Coach Bruce Pearl wants to keep the University of Tennessee's basketball playing rotation at nine players; maybe 10 if the Vols need rebounding help from freshman center Brian Williams.
It sounds simple.
But the math doesn't add up.
Versatile sophomore J.P. Prince -- a 6-foot-8 high school All-American from Memphis who can play anywhere but center -- will make his UT debut Saturday night in Nashville game against Western Kentucky.
"J.P.'s going to jump into the rotation," Pearl said Wednesday. "I knew back in the fall that he was one of our top nine players.
"He'll move into the rotation and probably play one of the wing spots."
That would give the Vols 10 players -- 11, counting Williams. That's one more than Pearl wants.
Nine Vols played in last week's 76-70 win at UT-Chattanooga, and Williams wasn't one of them.
Pearl said Prince's minutes will come from either one player or one group of players at the 1, 2 and 3.
Starting senior guards Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith and Jordan Howell obviously won't sit the entire game, and freshman wing Cameron Tatum is already out of the main rotation.
That leaves sophomores Josh Tabb and Ramar Smith as the most vulnerable victims.
After several fair but repetitive questions concerning the specifics of his rotation, Pearl's wise-cracking, New England background surfaced.
"You might have to actually go to the game (Saturday) and see," Pearl said. "If you'd like the scouting report, I could hand it to you. You guys are from Knoxville, Tennessee, right? Can I check your credentials? Any of you from a Bowling Green, Kentucky station?
"You're going to have to wait and actually let me coach a little bit ... But J.P. will be out there."
Regardless, several Vols probably won't be 100 percent Saturday. Tabb and junior forward Ryan Childress continue to battle through ankle injuries, though both practiced Wednesday and said they would be fine. "It's coming around," Childress said. "It's still a little sore. There's some tendonitis-type stuff coming along with it, but it's doing all right."
Childress said he wasn't sure when he'd be full-speed, but that it "might be a few weeks."
"It just depends on how much treatment I can get done and how I can take care of it," he said. "We've been running on it a lot, doing a lot of conditioning. It's flared up a little bit, but I've just got get keep rehabbing."
Williams was in street clothes Wednesday after having a wisdom tooth removed Tuesday. He and the coaches didn't want the procedure done during the season, but he said "it hurt so bad that I couldn't sleep for a week." Williams said he would try to practice today but would play Saturday.
Not that he'll definitely play, any way.
Western Kentucky (7-2) isn't a pushover. Pearl can't tinker with the lineup for tinkering's sake.
Behind senior guard Courtney Lee -- a "first-round NBA pick," according to Pearl -- the Hilltoppers have beaten Michigan and Nebraska this season and lost 74-71 to Gonzaga.
"I know how good Western Kentucky is," Pearl said. "They're one of the better mid-major programs in the country."
Pearl has personnel plans for the Hilltoppers, but those plans won't be public until Saturday night.
"We've got new guys in the mix -- J.P., Tyler, Brian, and J.P. comes in midstream," Pearl said. "There's a number of different adjustments that need to take place, and that's fine. That's what takes place throughout the season. Is it a little late in the year to be making those adjustments? Yeah, but it's not often you get a mid-semester guy, and we've had a lot of injuries.
"No excuses, but there's been a lot of movement in the rotation due to injuries ... and other little things."
Tyler Smith and Childress said they didn't anticipate Prince's minutes causing any problems.
"Coach does a great job of handling that stuff and addressing guys that need to be more flexible with their minutes and getting the most out of them," Childress said. "He's stressing right now that when you're out there, go as hard as you can, because the next guy's on the bench ready to go.
"And with J.P., that just gives us another advantage."
