Gameday on Rocky Top

The Jayhawks are champs, and it’s on to 2023, where Tennessee will again find themselves in the national conversation. In the earliest-way-too-earlies, you’ll find next year’s Vols #11 at 247, #14 at Sports Illustrated, and #9 from Aaron Torres. Tennessee currently has the 16th-best odds to win it all in 2023 in Vegas.

Two weeks ago we compared Rick Barnes’ best teams at Texas and Tennessee, noting how three of his best seven teams in KenPom have been right here in Knoxville, including his best-ever squad in 2019. Thanks to great tournament work from North Carolina, the 2022 Vols finished .01 points higher than 2008 Texas, making this year’s team Barnes’ fourth-best ever in KenPom, and the second-best ever at Tennessee.

All of that, of course, leads to March, where all college basketball conversations will end. It remains the biggest difference between Barnes’ peak at Texas and his current run at Tennessee: the Longhorns made the Elite Eight three times from 2003-08, including a Final Four appearance.

Each of those Texas teams to advance to the Elite Eight – where the Vols have only been once – were seeded #1 or #2. As usual, not rocket science: the best teams tend to have the best chance to advance. But we also know full well there are no guarantees on Selection Sunday. Let’s take nothing away from Duke’s Final Four run, or seek to add additional meaning to Tennessee losing in round two beyond 2-for-18 from three. The 2023 Vols will still want to position themselves as high as possible in the bracket.

In the midst of frustration and an early exit, it’s easy to feel more hopeless about the process. Sites like ours exist for conversations about the trees, which can sometimes obscure the forest. And we’re well aware of Tennessee’s brand recognition value when compared to other programs who are often shooting for the top two lines of the tournament.

And in particular this year, it was hard to look at any data on Selection Sunday and find an argument against the Vols as a #2 seed. That’s especially considering the way Tennessee and Wisconsin were handled on the overall seed line from the initial Top 16 reveal on February 19, to Selection Sunday on March 13. The Badgers somehow passed Tennessee in that span on the seed line despite going 4-2 with a home loss to Nebraska and a first-game exit in the Big Ten Tournament, while Tennessee went 7-1 and knocked off Auburn, Arkansas, and Kentucky.

When we look at all of this with a microscope, it can indeed feel hopeless. So let’s zoom all the way out and go for something much more simple: the teams to earn #1 and #2 seeds tend to be the teams with the fewest losses. Set the 2021 tournament aside with covid scheduling issues throwing the math off. Since the last major round of conference expansion in 2016, #1 seeds have averaged 4.55 losses on Selection Sunday (2016-19 plus 2022). Then #2 seeds have averaged 6.25 losses. Even if the selection committee might not phrase it this way, when deciding between two teams on the top seed lines? How often does five losses vs six losses become a simple factor?

Here too, a football mentality might bleed across all sports: did you lose this week? Then you’re going down in the AP Poll. Is your 10-2 of greater quality than their 11-1? Might not matter.

Again, not rocket science: the best teams win the most games. But I do think there’s an important scheduling component here, especially with the SEC having come so far in basketball. In those 2023 way-too-earlies? Arkansas and Kentucky go #1 and #2 in two of them. The Hogs are #1 in all three. Alabama is in the Top 15 at 247 and SI; Auburn is in the Top 15 with Torres. This league isn’t going anywhere.

So for Tennessee, who routinely schedules up, is there a conversation to be had about our own process, and how it best positions the Vols for success?

Rick Barnes does a great job getting games that get his team ready, early and often. That’s a strength, not a weakness, and one I don’t see being abandoned. But watching Tennessee’s offense this year shows Barnes was already more flexible than some gave him credit for. If you’re going to get an abundance of Quad 1 games in league play now, how many of them do you want to chase in the non-conference if the goal is to be seeded as high as possible?

Tennessee Strength of Schedule in KenPom, 2002-22

The Vols finished 10th in strength of schedule this year in KenPom. And if you compare what we saw this year to 2018, just below 2022 in overall strength of schedule, note the difference in non-conference strength of schedule (NCSOS). In 2018, the Vols built their resume in large part on non-conference foes (Purdue, Villanova, North Carolina). In 2022, the SEC is even stronger, giving Tennessee a better overall strength of schedule even with a drop in non-conference scheduling.

