Happy SEC Basketball Tournament Wednesday: 
The SEC Tourney gets under way tonight down in Nashville. The Kentucky hardcores will be on hand to watch Vandy Vs Arkansas + Missouri Vs Georgia. Imagine the sick hoops degenerate that attends that late night Missouri Georgia thriller. Could you imagine attending this game as a non family member. On paper that looks like a horrendous night of basketball by any stretch.
Get the app! Droid | iPhone
One Bid Leagues Should Play Finals On Sunday: We have a T Mail below regarding the advantage UNC could have over Tennessee if they run out and win their tournament. The bottom line is that it makes zero sense for any of the power leagues to be playing on Sunday when they have to turn around in many cases and play on Thursday. It makes no sense. What would make sense is to give the day to the one bye leagues. As doing this would allow the committee to set the field except for the teams that play on that Sunday. Why not? This would add some charm. It's just silly to not have an extra day to celebrate and rest up.
Torvik's Pre Portal Top 25 Has Vols Ranked Highly: Torvik's reasoning is that Tennessee will have the 4th best player in the SEC this year, Aidoo, and ZZ #6. ZZ could be the favorite to land SEC Player Of The Year as a senior. Is that any good? Auburn was #5 just ahead of Tennessee. The is pre portal and way too early but fun to consider. Obviously Tennessee has a highly healthy program with 5 of their top 9 due back.
Stefan Krajisnik Of Jackson Clarion Ledger Joined Tuesday: We touched on a myriad of topics with this college hoops expert that also happens to be a Indiana graduate.
On What Knecht Could've Done For The Hoosiers: If IU would've landed him the whole complexion of the season would've been different. They had a big front line. K State made a run last year because they could score. Indiana didn't have a guy with answers on the road. Knecht was so good on the road in Starkville.
On The Miss State LSU Game Slated For Tomorrow: I think State is playing for more than LSU. They're playing better. They probably won't make it to Tennessee. And besides it's money time for Tennessee. Knecht is off the charts. I'll be disappointed if Tennessee doesn't get to the Final Four. They've got dogs and role players and a superstar that's very unselfish. Whether The Vols win this tourney or not it will be time to roll.
Stefan Krajisnik On DK: 'Knecht allows you to play in any type of game. You're going to get in a spot where you get down 9 or something like that and he's going to be able to light it up on his own. That's so unique in today's game.'
Buying & Selling SEC Teams For Big Dance:
I asked Stefan Krajisnik and Matt Dixon to trade shots on this and here's what we came up with. See what you think of this.
Buying From SEC: Stephen Buys The Vols: 'Tennessee: they're poised, they have the pieces to go to the Final Four. Look I'm from Indiana but I reject the concept that history is going to come into play like it does with Purdue.'
Matt Takes Florida: 'With the right draw they can get to the Sweet 16. This is a team that can last for a while. They're very well coached as well.'
Stefan Krajisnik Takes Kentucky: 'Is different with all those offensive options. Sheppard reads the game so well. The game seems so slow to him.'
Selling From SEC:
Matt Sells Auburn: The metrics love them but they're so different off the home floor. The splits on 3 balls from home and away are interesting. The metrics are built on home game.
Stefan Krajisnik Sells Alabama: No doubt they're going out early. I trust Kentucky more because they have more options. They were leaky with Arkansas over the weekend. What happens when it doesn't go in. I get the losses are quad one but they're not stringing together wins.'
T Mail: 'Hey Tony,
Do you think it hurts SEC tournament championship for selection that our Championship game is on Sunday and ACC plays Championship game on Saturday.
Thanks Doug in Nashville'
I haven't really considered this but you have a good point. I suppose it could be an advantage if UNC keeps winning. This would seem to tell Tennessee that they need to keep it up. Then again it could be an advantage if North Carolina loses on Saturday night. One other hidden advantage for UNC could be that the committee decides after Carolina wins that they just want to put the top seeds to bed and give the Heels the nod for the top seed if they win it. We've seen this type of thing around here before. Two seasons ago comes to mind when the Vols won down in Tampa and didn't move at all in the field. I think they're going to have to put this to bed because UNC and Tennessee will be in two different regions as #2 seeds.
If UNC is the #2 seed they'll be put in Boston with UConn. If the Vols are the #2 seed they'll be put in Dallas with Houston. This is most likely the outcome. They can't send the top #2 seed to the farthest distance away. Therefore they can't swap UNC and Tennessee. There more I think about it
they might need to wrap up seeding on Friday night so they can fill out the field. You've brought up something really interesting here Doug.
