Ryan Callahan

KNOXVILLE — Fans seemed to pass along the same words of encouragement to Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl everywhere he went after his team ended last season with a loss to Louisville in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16.

“Well, don’t worry about it, Coach,” they told Pearl, as he recalled earlier this week. “We’ll do better than the Sweet 16 next year.”

That didn’t really make Pearl feel any better at the time. He knew the reality of the situation.

This year, those widespread, high expectations helped him appreciate even more that the Volunteers (21-12) were able to make the NCAA tournament again without Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith, the team’s two leading scorers from a year ago.

Those optimistic fans also made Pearl realize that the unprecedented postseason runs of the past three years — when UT went to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2006 and the Sweet 16 in 2007 and 2008 — probably have been taken for granted.

“This year, for the first time, I think the expectations were too high,” Pearl said.

Even with newcomers Scotty Hopson and Bobby Maze penciled into the starting lineup and at least two other freshmen being counted on as regular contributors, the Vols were picked as the preseason favorites to repeat their first SEC regular-season title in 41 years.

They won the SEC East but watched LSU run away with the overall league title. UT then made a run at its first conference tournament championship in 30 years before falling to Mississippi State, 64-61, in Sunday’s title game.

Pearl said his team, which felt slighted by its No. 9 seed for the NCAA tournament’s East Region, was fortunate to accomplish what it did this season. Plenty of other good teams, he explained, were left at home for the postseason.

The Vols, on the other hand, will play their NCAA opener at 12:25 p.m. Friday against eighth-seeded Oklahoma State (22-11) in Dayton, Ohio.

“You don’t appreciate it,” Pearl said. “We just don’t. We don’t appreciate what it is.

“I appreciate this basketball team for what they’ve accomplished, and I appreciate the fact that we’re still playing in March and all that they’ve had to overcome. So enjoy the run, because I’d hate to be at some of those other places.”

But Pearl also went so far as to suggest he didn’t take full advantage of his team’s potential throughout an up-and-down season.

“My job every year is to get the most out of my team,” Pearl said. “I think for three years we came really close to getting the most out of them. I don’t think this year we got the most out of them.

“We got a lot. It could have been a little bit better. It could have been a lot worse. But I don’t know that this year I could say we got the most out of them.”

Tennessee fans apparently aren’t the only ones with lofty expectations.

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl didn’t push his players much in a nearly two-and-a-half-hour workout Tuesday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The ninth-seeded Volunteers spent most of their time walking through their scouting report for No. 8 seed Oklahoma State, their opponent in the opening round of the NCAA tournament’s East Region at 12:25 p.m. Friday in Dayton, Ohio.

It only made sense to have a light practice Tuesday after an off day Monday, Pearl explained, considering that UT played three straight days over the weekend at the SEC tournament in Tampa, Fla.

After all, that’s what legendary UT women’s coach Pat Summitt would have done.

“I think the kids were surprised,” Pearl said. “I think they thought we were going to have a hard practice today. I just didn’t think it was in our best interest. Coach Summitt has always talked about keeping (players) fresh and keeping them furious, so today was one of those days.”

The Vols will hold a more physical workout Wednesday before going through their scheduled open practice at UD Arena at noon Thursday.

Pearl called Oklahoma State “a tough scout.”

The Cowboys have no starter taller than 6 feet 6 inches and rank among the nation’s top scoring and 3-point-shooting offenses under first-year coach Travis Ford, a former Kentucky guard under Rick Pitino.

“They do good stuff, and they’ve got counters to what they do,” he said. “It’s also a tough thing to walk through, because everything they do is so much faster.”