The comparison in philosophies between Rick Barnes and Bruce Pearl is interesting. Pearl was a master of the old RPI system, routinely getting games against strong mid-major programs who were going to win a ton over the course of the season. As such, Pearl built some of his best strength of schedule ratings by playing seven KenPom Top 100 mid-majors in his six years. Barnes has only scheduled one of those foes (Furman in 2018), and prefers to go after bigger fish.

But a couple of things have changed between their tenures. The SEC/Big 12 Challenge will give you an additional non-conference showdown; the Vols don’t get to handpick their opponent, but when we’re good, they’re good. And not only has the SEC improved greatly, it’s added two games for an 18-game slate. Pearl and company played a 16-game schedule, leaving approximately 14 non-conference games each year. Barnes only has around 12.

Of those 12, history shows Tennessee normally plays:

• 2-3 games in a major preseason tournament. In 2022-23, it’s the Battle 4 Atlantis (Butler, BYU, Dayton, Kansas, NC State, USC, Wisconsin). In 2023-24, it’s Maui.
• 1 game in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge; since returning to the national stage in the 2018 season, the Vols have drawn West Virginia, Kansas, Kansas, and Texas.
• 3-4 other major conference foes, with at least two of them being away from Knoxville. We know the Vols owe Arizona a visit.
• 5-6 low-major opponents

This means more than half of Tennessee’s non-conference schedule is both meaningful and dangerous. This season, it looked like this:

• Strong: vs Villanova, vs North Carolina, at Colorado, vs Texas Tech, Arizona, at Texas (plus vs Memphis)
• Easier: Tennessee Martin, ETSU, Tennessee Tech, Presbyterian, UNC Greensboro, USC Upstate

So again, here’s the question: given the number of quality games you’re going to get in the SEC now, and the simplicity with which the selection committee might default to in choosing the best teams by who lost least? What’s the balance between getting your team ready, and getting them as many wins as possible?

As a fan, I’m incredibly grateful to Barnes and his team for playing so many meaningful games. And without RPI, I’m not sure it’s advantageous to do the old Pearl plan of a few less top targets and a few more strong mid-majors. But will we see a slight adjustment to account for the strength of the SEC?

It’s in Tennessee’s best interests to schedule to bring out its best basketball; you still want that more than you want to eat a dozen cupcakes and come to SEC play undefeated. But part of that best basketball in March is giving yourself the best possible chance to advance. Barnes has done it thrice from the one or the two line; the only other time one of his teams was seeded that high was his best-ever group here in 2019, an overtime away from another Elite Eight.

The 2023 Vols can be good enough to be in that top line conversation again. I’m curious to see how they schedule to reflect it.

Go Vols.

When Rick Barnes was hired at Tennessee, one of the early questions was, “Which Rick Barnes are we getting?” From 2003-08 at Texas, he made a Final Four, two other Elite Eights, and won the Big 12 twice. It became success the program had a hard time duplicating, a conversation we were familiar with from a football standpoint. But from a basketball standpoint, Tennessee was much more vulnerable in looking for its third coach in as many years. Barnes’ “weaknesses” still looked like strengths for the Vols seven years ago this week. (The comments from Rocky Top Talk are a good reflection of all this.)

Seven years later, his strengths are indeed now our own: a conference title when picked to finish 13th in the league, a month at number one the next season, and now our first SEC Tournament championship since 1979. The Vols have seven Top 5 wins under his watch, and are 10-7 against Kentucky. And any questions about recruiting no longer exist. The program has signed eight consensus five-stars since 2000; Barnes has five of them in the last four years.

All of that is meant to position you as well as possible in the bracket, when it all matters most. And in positioning, Tennessee has also excelled. The Vols have earned a Top 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament only five times in our history. Barnes has three of those in the last five years.

Heartbreak has followed, of course. Sister Jean. Ryan Cline. 2-for-18.

In this, we’ve found ourselves circling back to one of those first questions: “Can his success at Texas be duplicated at Tennessee?” Approached, no doubt. Approached, and counted as not just progress, but new heights. Many of the things Rick Barnes is doing at Tennessee haven’t been done here, recently or ever.

We’re also, so far, a school with a hard ceiling in March: one Elite Eight, no Final Fours. Sometimes I think this idea makes our tournament shortcomings even more painful: history is out there, just a few wins down the road.

It’s history Barnes achieved at Texas, multiple times, in the peak of his tenure there. So something we didn’t even deem necessary for success here when he was hired – can we be as good as they were at their best – has re-entered the chat.

One piece of good news on that front: in at least one way, we’ve already done it.

