Tobias's One-Night Stand

I mention the same sad fact in about every third post I write about Tennessee basketball: there is only one player in the NBA from the University of Tennessee (C.J. Watson - back-up point guard for the Chicago Bulls). He was recruited by Buzz Peterson, not Bruce Pearl.

One of the reasons I know Bruce Pearl is a great coach is what he has done with good, but not great players. Chris Lofton was a great college player until his senior year. Tyler Smith was a really good college player. Same for Wayne Chism and J.P. Prince. Imagine what Pearl could have done with John Calipari's roster.

Vols fans thought we had an NBA-caliber player with Scotty Hopson three years ago, but quickly realized he is a one-dimensional player who cannot be counted upon.

Then came Tobias Harris.

Harris is big, quick, competitive and has a soft-touch from the perimeter. He has NBA written all over him.

And now he is gone.

One-and-done.

The question is how to feel about it. Over the years, I feel like I have gotten to know guys on Tennessee's roster. I love Chris Lofton, Dane Bradshaw, Wayne Chism, Brian Williams, J.P. Prince, etc. I saw their good and bad over the course of collegiate careers and felt close to them by the end.

I barely got to know Tobias Harris.

He seemed nice. He seemed like a guy worth pulling for. He seemed like the type of guy we could play through or might put the team on its back or emerge as the leader of the squad coming off last year's disastrous season. He seemed like the guy who would get Cuonzo to the Big Dance in his first year in Knoxville.

We'll never know. He was here and gone. He was a one-night stand. Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.

Do I feel a little dirty? Used? Kind of. I'm used to relationships, not hook-ups. I don't think we should necessarily be ashamed of it. We aren't Kentucky whose revolving door of one-and-dones makes John Calipari The Situation of Lexington.

But we didn't used to do this, mostly because we couldn't. One-and-doners wouldn't give us the time of day a few years ago. It is like we hit puberty all of the sudden.

Or just hired Bruce Pearl. Pearl promised better players and delivered, but there was always a little something dirty about Pearl's vibe. It seemed cool and all, but didn't feel totally right either. And the whole Erin Andrews thing...we should have seen it coming. We worked our way up from Dane Bradshaw and Jordan Howell to Wayne Chism and Tyler Smith to Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris. We won championships, were relevant and exciting, but then ended up in turmoil and disgrace and now we're saying goodbye to guys we just met.

I thought this was what I wanted to UT basketball. Now I'm not totally sure.