by Jeff Goodman

"I'm blessed to be put in this situation," said the Suitland, Md., native. "Coach (Bruce) Pearl has basically handed the keys to me."

"I think he (Maze) puts them over the top, and they'll be a Final Four team this year," said Chris Chaney, his former prep school coach at the Patterson School.

Much of the talk in Knoxville has centered around the addition of talented and highly touted freshman Scotty Hopson and Emmanuel Negedu.

Hopson played in the McDonald's All-American Game and is arguably the most talented player that Pearl has signed in his short tenure in Knoxville. Negedu was the center of a relentless recruiting battle between Tennessee, Memphis, Indiana and Georgia Tech shortly after he was released from his letter-of-intent by Arizona in the spring.

But Bobby Maze is the key to the Vols' season.

I hate to put that on Maze, but he already knows it anyway.

"I'm the point guard," Maze said. "I know what I have to do."

Maze understands why some perceive him in a negative light. In addition to the fact that he doesn't hold back in expressing his views, it's his look.

"It's the cornrows, the braids, the tattoos," Maze said. "I understand it."

Maze has never been in legal trouble. He's also never been accused of taking plays off.

In fact, while many of his buddies were running the streets of Baltimore in high school and some were killed, Maze was a fixture at the Run 'N Shoot Athletic Center — no matter what time of day.

"It was a 24-hour gym and my cousin and I were there until three or four in the morning," Maze said. "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for that gym."

"It changed my life," he added. "I basically lived there."

That was right after Maze barely played on the junior varsity team as a freshman, logging what he estimated was "10 minutes the whole season."

"People said I sucked and I was sorry," Maze said.

But Maze wouldn't leave the Run 'N Shoot, playing with other locals such as Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Jeff Green and Ty Lawson.

Maze begged his way into Patterson, quickly won over Chaney and his teammates and then opted to go to Oklahoma — where he just didn't fit with Capel and his style of play.

"We didn't quite see eye to eye, but Coach Capel is a great coach and I don't hold anything against him," Maze said. "I thought they were going to play a lot faster than they did, but I'm not sure they had the players to play the way he wanted to."

Maze was dismissed shortly after the 2007 campaign and spent last season at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College, where he averaged 20.7 points and 6.8 assists and was a First Team JUCO All-American.

Then he committed to Maryland, but the Terps kept questioning if he'd qualify academically and Maze said he rarely heard from head coach Gary Williams, so he decided to re-open his recruitment and ended up in Knoxville.

"He has such an infectious attitude and always wants to be in the gym," Tennessee assistant Steve Forbes said. "The big difference with Bobby, though, is not only is he always in the gym, but he brings guys with him."

"Our style of play is how he's made to play," added Forbes. "He's fast, sees the floor and likes to pass the ball. He can really make plays in the open floor."

Pearl went through a number of point guards last season and none panned out. Ramar Smith and Jordan Howell weren't up to par, and it became so disastrous that Pearl opted to throw J.P. Prince at the position for the first time in the NCAA tournament.

That didn't work, either.

Now Maze is hoping to become the answer to Tennessee's point guard questions.

"This is my dream," he said. "I have a daughter now and I want to provide a better life for her. It's not all about me. This is an opportunity to help my school, my daughter and myself."

"I'm on a team that doesn't just have a chance to win the conference, but also to win a national championship," Maze added.

Much of that depends on him.