Warlick needs to make us a serious title contender again. We haven't been to a final four in, what, seven years? That is the bar, and has been the bar for at least 20 years, not winning the SEC. Winning the SEC has never been the bar--but some fans want to make it the bar because we have not been a title contender for a while.
RE no 1 seeds, do we know that Maryland is not going to get a no. 1? They went undefeated in the big 10, which seems worse than the SEC. They've lost twice, including a 20-point loss to Notre Dame. If we lose in the SEC tourney, we will give the selection committee an opening to make Maryland a no. 1 and us a no. 2, as we will have four losses. I also think there will be committee members who will not want two No. 1s from the same conference--I can guarantee that. We will have a better RPI/strength of schedule, but that doesn't always make the difference. Either way, I predict that UT will be put with Maryland in an NCAA bracket--one of us a 1 and the other a 2, unless we beat SC in the tournament and are the 3rd no. 1 seed in the NCAA and not the 4th, which is possible but at that point there wouldn't be much difference between the Vols and SC.