His tenacious team flush with pride following a victory over Florida on Tuesday, Tennessee basketball coach Cuonzo Martin said of his Vols’ NCAA Tournament chances:
“Is this one of the (best) 68 teams? Without a doubt, but… we have to keep it out of someone else’s hands. Let’s control the situation.”
Not to dispute Martin entirely, because his second UT team is clearly one of the best 68 squads in the land, but other than winning the SEC Tournament — which the Vols last did in 1979 — the Big Orange’s fate is somewhat out of its hands from this point forward.
Yes, they can control their situation better than most so-called “bubble teams” by winning their last three regular-season conference games, then winning at least two SEC-tournament games.
Do that, and it would be extremely hard for the NCAA tournament selection committee to keep their hands off the Vols come Selection Sunday on March 17.