College basketball can be a lengthy, game-by-game grind with the constant objective of peaking in March.
Then a trip to Kentucky’s Rupp Arena suddenly becomes the assignment, and the realization sets in that this task in that setting is a wee bit different.
“I think it is,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Friday on a Zoom call. “You have great respect for basketball programs that have been good through every decade starting back in the ’40s. There are programs that have been successful for 70 or 80 years, and there’s a reason for that, and it’s because they’re good year in and year out.
“Expectations for those programs are always extremely high. Prior to coming here, I didn’t know that much about the Tennessee-Kentucky rivalry. I grew up on the other side of the mountains (in Hickory, North Carolina), and everything was based off what was going on over there.”
There have been stretches through the Southeastern Conference years in which the Volunteers haven’t harbored high expectations when heading up I-75, but this isn’t one of those times. When the No. 22 Vols (11-4, 2-2 SEC) and No. 18 Wildcats (13-3, 3-1) collide Saturday afternoon (1 on ESPN), Tennessee will be seeking a third consecutive win at Rupp and a fourth triumph in five seasons.