T Mail II:
'If you had told me that the Vols would finish the season 3-1 and win the SEC outright, I’d take that every day of the week.
At the point in time where we played Kentucky, they were merely a cherry on top of the season. Thus, they had nothing to lose and played like it. It’s easy to say that Tennessee could have won. The game was only close because of Kentucky miscues at the end though. It’s also pretty clear that when an opponent is shooting north of 50% from behind the arc that you’re going to be extremely hard pressed to win.
The national press will of course move the goalposts/net on us and declare that the loss was a “bad” loss. I’d counter with this; Show me the best series of 4 straight games by any team in the country. Who out there could have gone 4-0 against that schedule? Also, Someone at UT needs to have a talk with the league about how they schedule us. We had 3 of the strongest teams in the conference scheduled in our last 4 games. Carolina turned into a surprise this year only after things got cranked up.
The National Press: Tennessee needs to keep on winning in the SEC tournament.
Also the National Press: The SEC tournament doesn’t matter.
I think we need to prepare ourselves for the seeding committee to screw Tennessee regal. Not just drop them to a 2 line, but put them into the bracket with the worst matchups they could get. Something where they have an absolute war just to get out of the Sweet 16 as well as a #1 seed to defeat on Sunday to make it to Phoenix.
E in South Georgia'
E ... 9 times out of 10 I hear you but even if the committee deems UNC the #1 seed they can't screw the Vols by placing them in the toughest region. The seeds are the seeds are the seeds. In other words if Tennessee is the #5 seed overall they can't be placed in the region with the #1 seed. Therefore what Pat Forde and Seth Davis want has zero bearing on what's going to happen Sunday ...
As for the SEC Tournament mattering ... I think if you're Tennessee you really want to win at least one game and take your chances. I'm vacillating here but playing 3 games in a row before a huge week seems excessive. Think about it. If you're Tennessee and you play on Sunday you would get Monday off. Then you would be forced to have a light practice on Tuesday before traveling. Wednesday before the tournament game would be a travel walk through day in Charlotte. Thursday is the game. It seems like losing Saturday would help Tennessee set the week and get ready for what awaits on the following Saturday in the round of 32. Will Tennessee consider trying Triple J at the 5? Will they have a special package for Awaka? Will they have something for Mashack.
Last year the four winners on Sunday's conference tournament finals: Penn State beat A&M and lost to Texas. Alabama won the SEC and lost to SDSU in the Sweet 16. Houston lost in the Sweet 16 as #1 seed. They came very close to losing to Auburn in the round of 32. The Cougars beat Northern Kentucky by 11 after leading by only 4 at the final TV timeout. Memphis won the American and lost to FAU. All these were Sunday winners. The more I think about it, the more it seems not worth fighting for. Just sayin'.
TLD Logistics Tennessee Baseball Report:
Matt Dixon
'Voltellos batting practice vs EKU
Tennessee used Tuesday night’s 17-2 run-rule victory over Eastern Kentucky as batting practice.
The Volunteers improved to 17-1 on the season and will take a 16-game winning streak into SEC play.
Tennessee hit five home runs and scored in five of their six innings at the plate.
A Kavares Tears RBI single to left field gave Tennessee a 1-0 in the bottom of the 1st but the Vols left the bases loaded.
Hunter Ensley hit his 2nd home run in as many games in the 2nd inning to make it 2-0.
Tennessee then exploded for five runs in the 3rd and six runs in the 4th to take a 13-0 lead.
Dylan Dreiling’s 6th home run of the season in the 3rd inning was a 2-run shot to make it 5-0. Tears led off the bottom of the 4th with his 5th of the season. Christian Moore’s 2-run oppo shot later in the inning made it 13-0.
EKU loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the 5th and scored two runs after most of Tennessee’s starters were already out of the game.
Cal Stark hit a pinch hit grand slam in the bottom of the 6th. It was the Vols’s 4th grand slam in the last six games.
Zander Sechrist made his typical midweek start. He faced the minimum in his 3.1 innings of work and struck out three.
Notes: — Lefty Chris Stamos made his first appearance since leaving the High Point game with an injury. The Cal transfer retired both batters he faced in the 4th inning and earned the win, his 3rd of the season.
