Tennessee has witnessed the SEC’s unpredictability all season.
Saturday’s loss to South Carolina, a team the Vols beat in Columbia on Jan. 20, provided just the latest piece of evidence.
Odd as it may be, though, that defeat is also the reason Donnie Tyndall is not hanging his head as the Volunteers enter the SEC Tournament on Thursday.
“There’s not a team in our league that we don’t feel like we can beat, and there’s not a team in our league that we don’t feel like can beat us,” the first-year Tennessee head coach said. “It’s that even of a playing field.
“No one is looking ahead, I can assure you of that. We have our hands full with Vanderbilt, but I do think outside of Kentucky, everybody would say top to bottom that it’s pretty wide open.”
Kentucky is the obvious exception, but aside from the undefeated Wildcats, the SEC has proven to be the definition of parity this season, with every team other than UK suffering at least five conference losses.
Take the Vols, who finished 10th in the conference, as the case study.
Tennessee has dropped four contests at home this season to teams it defeated on the road. Yet, the Vols have defeated Arkansas and LSU — ranking second and third in the league, respectively — and have had a shot to win or tie in the final seconds on the road against Georgia and Ole Miss, two teams that could both meet UT in the semifinals of the tournament.
With Vanderbilt and Arkansas on the horizon, a deep tournament run may not be easy, but it is not something Tyndall thinks is impossible.
Postseason pondering: Despite stating on Feb. 23 that he would like to play in a postseason tournament, even the College Basketball Invitational — a tier below the NIT — Tennessee and Tyndall have yet to make a decision on their postseason plans.
“There is no update at all,” Tyndall said. “We’ll just see how things play out this week.”
Currently, the Vols hover around the NIT bubble and don’t find themselves in the field according to Bracket Matrix’s latest projection, which came out on March 4.
Those projections, however, may not end up making a difference for the Vols.
In order to make the NIT field, a team must have a record of .500 or better, meaning UT would not qualify for the tournament if it were to drop its opening matchup against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament.
