Tennessee forward Admiral Schofield celebrates his basket late in the second half of a second-round game against Loyola-Chicago at the NCAA tournament last season. Loyola won 63-62 to end the Vols' season.KNOXVILLE - More than six months after the initial heartache, Jordan Bowden summarized the pain of the Tennessee men's basketball team's second-round NCAA tournament loss as well as could be expected.
"It was kind of hard," the junior guard said Thursday. "When we lost to Loyola and they kept winning, it kind of sucked. We could have been in that position."
Then, just as the Volunteers must do, Bowden moved on from the question about what could have been.
"It's something we got over with," Bowden said. "We're done and over with that one."
Tennessee men's basketball coach Rick Barnes watches the Vols' game against Loyola-Chicago in Dallas during the second round of the NCAA tournament last season.A surprising run to a share of the Southeastern Conference regular season championship, a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament and a heartbreaking second-round loss to Loyola-Chicago - which went on to reach the Final Four - are in the past.
Finding the way back to the tournament is what matters now for the Vols.
"We felt like we should have - well, a lot of people probably felt like they should have gone farther," sophomore forward Derrick Walker said. "But it was a great experience. We loved it. We loved it so much. It was just a great time, and we really just want to get back and do everything we can to get back."
The program held its annual media day Thursday before holding its seventh of 30 practices leading up to a Nov. 6 season opener. A year ago at this time, questions centered on how Tennessee might exceed modest expectations to sneak into the NCAA bracket.
This season, the narrative is about becoming a national contender.
Tennessee is the No. 5 team in the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook's preseason poll just a year after it was picked by media to finish 13th in the SEC.
"In terms of the outside expectations, if they're hearing it, I can tell you that they're hearing a whole different story in practice," said coach Rick Barnes, who's entering his fourth season at Tennessee. "It's the same story that we talked about four years ago. It's about us getting better, and that's where we'll keep it."
Barnes, 64, signed a contract extension during the offseason. His tone during Thursday's practice suggested his fiery demeanor will be the same for a team full of proven players as it was last season, when the roster was full of relative unknowns.
"Rick Barnes is going to be Rick Barnes," Walker said. "He's going to give us all he's got every day, and we've just got to continue to go to war with him."
Tennessee returns junior forward and SEC player of the year Grant Williams and versatile senior forward Admiral Schofield, who went through the NBA's pre-draft process before electing to return to Tennessee. Graduate transfer guard James Daniel III is the lone departed Vol who played consistent minutes last season.
Athletic sophomore wings Jalen Johnson and Yves Pons are poised for a shot at increased playing time, and freshman forward D.J. Burns will push Walker for a reserve role in the post behind Williams and senior center Kyle Alexander.
Last season is in the past, but the present competition for future playing time circles back to a lesson learned in the heartbreak of the last-second loss to Loyola. With Alexander out of the game with a hip injury sustained in a first-round win over Wright State, Tennessee struggled on defense.
"We didn't get the step up that we needed," Barnes said.
The hunt is on for the depth that could prevent heartbreak this time around.
"I think if somebody can beat somebody else out, I do believe they know we will change the lineup," Barnes said. "I do believe they know that. I don't care who it is, we want to foster that competition every day, and that's what we try to improve on."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.