—
Robin Villeneuve started at 1st base in place of Blake Burke, who was suspended after getting ejected in Sunday’s game vs Illinois. Worth noting because the Vols didn’t really have a backup 1st baseman last season.
— Freshman Brady Robertson made his UT debut in the 6th inning. The righty allowed a leadoff single, but then got a strikeout and fly out.
— In all, 17 Vols got at least one plate appearance and Tennessee used seven pitchers.
— After struggling to begin the season, Hunter Ensley has been swinging well recently. A very good sign entering SEC play.
@Mattdixon3'
We preview a handful of teams Tennessee could see in the NCAA Tournament. There are a good 15 teams Tennessee could face as a #1 or #2 seed and we'll unpack it tomorrow.
Plus We'll Do Our Tennessee Team Awards as well ...
Matt Dixon Encapsulated Knecht Perfectly: 'Knecht is one of the best March players in college basketball this year.'
ICYMI: Highlights from Monday's Blog Jerry Palm has the Vols as a #1 seed in his latest survey. He has the Vols heading west where they'll be placed with Arizona.
The Vols are set up comfortably to either be the 4th #1 seed or the first #2 seed. Either is a solid option, but the Vols would want to be a #1. I'll share below the reasons why.
Comparing Tennessee & UNC The Vols and Tar Heels are going to battle it out for the final #1 seed on the board. With Arizona losing over the weekend, they appear out of it and will be the #2 seed in the West. This means that either Tennessee or UNC will be the #1 seed in the West. Let's drill down from here ...
Vols are 24-7. Net 5. Ken Pom 5. SOR (Strength Of Record, Huge Metric) #5. KPI (Team sheet used by Committee similar to Ken Pom) #3. Torvik #6. SOS (strength of schedule) #9. Quad One 7-6. Quad One A (games vs best of the best top of bracket teams) 6-3. Quad 2 6-1. Quad 3 6-0. Quad 4 5-0. Road & Neutral 10-5.
UNC Is 25-6. Net 7. Ken Pom 8. SOR #4. KPI #5. Torvik #8. SOS #25. Quad One 7-4. Quad One A 4-2. Quad 2 6-2. Quad 3 7-0. Road and Neutral 11-5.
Other Considerations: Carolina Beat Tennessee by 8 at home on 11/29. The Vols called a timeout to run a play to get a 3 ball to make it look closer.
The Weekend Had To Close The Gap Between Tennessee & UNC: The Vols were pretty far ahead coming into Saturday. Tennessee losing to Kentucky hurt. As did Florida losing to Vandy thus falling from Quad One. Plus UNC beating Duke is huge for the Heels case.
If Vols Are A #2 Seed: Dallas From Knoxville - 840 Miles
Detroit From Knoxville - 510 Miles
Boston From Knoxville - 900 Miles
If the Vols are a #2 seed, they will go to one of these sites. They would be the #1 #2 seed, meaning they couldn't be put with the site of the #1 seed. That right now is Purdue in Detroit. This leaves Boston or Dallas. Both of these are decent distances. It seems to me that Tennessee would rather play Houston in Dallas as #2 seed than face UConn in Boston. UConn in Boston sounds like a great way to get put out of the tournament. Who is going to beat UConn in Boston? That sounds highly unfair. Looking at this is why, if you're the Vols, you really want to get a #1 seed and get grouped with Arizona.
The Advantage Of Being A #1 Seed For Vols: First round you draw a walkover. 16's are getting better, but you have a 99.9 percent chance to win as a #1 seed. Your second round is versus an 8 or 9 seed which is formidable. The Round of 16 is where you really feel an advantage. As a #1 you're going to see either a 4-13 or 5-12 matchup, which many years can mean beating some Cinderella #12 or #13 to get to the Elite 8. And this is a HUGE advantage over being a #2 seed where you have to see either a #3, #6, or a #11. And keep in mind that a few mid major final four teams were #11 seeds in recent years. One of the things that's hurt Rick Barnes at Texas and Tennessee is failing to land on the #1 line when he's had an opportunity. It's just a MAJOR advantage when you look into the mathematics.
Coming Out Of The West Can Be Really Good: 4 of UConn's National Championships were won coming out of the West. Last year, they beat Gonzaga in Las Vegas in the Elite 8 to get there. A #1 seed in the west is very much worth fighting for.
