Bye Bye Basketball

Bruce Pearl announced tonight at the basketball banquet that Ramar Smith and Duke Crews have been removed from the program and are no longer Vols.

Does anyone know why?  This really hurts the positive momentum Tennessee basketball has enjoyed recently.

Violations of UT’s substance abuse policy and academic shortcomings contributed to both departures, sources within the program told the News Sentinel.

“I am disappointed that Duke and Ramar did not meet the mark and did not succeed to the level of our expectations,” Pearl said just moments before UT’s annual basketball banquet.

The announcement came following a media session with Pearl and senior shooting guard Chris Lofton, in which both discussed Lofton’s successful battle against testicular cancer last summer. Lofton first revealed publicly he had suffered the disease on Thursday.

Pearl said the departures of Crews and Smith were not related. Pearl added that the departures weren’t due to any one incident.

“Sort of over a period of time, a build up,” Pearl said. “They did a lot of good things but they also failed to do some things.

“We just felt like — both the University of Tennessee and these student athletes — we’d be better served to move on.”

Crews and Smith — both freshman All-SEC selections in 2006-07 — saw their production and minutes drop off this past season, albeit for different reasons.

In September, Crews was suspended 30 days for a violation of team rules, which included an incident in which a search of his on-campus apartment turned up a small amount of marijuana. Crews was not charged by campus police.

However, he had previously failed a drug test, the News Sentinel reported at the time of his suspension, citing an anonymous source within the athletic department.

“Everybody will have their own opinion,’’ Crews said after returning from suspension in October. “I’m just sorry it happened.’’

He was not suspended for the failed drug test as is UT’s drug policy for a first-time violation, although he was subject to more frequent testing. Under UT’s drug policy, a player is immediately dismissed following a fourth positive test for marijuana.

In December, Crews was diagnosed with a heart condition after a routine echocardiogram revealed a possible defect. As a result he missed UT’s next nine games before returning to the court in late January.

He finished the season averaging 5.4 points and four rebounds in 26 games.

Smith, meanwhile, struggled to produce the way he did as a freshman.

After averaging 14.7 points in UT’s run to the Sweet 16 in 2006, Smith did not start a game in this year’s NCAA tournament although he played in all 36 of UT’s games.

Smith also struggled to gain admission to Tennessee.

He enrolled in late August of 2006 after the NCAA Clearinghouse finally validated an SAT score from earlier in the summer.

A highly recruited player from Detroit, Smith had initially committed to Connecticut.

Smith averaged 7.4 points and was second on the team with 116 assists this past season.

Another point guard from Michigan, signee Daniel West from Saginaw, would figure to benefit from Smith’s departure when West arrives on campus this summer. Sophomore J.P. Prince also could be in the point guard mix next fall, as he played there extensively in last season’s NCAA tournament. Hoopsreport.com reported that the Vols extended a scholarship offer to 6-3 point guard Bobby Maze of Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. He started for Oklahoma as a freshman but was dismissed form the team.

Crews’ minutes will likely be spread among a number of players in Pearl’s deep rotation including Ryan Childress.

Losing Crews hurts more than Ramar.  Crews was developing as a player.  Ramar did not grow a bit between his Freshman and Sophomore year.  In fact, he regressed in some ways.  Sounds like BP has already made an offer with one scholarship.  I am sure he will make a good move with the other one.

On the bright side of this, with JuJuan graduated and Ramar gone, I will not have to listen to announcers call Tyler Smith by other people's names.

I have concluded that losing both players is not that bad (as many of you have decided).  It is always troublesome for a program to be in the news for these reasons, especially in light of Chirs Lofton's touching story.  But I am happy that Bruce Pearl takes such a no tolerance stance toward this type of behavior. 

I would rather lose a little talent (and I do mean little judging by performance), than face a situation similar to LSU's Ryan Perilloux.

Bruce will fill the void with better talent and save our amazing depth.

We do not need players on the team who hold themselves more important than the betterment of the team.  PERIOD.  Will we miss them next season, of course.  Ramar Smith probably more than Duke Crews as the Vols still have Chism, Tyler Smith, Childress, and Prince returning.  

Hopefully this will help Bruce bring in a big name point guard recruit, as they will now receive playing time a lot sooner than expected.

UT will not miss them at all.  Smith and Crews would have sat on the pine most of the time anyway. 

The thing that bothers me is the witch hunt our society has unleased on pot smokers.  They should not even call it a "drug test".  It should be called what it is,  and that is a MARIJUANA TEST.  Pot smokers get caught because THC will be excreted in urine for up to a month after smoking weed.  It is fat soluable and any excess your liver cannot take care of is stored in fat.   The rest of the team could be cocaine addicts and Pearl would not have a clue.