Rick Barnes Teams in KenPom, 2002-2022

KenPom doesn’t award trophies, at least none that I’m aware of. But it remains an excellent way to judge the overall strength of your basketball team, and make better year-to-year comparisons. Like SP+ in football, we love it for the way it assigns value to every possession, not just every outcome.

Of course, we’d trade all our highest-rated-in-KenPom stuff for more tournament wins, in a heartbeat. And Tennessee’s only team to advance to the Elite Eight in 2010 is an outlier in more ways than one: that group was a six seed, and finished the year at 18.50 in KenPom. That’s eighth-best among Tennessee teams in the last 20 years. But they won a tight 6/11 game in the first round, took advantage of an upset by beating a 14 in round two, and then cashed in on the final possessions in beating #2 Ohio State in the Sweet 16.

The old joke from football abounds here: the best way to win close games is not to play them. But in the NCAA Tournament, that option seems wildly unavailable, and earlier than we think. Unless you get a significant upset in your pod, you’re playing a Quad 1 game in Round 2.

To borrow Josh Heupel’s line about being in a race against ourselves to be as good as we can as fast as we can? In basketball, you want to be as good as you can as late as you can. One of the best ways to advance in March is to benefit from upsets around you. But in terms of what we can control, which is always a good place to start, the best way to advance in the tournament is to be a really good basketball team all year, and at your very best on Selection Sunday.

Five days later, I think this is still the most painful part of the loss to Michigan. Tennessee checked those boxes like never before, and this team was positioned to give the 2019 group a run for its money as our best ever, in KenPom and elsewhere.

But, at least for me, what we can control also comes into play in how these wins and losses are remembered. The Vols didn’t shoot 2-for-18 because they took bad shots. The loss to Michigan is simple to explain, though still not easy to live with. In this way, I don’t think it will resonate as long as some of our other tournament defeats. To me, the hardest losses to live with are the ones when you felt like you were in control of the outcome with the most to gain/lose; there are still ghosts from 2000 North Carolina and 2007 Ohio State floating around in those regards. And Tennessee’s bracket didn’t fall apart around them, a common thread of both 2000 North Carolina and 2018 Loyola Chicago, which to me is still the toughest loss during Barnes’ time here.

I’m less concerned with what some of Barnes’ teams who struggled more in the regular season did in the tournament. Sometimes teams struggle for good reasons and put it together late for even better ones; here too, our 2010 Elite Eight squad qualifies. In KenPom, you’ll note the Kevin Durant squad from 2007 is only 12th-best among Barnes’ teams in the last 21 seasons. Your mileage may vary on how far a team with the 18-year-old version of one of the best human beings to play basketball should’ve gone. But KenPom is helpful in revealing what a team is capable of over the course of the entire year, not just in its final games.

In those final games, Barnes’ very best teams at Tennessee and Texas have met various degrees of heartbreak. The 2019 Vol squad is, by this metric, his best team ever. But when we think back to that Purdue game, I’m still struck by a general absence of what exactly I’d like Tennessee to do differently. Ryan Cline hit 7-of-10 from the arc, and frustrations with officiating at the end had more to do with the rule than the call. In particular, 2019 was an incredible year for college basketball; the Virginia squad that won it all is one of the best teams of the last 20 years in KenPom, and from the Sweet 16 on they won by four, in overtime, one, and in overtime again in the finals.

If you want frustration with officiating and hard-to-live-with losses, check Barnes’ best KenPom team at Texas from 2011. In the 4/5 game with Arizona in Round 2, I’m pretty sure they lose possession on a five-second call that only goes to four. Of Barnes’ two Elite Eight squads, one lost in overtime, and the other to the 2008 Memphis squad we know well. His team that made the Final Four ran into Carmelo Anthony.

What did those Texas teams who advanced that far do differently?

• 2003 Final Four: The Longhorns earned a #1 seed, something that’s also never been done here. From there, their path to the Final Four went through a 16, a 9, a 5 (82-78 over UConn), and then #7 Michigan State was waiting in the Elite Eight. Texas won that game 85-76, then lost to Carmelo and Syracuse in the Final Four.
• 2006 Elite Eight: Playing from #2, they beat a 15, a 10, then #6 West Virginia 74-71, before falling to Big Baby’s LSU squad in overtime.
• 2008 Elite Eight: Again playing from #2, they beat a 15, survived #7 Miami 75-72, then blasted #3 Stanford by 20. #1 Memphis beat them 85-67 in the Elite Eight.

