TN vs Bama

Fair.

 

This is going to be brutal when we lose in the 1st round.

 

Impossible. The "first round" is now the play-in games

 

I couldn't be more happy than to have been wrong about this team.

And to be sure, I was.

Despite their many notable areas of continued concern (Williams' inability to avoid silly fouls, our long stretches where we struggling to score, our bench's streakiness / absence from stretches and entire games, our often lackadaisical rebounding, etc.), this team has already smashed not only every reasonable goal for the season, but even most which couldn't have been crazily hoped for.

This won't change, even if they are bounced in the first round.

And admittedly, I can absolutely see that happening - I hope it doesn't, and both want and expect to win it all - becaus this team is playing well above its head, IMO. And that quality competition (such as they'll see in the tourney) tends to expose that reality is more of a question of "when" and not "if".

Any single game occurrence of 2-3 of the maladies mentioned above, and this team - like most others - is going to be in deep, deep trouble come March, and we just somehow seem more prone to having them, than others.

And, even if they are already playing over their heads, they'll have to do even more - much more - to beat the sort of quality competition they'll see beyond the round of 32.

If they come out and play like they did against Bama (and what started this thread)...or Auburn...or Arkansas....or Villanova (in second half)....or UNC...or Georgia x 2...then they'll be lucky to get 1-2 games in the tourney, max.

If they play with the focus and intensity like we saw versus Purdue...Kentucky x 2....Villanova (in first half)...Mississippi St., they can beat anyone on an given day.

But I'm proud of what they've already accomplished, no matter how deep / shallow their run may be, and am happy to admit my overreactionary error, and without equivocation.