ST. LOUIS - Tennessee men's basketball coach Rick Barnes hoped the selection committee would place his team in Nashville for the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament and, ideally, have the Volunteers playing on Friday.
The Vols are back in the 68-team bracket for the first time since 2014, but Barnes' preferred scenario failed to materialize. Tennessee (25-8) will open the tournament at 12:40 p.m. Thursday in Dallas as a No. 3 seed playing against No. 14 seed Wright State (25-9) in the South Regional.
The Vols delayed their departure from Scottrade Center on Sunday night after losing 77-72 to Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game so they could watch the selection show. Players clapped and cheered as their destination and opponent were announced.
After playing three games in three days to reach the SEC final, the Vols will spend today in Knoxville before boarding another plane Tuesday for Dallas.
"There's no doubt coaches have always wanted to move their (conference) championship games up to Saturday," Barnes said. "That's been a topic and it will always be a topic, because you like to have that extra day. It is what it is. The players, they want to play. There should be no frustration. It's there in front of you, so you just go play."
If Tennessee were to defeat Wright State, it would play again Saturday against the winner of the first-round matchup between No. 6 seed Miami (22-9) and Loyola of Chicago (28-5). If Tennessee wins that game, it would advance to Atlanta, where the regional will be decided. The quadrant also includes No. 1 overall seed Virginia, No. 2 seed Cincinnati, No. 4 seed Arizona and No. 5 seed Kentucky.
"Right now, it's about us getting back and getting a little bit of rest before we have to head out on Tuesday," Barnes said.
Playing on Friday in Nashville would have been an easier trip for Tennessee fans, and it would have allowed the team an extra day to recuperate and prepare.
"Everybody wants to be as close to home as they can get," Barnes said. "There's no question about that. I don't know how they put it all together. I just have confidence in them that everything is on a level playing field. It is what it is."
The No. 3 seed is Tennessee's highest in the NCAA tournament since it was a No. 2 seed in 2008, and it's the second-best NCAA tournament seed in program history.
No one on Tennessee's roster has NCAA tournament experience, but this team played well throughout a rigorous SEC slate. Eight teams from the SEC qualified for the tournament, which is the most in conference history.
"This is what I signed up for way back when I decided to come to Tennessee," graduate transfer guard James Daniel said Sunday. "We just want to make this transition, this jump from Selection Sunday to see who we've got and start preparing."
The Vols did not immediately know much about Wright State - the Raiders received an automatic bid as Horizon League champions - but Tennessee's assistants planned to have a preliminary scouting report ready when the team landed in Knoxville late Sunday night.
Junior forward Admiral Schofield attended a leadership camp over the summer with one of Wright State's players.
"It's always a great accomplishment to be in the NCAA tournament, especially for a program like us that hasn't been there in a couple years and doesn't have a really rich basketball tradition," Schofield said.
Schofield acknowledged the disappointment of Tennessee not getting placed in Nashville.
"But at the same time," he said, "hopefully some orange will be in the stands supporting us in Dallas."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.