Again, not rocket science: Barnes’ teams that advanced the deepest in the NCAA Tournament were either a #1 or #2 seed. His three to achieve that at Texas all went to the Elite Eight. And his one to achieve that at Tennessee is, in KenPom, his best team ever, a Ryan Cline miss and an overtime away from the Elite Eight itself.

Maybe this is a lot of words just to say, “It’s hard to win in March.” You self-scout and all those things, and you work to make your own luck; Barnes has never been the guy to chalk losses up to misfortune, even when it might be the best available answer.

But I think the best thing Tennessee can do to win in March, it’s already doing: recruit great players, develop them well, build a cohesive unit that plays for each other, and win basketball games. That’s being done here, over the last five seasons, better than it’s ever been done. It’s being done on par with the best it was done at Texas. It didn’t manifest itself against Michigan from the three-point line, and instead went historically in the other direction. And that hurts the way sports will do you sometimes: it’s great, and it hurts. And it’s great.

The big picture, however, gives me as much reason to believe in Tennessee basketball now than ever. And I’m eager to see them chase the mountaintop again next year.

Go Vols.

Many years and one website ago, our old friends at the SB Nation Kentucky site referred to one of their losses as “an act of God.” I remember sharing a good-natured laugh about this at the time: such is the burden of Kentucky basketball, that when you lose, it has to be God’s fault first.

I thought about that earlier this year, when Kentucky shot a billion percent from the field at Rupp Arena. It was the worst statistical performance by a Tennessee defense in the last 20 years (via KenPom), at least. And Tennessee’s defense, as you know, was great. It was one of those things where the simplicity of it made it easier to stand, even when “it” was a 28-point loss to your biggest rival.

Two weeks ago today, Tennessee tied its school record by hitting 12-of-18 threes against Arkansas. The Vols were shooting 43.9% from three in their seven-game winning steak to close the regular season plus the SEC Tournament. We hit 14-of-24 (58.3%) in this building 48 hours ago.

Today: 2-of-18 (11.1%).

Tennessee’s previous low this season was 6-of-39 (15.4%) against Texas Tech. The 11.1% performance against Michigan isn’t just the worst all year, it’s one of the ten worst percentages the Vols have shot in the last 20 years (via KenPom).

I’m not sure I would even lean too heavily on the, “This team can go cold in spurts,” conversation. This wasn’t cold in spurts. There was no spurt. This was the freezer for 40 minutes. With good looks from good shooters. But today, the answer was no.

We almost won anyway. The Vols still had 15 assists, and shot 53.1% from two. Uros Plavsic had nine points and nine rebounds. Kennedy Chandler had 19 points and nine assists. The Vols turned it over just seven times.

But 2-of-18 from three beats you, in March or otherwise.

Credit Michigan for holding up their end, even short-handed. Hunter Dickinson kept them alive and well early in the second half, and his teammates picked up where he left off down the stretch. It’s our third tournament loss to the Wolverines since 2011, but this time there’s no coach waiting to be let go or a charge call we can’t live with.

Nothing is easy to live with in March. Wasn’t the case three years ago when Ryan Cline hit seven threes. Or the year before that when Sister Jean made sure it wasn’t God’s fault, but watched it hit the rim a few times just to keep ’em humble. Or any of the years before that.

It’s never easy. But it is pretty simple today. Tennessee was as hot as any team in the country, then had one of their coldest days in history.

When we lose like this, it’s easy sometimes to think of all the days as cold. Tennessee’s breaks in the NCAA Tournament have often happened next to us, instead of directly involving us. The Vols made the Sweet 16 in 2010 and 2014 by way of a 14-seed beating a 3-seed, then dispatching that 14-seed with ease in the second round. But in terms of a game just going Tennessee’s way in this thing? That’s a harder list to curate, with nothing on it like what happened to us today.

Maybe that’s the hardest part: you can play so well for so long. In Tennessee’s case, probably the best the Vols looked entering the NCAA Tournament ever. You can be hotter than you’ve ever been. And then you can be colder than you’ve ever been the next game. And then it’s done.

I love basketball. It’s my favorite sport. And thus, I don’t like reducing it to, “Who made shots?” Today was an outlier, though one I’m sure will make its way into the aggregate of many a lazier argument about the Vols.

On the whole, this team gave us so much joy. So many good memories in the regular season, the ones you bank away because you know it only ends in heartbreak for all but one in March, and we’ve only been all but eight once ourselves. And then this team won the SEC Tournament for the first time in my life.

