KNOXVILLE -- Who really wants to go to the NIT anyway?
Or, to more accurately frame the mindset of Tennessee's Big Orange Nation: When does spring football practice begin?
Not that those questions were on anyone's mind as the Tennessee men's basketball team took to its Thompson-Boling Arena court Saturday afternoon against South Carolina, the Volunteers looking for their 16th straight victory against the Gamecocks.
Given Wednesday night's 15-point win at LSU, plus the Gamecocks' gut-wrenching home loss to Arkansas, there appeared no reason to believe any scenario but that sweet 16th could possibly occur.
And should that happen, the Vols were going to improve to 8-10 within a far-tougher Southeastern Conference and 16-14 overall, which would create at least a plausible argument for a National Invitation Tournament bid, assuming the Big Orange failed to win this week's SEC tournament for a 36th straight spring.
Plus, with the Vols' spring football practice not scheduled to begin until March 24, that meant no conflict of interest for the Big Orange Nation. None of that nettlesome emotional tug of war that can so flummox every SEC fan other than those from Kentucky this time of year.
You know the feeling -- "Yeah, I'd like to watch the basketball team. But I'm really more worried about how that third-team offensive tackle is progressing."
So it was all lining up to work out perfectly. At least until the Gamecocks ruined it all -- and we mean ALL -- by winning 60-49 in one of those awful Big Orange efforts that makes you wonder why Butch Jones can't coach football and basketball. Especially since one of his closest friends is Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
But at least for now, until a certain NCAA investigation ends, Donnie Tyndall is the Vols' coach, and while 15-15 overall and 7-11 in the SEC isn't exactly a happy meal, anyone who keeps up with this program also knows the Vols were picked 13th in a 14-team league in the preseason.
They'll head to Nashville with a 10th seed and a Thursday evening date with Vanderbilt inside Bridgestone Arena. And since Bridgestone is roughly 180 miles from the UT campus, the Big Orange might have a chance. After all, they've already beaten the Commodores in overtime in the Music City before losing inside the Boling Alley a couple of weeks ago.
Why is this important? UT lost seven of its nine home SEC games, that's why. On the road in the league, the Vols were 5-4.
It's all become such a mental block that Tyndall even half-joked Saturday about the road record being the reason UT chose to wear their orange road uniforms against the Gamecocks.
"Maybe the guys would think they're on the road if they're wearing orange," he said.
Pressed on this oddity, Tyndall said, "I think our guys try almost too hard at home."
He then swiftly pointed to two times that South Carolina fouled a Vols shooter on a 3-point shot, meaning the UT player would have three free throws. The first of those took place with 8:17 to go, Tennessee having shaved an 18-point Gamecocks lead to nine.
Reserve guard Devon Baulkman missed two free throws before hitting the third to trim USC's lead to 47-39.
The second happened with 3:56 to go, Kevin Punter fouled on a 3-pointer. Like Baulkman, he missed the first, missed the second, then hit the third.
"Three free throws," Tyndall said. "You miss the first and hear 'Awwww.' You miss the second and you hear, 'Ohhhhhhh.'"
Down nine after Punter's third went cleanly through, the Vols never heard much of anything the rest of the way. It was all enough to bring tears to senior guard Josh Richardson's eyes when he was pulled from the game in the final seconds.
"It just (stinks) to leave on a loss," Richardson said later. "We were just settling."
Richardson deserved a better exit. A possible NBA second-round draft pick a year ago, he stuck around to give Tyndall a fighting chance for success in the coach's first year at the school.
"I want to go back to the NCAA tournament," he said a month ago, when such a goal still seemed possible. "I want to finish strong."
Instead, the Vols have lost eight of their last 10 games, which sounds like a team that's all but done, though Tyndall quickly challenged that assertion by a reporter, saying, "I don't like using that term: 'Hit the wall.'"
As Richardson was wrapping up what almost was assuredly his final postgame interview inside Thompson-Boling, he said, "I'm grateful to have the opportunity to play here. I'm grateful, too, for the fans who've been patient with us all year, sticking it out through all the tough losses and big wins."
Those fans would say most of those big wins -- over Arkansas, and at LSU and Vanderbilt -- were due mostly to Richardson, who's averaging 15.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists a ga,e.
And those tough losses? Blame it on too many of his teammates who finally started playing like a team that deserved to be picked 13th in a 14-team league.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.