Being tournament tested shouldn’t be an issue for the Tennessee men’s basketball team. After going through the gauntlet of the Southeastern Conference this season, the Vols believe they are ready for anything to come in the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee (27-7) received a No. 2 seed for the second consecutive year and was paired with Wofford in the first round of the Midwest Region Thursday at 5:50 p.m. CDT (TNT) at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. The next round pits the winner of that game against the winner of the UCLA versus Utah State.
The SEC sent 14 teams to the NCAA tournament in the first season as an expanded 16-team conference. It’s a record for the most by a single conference in NCAA history, exceeding 11 by the Big East in 2011.
“We were right here, right in the mix in the best league in the country,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes says. “I think there’s a bunch of teams in this league that feel like us. They get in that tournament, they got a chance to go really deep into it with a chance to win it.”
Tennessee reached the SEC Tournament championship game, beating Texas and Auburn before losing to Florida in the championship game in Nashville. Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament while Florida also earned a No. 1 seed.
Tennessee reached the Elite Eight last year for the second time in program history. The Vols are still trying to break through and reach the program’s first Final Four. Having navigated such a challenging schedule gives the Vols confidence they can beat any team in the bracket.
“Through this whole regular season we’ve experienced a lot of different situations. That’s getting us ready for March,” UT senior guard Jahmai Mashack says. “We don’t know who we’re going to play, the play style, how their team is constructed. The experience we’ve had, playing the best of the best in this conference is going to help us in March, and that’s the biggest goal.”
Barnes’ culture crucial
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl, who led UT to the NCAA Tournament in all six seasons he was coaching in Knoxville, was asked what makes the Vols so successful after his Tigers suffered a 70-65 loss to Tennessee in the SEC semifinal.
“It’s character, it’s culture. It’s their faith. It’s the men that are coaching them. Great coaches and great men,” Pearl says. “There’s no issues. There’s no extracurricular. You understand how they play. You respect how they play. They respect how we play. That’s from their head coach.”
Tennessee is in the NCAA Tournament for a program record seventh-straight season, with Barnes at the helm for every trip. In his 10th season at UT, Barnes is 9-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, which is the most victories for a UT men’s basketball coach.
Barnes has taken a team to the NCAA Tournament 29 times across four different coaching stops. The veteran coach has yet to win a national title, which is about the only thing left to achieve in his Hall of Fame career.
Despite his longevity in the college game, Barnes doesn’t take for granted seeing his team’s name pop up on the screen on Selection Sunday. He knows many other programs would love to be in UT’s position, and wants his players to savor every remaining moment they get to play together.
“Because of what they’ve done, we get to play in March Madness,” Barnes says. “I want them to go and I want them to enjoy the experience. I know they want to win it as well as all of us. We want to win it.”
Lady Vols receive No. 5 seed
Like the football team, the Tennessee women’s basketball team will begin its postseason journey in Columbus, Ohio.
The Lady Vols (22-9) received a No. 5 seed in the Birmingham 3 Regional of the NCAA Tournament and will play No. 12 South Florida (23-10) at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center Friday at 7 p.m. CDT (ESPN). The winner will play either No. 4 Ohio State or No. 13 Montana State in the second round Sunday.
The Lady Vols prolonged their NCAA Tournament streak of appearing in the field every year since the first NCAA Tournament in 1982. They will be making their first appearance under first-year head coach Kim Caldwell. Tennessee is 34-2 in first-round games, including 9-1 at neutral sites.
“I think we feel good. We are excited. We have players that might not have been to the NCAA Tournament before; with the Selection Show, it was just fun to see everybody smile and hearing our name being called,” Lady Vols senior guard Jewel Spear says. “But we also have people with experience in the NCAA Tournament, so just having a goal in front of us and focusing on the first game at hand and going from there.”
The top 16 seeds in the 68-team women’s field host first- and second-round games, with the regional rounds being played at two neutral sites for the third straight year. Spokane, Washington and Birmingham, Alabama will each host half the Sweet 16 teams.