Mark WiedmerKNOXVILLE - It was about the time that Tennessee fifth-year senior Lew Evans threw down a thunder dunk in Saturday's 70-58 victory over Kansas State that a question begged consideration:
Could these Volunteers still play their way into the NCAA tournament?
No, this isn't a joke or a computer glitch. We write this in the moments following UT's third straight home victory against an opponent that entered Thompson-Boling Arena with a winning record and exited with a loss.
And the Vols' last two victims, No. 4 Kentucky and K-State, both have been ranked much of the season, though Kansas State's purple Wildcats were just outside of the Top 25 this past week.
Nevertheless, let Tennessee merely win the games it will be favored to win going forward and it's quite conceivable that the Big Orange - currently 12-9 overall and 4-4 within the Southeastern Conference - could enter the SEC tournament in Nashville with a 20-11 overall record and a 12-6 league mark.
A record like that, assuming they don't lose their opening game in the Music City, might make it very difficult to keep the Vols out of the Big Dance.
This isn't to say that a 20-11, 12-6 mark in the SEC will impress the NCAA selection committee the way that same record might if achieved in the Atlantic Coast Conference or Big 12. Then again, the Vols do own an 81-58 victory over Georgia Tech, which just won home games this past week against No. 6 Florida State and No. 14 Notre Dame.
Even UT's December loss in Nashville to potential No. 1 and presently undefeated Gonzaga doesn't look so bad when one considers that the Vols' 10-point defeat is the fourth-tightest game the Zags have played all season and their three single-digit wins were against three teams - Florida (77-72), Iowa State (73-71) and Arizona (69-62) - expected to reach the NCAA tourney.
"They play their butts off," K-State coach Bruce Weber said afterward as he praised the Vols. "They compete; they killed us inside. We didn't compete as hard as we needed to because we knew how hard they would compete."
It's not just that the Vols have almost always competed under second-year coach Rick Barnes, but they're now playing smarter and more efficiently. UT outrebounded K-State 43-29, handed out four more assists and shot better from the field and the 3-point line.
A stat to make any coach proud: The Vols led in second-chance points 23-6.
"There are probably about 150 teams or so right now in a position to make a push (toward the NCAA tournament)," Barnes said. "We just need to think about getting better."
But he also believes the schedule - currently rated as the third-toughest in the country - has hugely helped, as one might expect from a workload that included Oregon, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Gonzaga. The Vols may have won none of those, but at every stop the opposing coach praised their hustle and toughness.
"All I know is we've played one of the toughest schedules in the country and this is separation month," Barnes said.
And when you look at UT's remaining schedule there's no reason to doubt it is in position to separate itself from much of the rest of the SEC. Of its remaining 10 league games, Tennessee should only be a serious underdog in games at Kentucky and South Carolina.
That's not to say the Vols can't lose to more than those two, just that they can also beat everyone else on the schedule, including posting road wins at Auburn on Tuesday night, at Mississippi State on Saturday and at LSU on March 1.
A solid No. 47 in the RPI heading into Saturday, UT could seemingly jump into the high to mid-30s with road wins in its next two starts. And once in the 30s, if the Vols could remain there, they should hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
"We're starting to play past our age now," redshirt freshman point guard Lamonte Turner said Saturday. "We really want to finish in the top half of the league."
So does Turner think he and his teammates can still reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2014 season?
"I think we've really got a good chance," he said.
If they can keep playing on all courts like they've played on the Thompson-Boling court their last three starts, they've not only got a great chance to reach March Madness, they just might win a game once they get in. Especially if they not only follow their coach's advice to think about getting better but actually do it.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.