There is much to celebrate, and there was much to be hopeful for, and then it’s just done in the simplest way. Whenever it stops being hard, maybe that will help us enjoy everything this group did accomplish more robustly.

Because whatever your list of favorite Tennessee teams is? I hope this one still has a chance to get on it.

Go Vols.

Welcome to another Dragnet version of the Four Factors Forecast, this one for today’s Round of 32 game against the Michigan Wolverines.

Score Prediction

The lines have the Vols as 5.5- to 6.5-point favorites.

KemPom projects a six-point win for the Vols — Tennessee 71, Michigan 65 — giving us a 72% chance of winning.

Hat Guy likes Tennessee by 9, 74-65 in favor of the good guys in Big Orange.

Baseline

Current numbers:

According to KenPom, Tennessee’s strength of schedule is ranked No. 10 and Michigan’s is ranked No. 7.

Four Factors: Straight-Up

Effective FG%

Turnover %

Offensive Rebound %

Free Throw Rate

Those are the straight-up comparisons. Let’s see what it all looks like with the opponent impact thrown in.

Four Factors: Opponent impact

Effective FG%

Turnover %

I like the look of that.

Offensive Rebounding %

Free Throw Rate

Go Vols.

One of the best days in sports is relevant right away: the first game of the NCAA Tournament features the other half of Tennessee’s pod in Indianapolis, with Colorado State and Michigan squaring off at 12:15 PM ET. The Vols and Lancers will follow around 2:45.

The Vols are seventh in the nation in KenPom, third in defensive efficiency, and have done all that playing the nation’s fourth most difficult schedule. There’s as much reason to believe in this Tennessee team in this tournament than any I can remember, and meaningful history is available with almost every win.

Here’s how Tennessee is most likely to get those.

Tennessee’s Best Basketball

• 24-1 with 11+ assists
• 23-1 shooting 29+% from three
• 22-1 shooting 39+% from the floor

The go-to numbers all year, with the consistent lone loss coming when the ghost of Joe B. Hall set the nets on fire in Lexington. Tennessee’s best offense is shot selection, and Rick Barnes’ teams continue to set the pace in assist percentage: sixth nationally this year, seventh in 2018, 24th in 2019.

One difference between this team and those: the number of players who can take the lead in scoring. Grant Williams or Admiral Schofield led the 2019 Vols in scoring in 28 of 37 games. This year, Tennessee’s leading scorers have been:

• Santiago Vescovi 12 games
• Kennedy Chandler 6
• Josiah-Jordan James 4
• Zakai Zeigler 4
• Olivier Nkamhoua 4
• John Fulkerson 2
• Justin Powell 1

Tennessee’s balance covers a multitude of sins, and helps promote good shot selection. An important recent development here: Kennedy Chandler had zero assists and three turnovers in the loss at Texas. Since then, he’s averaged 4.5 assists to 2.2 turnovers in the last 13 games. In his three-game run as SEC Tournament MVP: 15 assists, 3 turnovers. This offense is accelerating, and he’s at the wheel.

Against their toughest competition, the Vols also found wins just beneath those shooting and assist numbers. They beat Auburn with nine assists. They beat Arizona at 38.8% from the floor and 29.2% from the arc.

As has been the case all year, the Vols don’t need much from their shooting to win, and they’ve been getting that and more for a while now. Since the loss at Arkansas: 61-of-139 (43.9%) from the arc, seven wins, zero losses. Josiah-Jordan James in that stretch: 18-of-36 (50%). Not bad for a guy who went 14-of-63 (22.2%) in his first 11 games this season while recovering from injury.

The defense leads the way, but it can’t win by itself. Tennessee’s two best defensive performances this year by shooting percentage: 30.5% at Arkansas, 31.1% vs Texas Tech, both losses. The good news is, the Vols have mostly solved the offensive rebounding problems that plagued them in the past. Against teams not featuring Oscar Tshiebwe, the Vols went 19-2 when allowing single digit offensive rebounds. They also beat teams featuring Oscar Tshiebwe twice, despite allowing 29 combined offensive boards.

So, what beats Tennessee?

Tennessee’s defense travels everywhere except Rupp. So even when the shooting isn’t there, the defense keeps the Vols in it. What has taken Tennessee out of it this season: turnovers and poor free throw shooting.

Kentucky forced 20 turnovers at Rupp, Villanova 18 in Connecticut. The most painful portions of the losses to Texas and Texas Tech: identical 8-of-16 performances from the free throw line. Tennessee is 16-2 when shooting 68+% from the stripe.