North Carolina Is In Action Thursday Versus Va Tech: We have to cheer for Va Tech to clip them and/or their next opponent, which would be Pitt or Wake Forest. Steve Forbes' guys will need a win. They need to scratch and claw to get in. Steve Forbes is the modern day Seth Greenberg. He's had very nice teams that just live on the bubble. This year is no different.
At This Point It's A Certainty That Tennessee & UNC Will Begin In Charlotte In First Round: They won't be grouped in the same region though. They'll just be placed there for pod purposes. So go ahead and buy your tickets to the first round. It's a stone cold lock that the Vols will play there. Duke losing over the weekend sealed this. It's not a choice either. It's about miles from campus.
It's Also A Certainty That Tennessee & UNC Are Fighting For Final #1 Spot:
Arizona is thought to be eliminated with the loss to USC over the weekend. They can't do enough in their conference tourney to get back.
Orange Throat
'T Club Team:
Random musings as the Basketball Vols absorb a stinging loss in the home finale:
THE KENTUCKY LONG RIFLES ... Shot the lights out at the Food Thom Saturday. The uber-talented Wildcats seized the initiative in this game from the start and took it to the #4 ranked Volunteers. This has to go down as one of Big Blue Nation's favorite wins at Knoxville in recent years, as this game went to the post with UK as a 7.5-point underdog to the SEC champion Vols on Senior Day.
WILL THERE BE LINGERING DAMAGE ... From this game to the Tennessee team's psyche and standing in the NCAA tourney? The Volunteers' appearance at the SEC tourney this week perhaps just became more important to address both concerns. On Friday, they'll either face a Mississippi State team fighting on the bubble to make the NCAA or an LSU team with nothing to lose. The good news is we wouldn't have a chance to see Kentucky until the Sunday title game. Not sure TGMD could stomach two losses to the Big Blue in a span of eight days.
RICK BARNES' 9TH TENNESSEE TEAM ... Finished 14-4, matching the 2022 team's league record but this team won the league outright. The biggest thing you don't want to copy from the '22 team is the second round exit in the NCAA tourney.
VESCO AND TRIPLE J'S OFFENSE ... Doesn't matter until it does. Let's all agree Rick Barnes' team could go all the way to the championship game in Phoenix and not see an offensive onslaught like they saw out of Kentucky. Let's also agree that Josiah Jordan-James gave a much better account of himself in his final game at The Thom than his teammate from Uruguay. It was sad to see Vesco struggle so badly after such a good career at Tennessee.
IT WAS ALSO ALARMING ... In its implications for the Big Dance. With Freddie Dilione's lack of progress, Jordan Gainey has played way more than he probably should be. No offense. Saturday, Gainey looked like a kid who didn't belong on the floor.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR.... Vol staffers were telling the sheep in the UT basketball media corps that Dilione was going to be special. He was going to be different than all of the other freshman flops because he enrolled in January of 2023. National NBA talent evaluators were listing him on 2024 first round forecasts. Fourteen months in the Tennessee program hasn't done much to keep Dilione from the same fate as most freshmen in this program. He's played double digit minutes only once since early November, and that was in the blowout over Vandy. So, it's going to be sink or swim with Santiago, whose defense is still real good in most games.
BASEBALL VOLS WIN 15TH STRAIGHT ... In completing the sweep of Illinois. Tennessee's pitching was consistently good as usual, paced by A.J. Causey and Drew Beam with winning starts and Nate Snead getting the dub in relief yesterday. Blake Burke stayed on his heater with a 5-for-9 weekend that featured two homers and three doubles. The only thing that slowed Burke down was the home plate umpire who tossed him yesterday. Eastern Kentucky is up tomorrow and then it's on to Tuscaloosa to open the league with a good Alabama team.
LADY VOLS TO BE SHIPPED WEST? That's what Beano and Charlie Creme were projecting yesterday, improving K.J. Harper's squad to a 7-seed after the Lady Vols advanced to the semifinals and nearly knocked off #1 South Carolina. Beano thinks Tennessee will be sent to Los Angeles for the first round and would play 2-seed Southern Cal in round 2. Upset the Women of Troy and they move up the coast to Portland, OR for the regional.
Orange Throat'
Tony
Stand With The Tony Basilio Show
Join the T Club
Make a One-Time Donation
Send Us A T-Mail. Click Here.
Click to subscribe on Apple Podcasts
Get the app! Droid | iPhone
@TonyBasilio
