DALLAS - The most important game of Tennessee's basketball season awaits when the No. 3 seed Volunteers face 11th seed Loyola-Chicago at 6:10 p.m. EDT Saturday in the second round of the NCAA tournament at the American Airlines Center.
If nervousness will be an issue for the Vols, there were no signs of it Friday afternoon as they practiced and then had a locker-room debate over the Settlers of Catan craze that has enamored part of the team since December.
The board game is a favorite of leading scorer Grant Williams, who purchased it at Walmart in December. Not everyone understands why.
Was in the middle of an in depth interview with Grant Williams about his recent Settlers of Catan board game performance when @JordyBow3's leg gave out. pic.twitter.com/RA2Xy8ji8r
— David Cobb (@DavidWCobb) March 16, 2018
"I wouldn't touch that game with a 10-foot pole," redshirt freshman John Fulkerson said.
While traveling for March Madness, @Vol_Hoops keeps the competition going off the court. pic.twitter.com/ZUgRVn3VCy
— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 16, 2018
Game players build competing settlements by using a variety of resources during their turns. The first one to reach 10 "victory points" is the winner. Williams, Brad Woodson, Lucas Campbell, Yves Pons, Zach Kent and director of player development Riley Davis are the regular players.
When the Vols are on road trips, a group text message will go out to members of the team's Settlers of Catan circuit with a simple question.
"Catan?"
"We've played a couple games in Dallas," junior guard Woodson said. "We've started playing with teams. It actually makes it really interesting and adds a new element to the game."
Graduate transfer James Daniel has played a few times but is not a regular.
"They voted me out of Settlers of Catan because I was too dominant," Daniel said in a claim immediately disputed by the Catan regulars.
Daniel said it took him one game to learn all the rules and become the best Catan player on the team. Others suggested that Daniel actually does not know the rules at all.
Williams claims to be the best player, but there's no consensus on that, either.
"I wouldn't say he's the best player, no," Woodson said. "He's gotten good. I don't know if one of us is the best now. I'm going to put Grant behind us, just because I can."
The games can get intense at times, especially when a "robber" is moved onto an opponent's spot on the board. One time Williams threatened to flip the board over.
"We were like, 'Dude, simmer down some,'" Woodson said. "It's just competitiveness between everybody. I wouldn't say it can get heated, but competitive between everybody."
Games take roughly 45 minutes to an hour, but maintaining a brisk pace of play is a point of emphasis from the circuit leaders.
Kent, who claims to have won the last two Catan games in which he has participated, gets ragged by his teammates for overanalyzing his moves.
"It's more than a board game, man," Kent said. "It's more about the pride. Every competitive thing you ever do is about pride. You can't overstate that."
Meanwhile, the Tennessee players not on the Catan circuit watch with a mix of amusement and confusion.
"I wouldn't say they're nerds," sixth man Lamonte Turner said. "But I don't play the game. I watched it one night and I couldn't really get into it. I wasn't very interested. But they love that game, man. They take it everywhere with them.
"If they left it, they would probably be miserable."
The love of Catan is real, but it doesn't cross the line into basketball. Williams leaves the game in his hotel room. He does not bring it into the arena.
"That would be an addiction," Kent said.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.