Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin, center, talks with Cameron Tatum (23) and Skylar McBee (13) during the basketball game against Kentucky on Saturday. Kentucky won 65-62.RACE FOR FOURTHBefore Mississippi State’s loss to Kentucky on Tuesday night, four teams were tied for fourth in the SEC standings, a spot that carries with it a first-round bye in the league’s tournament. In case of a tie with more than two teams, the tiebreaker process is combined record against the other tied teams, followed by head-to-head records. Here’s a breakdown of who’s got whom left on the schedule in the race for fourth and a bye.LSU (6-6): Georgia, at Ole Miss, Tennessee, at Auburn.Alabama (6-6): at Arkansas, Mississippi State, Auburn, at Ole MissTennessee (6-6): Ole Miss, at South Carolina, at LSU, VanderbiltMississippi State (6-7): at Alabama, at South Carolina, ArkansasOle Miss (5-7): at Tennessee, LSU, at Arkansas, AlabamaArkansas (5-7): Alabama, at Auburn, Ole Miss, at Mississippi State
KNOXVILLE – The approach must stay the same, though the distractions increase.
A glance at the calendar could turn into more looks at team resumes, RPI rankings, league standings and others’ respective schedules. Such is the nature of late February in college basketball with the postseason approaching.
It’s a trap, though, that Tennessee is trying to avoid with SEC-tournament seeding and beyond at stake with just four regular-season games remaining.
“I think you see a lot more people trying to figure where they’re going to be at the end of the season,” Volunteers guard Skylar McBee said Tuesday. “You can kind of work the numbers a little bit better because you can see who has to go play at this place and who’s got who and what teams you’ve got left. But I think it’s a mindset you’ve got to have every day that, ‘I know I can’t look forward.’