Let’s dance
Tennessee opens NCAA Tournament play this afternoon at 12:40 p.m. ET against Wright State, and the Hype Machine is already cranked up to 11:
Bring the Madness. #GBO pic.twitter.com/KAusXJzG7s
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 15, 2018
Don’t pick us.pic.twitter.com/cGmCl55gTS
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 14, 2018
On our way.
TYS DAL pic.twitter.com/wWCc9f6dhR
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 13, 2018
Recapping a productive day of NCAA Tournament prep in Dallas#GBO #MarchMadness
@JordyBow3 pic.twitter.com/J7VeDpNm6l
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 15, 2018
.@Vol_Hoops are ready to perform on the greatest stage. pic.twitter.com/yppEZHpERS
— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 15, 2018
Even the objective media types are adding to the momentum:
Since I don’t hear a lot of talk about them, worth noting that Tennessee is the SEC team most likely to get to the Final Four.
— Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) March 13, 2018
But those particular horses must be held, as Tennessee has to get by Wright State first. The Raiders aren’t highly-ranked by KenPom (No. 131 this morning), but they can play defense and score points from the free throw line. They are going to have a real challenge, though, with Tennessee’s physicality.
So what do the Vols need to do to advance today? Well, every time Will has identified exactly what makes the Vols tick, they go full chameleon curveball and surprise everyone by ticking yet another a new way.
So, we’ll just have to see what they have in store for us this afternoon. We’ll have a game thread later this morning for the 12:40 tip on truTV.
ICYMI
It’s not too late to join the Gameday on Rocky Top bracket contest.
Tennessee is one of seven teams that will be featured on NCAA March Madness Confidential, which means we’ll get to see some extra behind-the-scenes stuff peppered into the tournament coverage this year. Nice.
Rivaling the Bruce Pearl Timeline and Brian Williams’ weight loss as the most-repeated go-to talking point for color analysts is the subject of Admiral Schofield’s first name. You may be tiring of it, but I’m hoping to hear it about six more times.
UTSports has an excellent feature on Rick Barnes and how he has positively affected the culture throughout the Tennessee athletic program.
Not to be outdone, the News Sentinel has a great feature on Vol Chris Darrington having to cope with the loss of a friend.
DylanVol takes another look at Vols’ hoops recruiting.
This is about a week late, but I neglected to post it earlier, and because it will never get old, I’m posting it now:
.@JordanBone23 started to say the Vols didn’t have a great rebounding game tonight. Then I told him they had 50. pic.twitter.com/SAMSsujJpv
— Mike Wilson (@ByMikeWilson) March 10, 2018