As the tailspin that has seen Tennessee drop seven of its last nine contests continues, the possibility of competing in the NCAA tournament that once existed during mid-January has all but disappeared.
But even with the highest of the postseason aspirations continually fading, the Vols haven’t given up on that objective.
“My goal is to still find a way to get into the NCAA tournament, which at this point in time looks like we’d have to win the SEC tournament,” Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall said. “We all understand how hard it would be to win one game (in the SEC tournament), but that’s still our goal.”
If UT does not end up cutting down the nets in Nashville, Tennessee, though, a postseason appearance is not out of the question.
Currently, the Vols are listed as a No.7 seed in Bracket Matrix’s weekly NIT projection where they would face a NCAA tournament bubble team in the Oregon Ducks, who are projected as a two-seed.
If that NIT bubble the Vols find themselves sitting on were to burst, however, their last chance at participating in the postseason would come in the form of a College Basketball Invitational bid, something Tyndall was not willing to push to the side.
“I’m all for playing extra games,” Tyndall said. “That would be a decision Dave Hart, John Gilbert and I would have to discuss and talk about. After this season, that would not be something I would want to consider, but I think any postseason with this particular team, as youthful and inexperienced as we are, would be quite an accomplishment.”
The statement voices an opinion that is vastly different from others in the past, most notably Indiana’s stance.
On March 17, 2014, Indiana athletic director Fred Glass publicly declined an invite to participate in the 16-team postseason tournament, telling the Indianapolis Star “We are Indiana. We don’t play in the CBI.”
Nonetheless, the Vols would take it, and for good reason as the CBI, which was founded before the 2007-08 season, has helped trampoline a number of programs into a more prominent role in the past.
In 2010, VCU took its invite and ran with it, ultimately defeating Saint Louis to claim the title. The following year, the Rams were celebrating their first Final Four appearance in program history under second-year head coach Shaka Smart.
After a 21-18 record that left them with a seventh place finish in the then-PAC-10, the Oregon Ducks defeated Creighton in games two and three of their championship three-game series only to be dancing in the Sweet 16 two years later.
Pittsburgh has turned its 2012 CBI title into back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances over the past two seasons.
The Vols, however, are not just hoping for a similar story of emergence. They are expecting it.
“As we move this thing forward,” Tyndall said, “we will have one goal, and one goal only, and that will be to play in the NCAA.”