From the few losses we’ve seen, the worst-case scenario for Tennessee is cold from the arc + sloppy with the ball + really poor free throw shooting. Against elite competition, two of the three showing up could be trouble. But Tennessee’s defense has still been so good, the Vols have had their chances in three of those seven losses. If we get back to Villanova, we’ll see if we can take anything from that one.

If the Vols get a good day from their offense, a great day from their defense tends to take care of the rest. Their ball sharing and diversity of scoring options has led to far, far more good days than not recently. And even if shots aren’t falling, taking care of the basketball and making free throws can be enough to win the day.

Tennessee’s best basketball has unfolded beautifully these last few weeks.

It could dance for a while.

Go Vols.

Since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, Tennessee has made the NCAA Tournament 16 times. Fifteen of those have come in the last 25 seasons, including 11 of the last 17. We’re getting used to this.

What we’re not accustomed to yet is advancing beyond the Sweet 16. The program’s only appearance in the Elite Eight is now 12 years old, ending a bucket shy of the Final Four in 2010. Tennessee’s six trips to the Sweet 16 since tournament expansion have come one of two ways: earn a top five seed, or get some help in the bracket. Two of Tennessee’s very best teams got there in 2008 and 2019. A pair of Vol squads won the 4/5 game in round two in 2000 and 2007. And two others found a 14 seed waiting in round two in 2010 and 2014.

Maybe you’ll find this helpful for visualizing our tournament history:

It’s easy to get ahead of ourselves when Tennessee is playing so well. In fact, I’m not sure any Tennessee team has played this well leading up to the tournament, so yeah, maybe we don’t know how to handle it at all. Jerry Green’s best teams in 1999 and 2000 won incredibly meaningful games down the stretch in the regular season, but both lost on Friday in the SEC Tournament. The same fate befell Bruce Pearl’s first two teams in 2006 and 2007.

And even those very best teams in 2008 and 2019 ran into a combination of fatigue and the schedule catching up to them. The 2008 squad was 25-2 when it went to number one, but finished 4-2 down the stretch. The 2019 squad was 23-1 before losing at Rupp, finishing 4-3 in the regular season before riding a steep roller coaster in the SEC Tournament. The 2010 team that advanced the farthest won five in a row, then lost to Kentucky by 29 in the SEC semifinals. And Cuonzo Martin’s team won five in a row in their closing run by an average of 23 points, but only one of them finished in the KenPom Top 100.

This Tennessee team was 11-5 (2-3) on January 15, and lost at Kentucky by 28. Since then they are 15-2, with a one-point loss at #6 seed Texas, and a loss at #4 seed Arkansas. In that stretch they’ve beaten #6 seed LSU, #2 seed Kentucky, #2 seed Auburn, #4 seed Arkansas, and #2 seed Kentucky on a neutral floor. Without question, they are playing their best basketball.

But before we worry about Arizona or the Final Four, consider how quickly history would be in front of this team.

Since tournament expansion, here are the highest-seeded teams Tennessee has beaten in the NCAA Tournament:

• #2 Ohio State (2010 Sweet 16)
• #4 Virginia (2007 Second Round)
• #5 UConn (2000 Second Round)

If the Vols beat Colorado State in the second round, it’ll go next on the list, tied with #6 UMass in the first round in 2014. If the Vols beat Villanova in the Sweet 16, it’ll tie 2010 Ohio State for the best team we’ve beaten in the tournament and the farthest we’ve advanced, ever.

Beyond seed or path, this Tennessee team has as good of a chance to advance as any I can remember. The tournament is also a dangerous, single-elimination affair. In 2019, Colgate hit 15-of-29 from the arc against us, and made life a lot less comfortable than we had in mind going into a 2-vs-15 game.

It’s a privilege to consider the ceiling with a team like the one we have now. But the incredibly meaningful outcomes along the way in the bracket, especially relevant to our tournament history, give us reason to celebrate every single win in this thing.

I hope there are many of them. Almost all of them can be special.

We’ve got a podcast being uploaded shortly to discuss all things SEC Tournament and the bracket, and you can once again join us in the madness with our Gameday on Rocky Top 2022 bracket challenge! We’re again playing at CBS this year, it’s free to play, and who knows…you too might win a new car and tickets to the Final Four! Follow the link to sign up, and let us know if you have any questions in the comments.

Go Vols.