Two days after his Vols had dropped a game at Auburn that they'll be kicking themselves over for some time to come Bruce Pearl didn't look like a man who was hopelessly looking for answers. But if you take out the 'hopelessly' bit you might not be far off.

In the immediate aftermath of the loss at Auburn, Pearl called it his team's 'most disappointing' of the season for a number of reasons.

That tune hadn't changed much on Monday.

One of the reasons is that like some fans, the coach thought his squad had started to turn the proverbial corner to some small degree at least. Another, and one that gets more tangible every week, is that the SEC is a dogfight this season that isn't going to produce multiple NCAA tournament teams.

Losing at Auburn, when you presume to be one of the teams fighting for one of those bids is not part of the plan.

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