When Tennessee got romped by Vanderbilt 90-71 last night in Nashville, it once again left many Vols fans scratching their heads. In reality though, the game answered the biggest question of them all: Will Tennessee make a run in the NCAA Tournament this year?
Sorry, folks. It's not going to happen. In fact, this loss essentially knocks Tennessee out of contention to defend their SEC East crown. Even though the Vols beat No. 1 Kansas in January, all of the sudden they're not even a sure thing to make it into the tournament.
This team seems to be absolutely incapable of winning outside of Knoxville. Four of their five losses this season have been away from Thompson-Boling Arena. This just in: the Vols won't get to play any postseason games in front of their home fans.
The best teams play well wherever they go, because at the end of the day, it's still the same size ball on the same size court with the same rules. The only difference is what color sweatshirts the crowd is wearing.
No. 12 Tennessee is supposed to be an elite team, but it hasn't been very convincing. In fact, any time a Bruce Pearl team has had weight upon their shoulders they've collapsed.
Despite poor play toward the end of the season in 2006, the Vols received a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament in Pearl's first year at UT. They needed a buzzer beater from Chris Lofton to make it past 15-seed Winthrop in the first round. They lost 80-73 to Wichita State in the second round.
The Vols once again had a No. 2 seed in the 2008 tournament, even though many argued they should have been a top-seed. They had an extremely difficult draw, but the Vols were also supposed to be one of the nation's top teams. Despite this, they stumbled past American and Butler, then suffered a devastating 79-60 loss against Louisville in the Sweet 16.
Last season was probably the biggest example of the Vols self-destructive tendencies. With Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism leading the team, as well as the addition of McDonald's All-American Scotty Hopson, Pearl's team looked poised to defend their overall SEC Championship. All it did though, was make a season-long drop out of the top 10 and put together embarrassing performances, culminating in a first-round exit against Oklahoma State.
The only time a Pearl-run Vols team has lived up to the regular season hype it created for itself was in 2007.
The Vols lost a few key SEC games late in the season due to the absence of Lofton to injury and eventually earned a No. 5 seed for the tournament. The team scored a school-record 121 points in a win against Long Beach State in the first round then upset fourth-seeded Virginia in the second round.
UT fell 85-84 in the Sweet 16 against eventual national-runner-up Ohio State, when their 3-point shooting went cold in the second half. Nevertheless, it was the only time Tennessee put together consecutive games that were noteworthy in the NCAA Tournament under Pearl.
Tennessee has had to overcome adversity this season, but we saw that they are very much capable of winning. It's inexcusable that a team with this much talent can lose by 19 points in a rivalry game that has postseason implications.
Pearl has proven to be a solid regular season coach, but he needs to figure out how to keep his team focused and get them playing to their potential in the next month.
Otherwise it will be another year wasted.
(Read the original story at TNJN.com)
