The Tennessee Volunteers are all but eliminated from this season’s Southeastern Conference basketball race following Tuesday night’s 75-64 loss at Kentucky.
They’re very much in the picture, however, for a No. 1 regional seed in next month’s NCAA tournament.
An unprecedented winter in SEC hoops will reach another milestone Saturday afternoon, when No. 1 Auburn visits No. 2 Alabama in the first 1-2 pairing in league history. With SEC teams occupying five of the top eight spots in this week’s Associated Press poll and with nine league teams ranked overall, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes was asked in Lexington how he is handling this season knowing he has a good team but knowing he will lose games.
“It is what it is, and how you handle it is whether or not you judge yourself on whether or not you played well,” Barnes said in a news conference. “I don’t know how everybody else feels, but when we go on the court, we expect to win. It’s the best league in the country — maybe ever. It’s ridiculous, to be honest with you, but the good thing about it is everything is a Quad I game.
“It helps you, obviously, if you win, and if you don’t, it doesn’t hurt you as badly as it can in some leagues.”