Phil Fulmer should personally thank Bruce Pearl and the basketball team for overshadowing the football team's recent woes. After all, if there wasn't a successful basketball season to focus on people might actually recognize the turmoil taking place under Fulmer's loss.

Punter Britton Colquitt's arrest for driving under the influence early Sunday morning was exactly what it took for me to finally take issue with football's off season. Fulmer responded quickly by suspending Colquitt for the first five games of next season and stripping the punter of his scholarship.

That's great and all, except this was the senior's fifth alcohol-related incident since be became a Tennessee Volunteer. So apparently at UT players are suspended one game for every time they do something illegal.

On the other hand for violating team rules a few times, which is not against the law, players get kicked off the team completely. Those punishments just don't seem to be fair to me.

Colquitt's arrest also brings the total of Vols who have had incidents with police in the last month and a half to eight. That fact brings back memories of the off season leading up to the 2005 season, and everyone remembers how that one turned out.

There had been a change during the past two seasons. Tennessee football players were running into less trouble off the field. Of course, the person who brought about that change has now left.

David Cutcliffe came back to Knoxville after the problem-filled 2005 season to help with a non-functioning offense. Reportedly, the offense wasn't the only problem Cutcliffe noticed upon his return. He also saw a program that was out of control discipline-wise. Those problems were significantly reduced the past two seasons.

Cutcliffe left Knoxville to become head coach at Duke and the problems have resurfaced. It could be a coincidence. In my eyes, though, the coach who brought discipline back to the program is now gone and the same problems have popped back up.

These problems come on the heels of a second sub-par recruiting class in the past three years. I know those rankings don't necessarily mean everything. However, the top tier of teams typically rank in the top 10 recruiting classes every year. They rarely rank in the mid 30s.

John Adams, sports editor at the Knoxville News-Sentinel, wrote a column calling for Fulmer to be fired following this season. While I don't think that decision should be made yet, if these problems continue to pop up it would almost surely have to be considered.

Luckily for Fulmer, Tennessee's basketball squad has most people not caring what's going on around the football complex. Of course, basketball season can only last so long.

Spotlight finally on Volunteer State basketball

Normally headlines like the one that appeared on the front page of ESPN.com Tuesday would have made me sick. Of course, normally stories like that only pop up about the Yankees-Red Sox, Ohio State-Michigan or North Carolina-Duke.

Teams from the Volunteer State have never received as much attention as the Tennessee Volunteers and Memphis Tigers will share this week. Not at any level or any sport. So I'm going to enjoy every second of two teams from my home state having their every move reported.

There are two other individuals who will enjoy the spotlight even more than I will, though. Bruce Pearl and John Calipari will take this week to another level compared to those other rivalries.

No offense Coach K., but these are the two most charismatic coaches I have seen in college basketball. I can think of no other coaches who like to hear themselves talk as much as these two and I guarantee they will each take full advantage of having the nation's attention focused on Saturday's game.

Pearl had already appeared on ESPN's College Gamenight within a few hours of the Vols and Tigers being announced as the nation's top two teams. Calipari wasn't far behind as he appeared on ESPN's First Take early Tuesday. It's almost a sure thing the two coaches will match each other appearance for appearance the rest of the week.

And I am ready to soak up every second of it.

Hoosiers respond to controversy

It's impossible to tell Kelvin Sampson's job may be in jeopardy by watching his Indiana Hoosiers last two games. With Sampson likely to be fired this Friday, the Hoosiers have responded with two of their best performances of the season.

Monday night's win over Big Ten leading Purdue followed up a big time win over rival Michigan State over the weekend. Now the team must sit and wait to find out the future of the man who has led them into those past two games.

While I believe the rule Sampson violated is an unnecessary one, he still violated NCAA policy and should be punished for it. Indiana hired him knowing he had those problems and it has paid the price by him doing the same things again. There is no other decision to make other than for him to be fired at this point.

My only hope is this doesn't derail what could be a special season for Indiana. Eric Gordon has emerged as not only one of the nation's best freshman, but also one of its best players overall.

Senior D.J. White has played inspired basketball all season and guards Jordan Crawford and Armon Bassett give the team two other capable scorers.

There is no doubt in my mind this is a team that could make a deep run in March Madness, and I hope the mistakes of a coach don't ruin those possibilities.