I'm trying to project what I expect my Vols to do in the NCAAT and have been conflicted. Obviously, the last 2 games have sucked and we have historically performed poorly in the tourney.
But the last two games have not been our typical play this year and were preceded by a long run of wins. Some of those wins were high intensity elite wins and some were against teams comparable to lower seed NCAAT teams. Then I think about how most of this roster played deep into the NCAAT last year without a PG due to ZZ's injury and lost due to not having enough offensive firepower. I think about how competitive we were early this year against multiple top programs while learning to play together (same for our competition). We lost a few but also won some good games including beating the teams playing for B10 tournament championship.
We had huge away wins in conference play and were dominant again at home. We lost a few games to unranked but talented, athletic and physical teams that were able to muddy up the game. It's concerning but we also won some games against those type of teams and won the regular season championship of the most physical/athletic conference in the country.
Overall, I feel much better going into the tournament this year than I did last year. We rarely have multiple losses in a row under Barnes and typically go on a run after we do. Knecht can take over and won't be as scouted by non-SEC programs. I think we get farther this year as a 2 seed than we have in program history.....not sure what but I think we break that F4 ceiling this year and who knows from there. We only have a couple of possible games against the type of physical teams that give us trouble. Win those and we have a legit title shot.