NCAA Tournament Results: Distracted Tennessee Implodes Against Michigan

Distractions.

More often than not in the sports world, it's a word that is bantered about on talk radio and television programs as a popular topic of discussion.

But the truth is that a lot of times, it's simply a fabrication of the media; something created to fill time on the airwaves and give the talking heads a controversial subject to argue about.

The reason "distraction" doesn't play anywhere near as big of a role in sports as we'd like to think, is because most athletes view the playing field as a place of solidarity. Their lives may indeed be affected by whatever the issue is, but on that field, their sole focus is winning the game.

Unfortunately for the University of Tennessee's Men's Basketball team and their fans, the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte offered no solidarity, and the Vols were indeed distracted in their "second" round game of the 2011 NCAA tournament against the University of Michigan Friday afternoon.

The source of distraction, you might ask?

After several months of supporting Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl, athletic director Mike Hamilton publicly admitted in a radio interview Tuesday that Pearl's status was uncertain going into 2011-12.

The timing was undoubtedly ill-advised, regardless of the truth of Hamilton's answer, and Hamilton later apologized for that reason.

But the damage was done, and it seems hard to deny that the turbulence between the athletic department and the basketball staff was the direct source of a team that clearly unraveled in the second half Friday.

Any time a team is outscored 42-16 in the second half, it's easy to assume they were simply outclassed and possibly fatigued.  There is no doubt that this team was capable of going into long dry-spells regardless of their mental state.

But the Vols were uncharacteristically slaughtered on the boards, as well as in the turnover margin (two statistics largely predicated on hustle), and it's difficult to legitimately consider fatigue a factor for a team many national pundits consider to be one of the deepest in the nation.

Yet the Vols dealt with serious lack of production outside of Tobias Harris, who scored 19 points. They failed to get more than six points from any other player on their roster, including the Vols' leading scorer Scotty Hopson. Hopson put up a season-low four points on one-of-five shooting from the field and turned the ball over three times.

Michigan, on the other hand, got double-digits from five players Friday and more importantly, assisted on 20 of their 33 field goals made, while turning the ball over a mere 10 times.

Now I'm not saying the Vols would have come out and dominated the Wolverines had these peculiarly-timed comments been avoided, because Michigan played an outstandingly efficient basketball game, and the Vols are certainly capable of flopping at any time.

I don't think anyone can say that this game—nor any No. 8/No. 9 matchup in the NCAA tournament—would possibly be that uncompetitive without some sort of outside influence.

Now a season that began in turmoil and experienced extreme highs, as well as extreme lows, will end exactly as it began—in turmoil.

However, while the games may have stopped, the season appears far from over.

The Vols will "evaluate" Bruce Pearl's status and could potentially have another coaching search on their hands.

Oh yeah, let's not forget that the Vols also have an upcoming hearing with NCAA brass, too.

Stay tuned to KnoxVegasVols.com for more as the drama unfolds.

Originally posted here.

Ryan Wooden is currently serving as a Recruiting Analyst for http://knoxvegasvols.com/. For more recruiting updates and Tennessee-related content, be sure to check it out.

Also follow Ryan on twitter at http://twitter.com/ryan_wooden