March approaches. Tennessee is holding firm on the three line in the Bracket Matrix, with clear divisions emerging among the top ten teams. At this point it would be a surprise to see something other than the current groupings in the matrix on the one and two lines, plus Kansas […]

Tennessee goes for its sixth ranked win of the year at #25 Texas A&M on Tuesday night. The Vols, in fact, are 5-1 against the Top 25 this year (and 4-1 against the Top 15), the lone loss at #9 Arizona. Tennessee got it done against #3 Kansas, #13 Maryland, […]

Just on the basketball side of things, just for a moment. Tennessee has now beaten #3 Kansas, #10 Texas, and #1 Alabama. It’s February 15. That’s good, because last year’s team beat #6 Arizona, #4 Kentucky, #3 Auburn, then #5 Kentucky again for good measure. In 2019, the Vols beat […]

What’s the best way to follow back-to-back heartbreak? Here comes the biggest opportunity of the season. Tennessee and Alabama have played some good ones, with four of the last five meetings being decided by five points or less. Since Nate Oats arrived, Alabama has won three of four: the Vols […]

It was a “check the media guide” night, and sadly not in the fun way. Apparently I’d blocked from memory that Vanderbilt hit 18 threes against us in 2005, the Thompson-Boling Arena record. In Rick Barnes’ tenure, at least, the only teams to hit more than the 14 Missouri fired […]

If defense is the constant, predicting what we need on the offensive end is still a moving target. So, sure: make shots. The Vols are 227th nationally in effective field goal percentage, the lowest ranking of any of the Rick Barnes tournament teams in Knoxville. In SEC play, the shooting […]

Start going back through Tennessee’s best shooting games under Rick Barnes, and you discover very quickly how much we enjoy playing Arkansas: UT’s Best Three-Point Shooting Games (10+ Makes, 2018-23) 2022 Arkansas: 12-of-18 (66.7%) 2018 Arkansas: 11-of-17 (64.7%) 2019 Arkansas: 11-of-18 (61.1%) 2022 Longwood: 14-of-24 (58.3%) 2023 Mississippi State: 12-of-21 […]

Even with the loss at Florida, the Vols are projected to finish the regular season at 25-6 (14-4) in both Torvik and KenPom. In recent history, that number would be topped only by 2000 (24-5), 2008 (28-3), and 2019 (27-4). Of course, that probably doesn’t make Wednesday’s loss feel much […]

Brackets are coming fast and furious now. And on February 1, at least for the moment, we have consensus between the AP poll, the Bracket Matrix, and Bart Torvik’s predictive bracketology. Team AP Matrix TRank KenPom Purdue 1 1 1 5 Tennessee 2 4 3 1 Houston 3 3 2 […]

The Vols continue to play at an all-time pace in Knoxville, by any metric you want. In raw wins, 17-3 through the first 20 games trails only 2000 (18-2), 2008 (18-2), and 2019 (19-1). In the polls, the 2000 Vols topped out at #5, while both 2008 and 2019 went […]