It’s true that there’s no science in the win or go home scenario of the NCAA Tournament. They call it March Madness for a reason. However, when a team opens the Big Dance doing something wildly different from what they have done all year, even in a comfortable win, you have to raise their eyebrows.
On the surface, No. 2 seed Tennessee Basketball shouldn’t worry about a 15-point win over the No. 15 seed Wofford Terriers. The Vols, ranked No. 6 in both polls and now 28-7, can say they won a game comfortable against a dangerous mid-major that actually had a red-hot three-point shooting night.
Wofford, which made nine three-pointers a game on the year and shot 34 percent from three, managed to shoot 11-of-26, or 42.3 percent, in this one. These are the type of games superior teams have to survive in March Madness, and Tennessee did just that.
However, it’s not indicative of the way the Vols play.
Maybe other teams just hope and pray their opponent doesn’t get hot from three, but that’s not how Rick Barnes coaches. Teams shot 27.8 percent from three on the year against the Vols, giving them the best three-point defense in the nation. They contest every shot and give every team hell on that side of the ball.
Even if Wofford, which finished the year 19-16 after winning the Southern Conference Tournament championship, as a No. 6 seed, could get red-hot, the Vols should have controlled them easily. The Terriers, led by third-year head coach Dwight Perry, are not athletic and only have one legitimate big. UT should have contested every shot.
They didn’t.
If you watched the game, the Vols weren’t coming off screens or rotating nearly as well as they had been during the season. That brings up a fundamental question: Is this team tired? Dave Hooker wrote earlier in the week the history of SEC Tournament championship game teams in the NCAA Tournament. Spoiler alert: They flame out.
Well, the Vols played in the tournament title game this past Sunday, playing three games in three days, and this is the toughest the SEC has ever been. Doing that was more of a grind than it has ever been. Then they opened March Madness on a Thursday rather than a Friday.
Add in the fact that they only go seven-deep, and it’s easy to see why they could end up being too tired. Wofford was able to cover the spread and hit its over just with its three-point shooting. If there’s one thing Tennessee wouldn’t allow to happen all year, it’s that.
Given the fact that they have to play another game two days later, the Vols may be running out of energy. Of course, if they win Saturday, they have a chance to recharge their batteries before the Sweet 16, and they have a good matchup in the Round of 32 for them. Will the fatigue be too much, though?
At the same time, maybe it wasn’t fatigue. Wofford shot over 40 percent from three in every SoCon Tournament game and has been on more of a roll than it has been all year. Maybe in just this one game they were truly able to take it up to another level. Also, there’s a chance Barnes coached his players to dial back their energy.
Simply put, a lot of factors could have gone into this, but the Vols looked a step slower on the perimeter in this game. If that continues, they’ll suffer another early exit in March Madness, which would be devastating given the potential of this team and the bracket they are in.
