now the dismissal of Duke Crews and Ramar Smith. Thus far, there seem to be no details about why both were kicked off other than that it was for two different reasons. The assumption with Crews is that it must be drug-related.

First, I hate it for these guys. Crews came back from the long, frustrating layoff after the heart scare and was never quite the same last year. I hoped another year with Pearl might result in a Wayne Chism-like growth in Crews' game. He seems like a fun, likable kid, but also has a history of enjoying marijuana (he was suspended from the team after weed was found in his dorm room last year).

Ramar took the benching and criticism of his point guard play well last year despite an obvious regression in his game from his freshmen year. With a highly recruited point guard coming to Knoxville out of Michigan, my hope was that Ramar would elevate his game and be the true floor leader of the team.

From a basketball sense, the losses of two would-be juniors is tough. Games are won with seniors and juniors who have the experience to execute down the stretch of tight games. Look at what the Florida Gators did with experienced players as compared to this past season.

The loss severely hurts Tennessee's depth which has always been a trademark of Bruce Pearl's coaching style. He likes to go 9-10 deep in order to keep fresh bodies on the floor, so either guys like Ryan Childress must step up their games or the Vols will struggle with their second unit.

I'm ready for the basketball Vols to stay out of the headlines for a few months.