Reaching the second round of the NCAA basketball tournament is nothing new for the Tennessee Volunteers under Rick Barnes.
Facing a team in the second round that has a better seed, however, is very different.
When the Midwest Regional’s sixth-seeded Vols (23-11) take on third-seeded Virginia (30-5) Sunday night (6:10 on TNT) in Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena, it will mark the first time Tennessee will have played a round-of-32 matchup under Barnes not dressed in white. Friday’s 78-56 shellacking of Miami University was only minutes old when Barnes was asked whether his Vols were ready to embrace the rare underdog role.
“The standard is in our own mind, so we don’t look at ourselves like that,” Barnes said. “I know we’ll wear dark jerseys, I guess, from here on out, and if it plays out like normal, the building normally pulls for the dark jerseys, so maybe we’ll pick up more fans along the way.
“We’ve just got to try and continue to be who we are.”