Vols Battle in a Tough SEC

Tennessee basketball, both men and women, has gotten off to a pretty good start in 2024-25. The Tennessee men roared to a 16-0 start an earned a No. 1 national ranking by the Associated Press, a ranking they held for about five weeks.

Sadly, not many paid attention to it because we, in the football south, don’t start following college hoop until this time of year anyway, unless you are in Kentucky (and the Wildcats haven’t had much to cheer about on the gridiron lately).

Consider that nine Southeastern Conference schools occupy nine places in the AP Top 25, five in the Top 10. The league is a minefield this year. There are no easy games in the league this year. So when Tennessee had its keester handed to it on a platter with all the trimmings a few weeks ago in Florida (the Gators won 73-43, oh, by the way), you just knew Tennessee was due a bad night.

That happens in any sport. It’s hard to stay focused sharp for every single game. Still, when the top-ranked Vols were blown out in Gainesville and tumbled to No. 6, I heard a lot of Vol fans grumbling that Tennessee was just a flash in the pan, that this was typical UT basketball, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I point out that the last time anyone in college basketball ran the table was back in 1976, when Scott May and Kent Benson led Indiana, coached by Bobby Knight, to a 32-0 mark. Indiana State got close in 1979, losing to Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the national championship game . A few years ago, Kentucky almost did it, until it lost to Wisconsin in the Final Four.

Bank on Tennessee losing a few more games along the way. It’s not the end of the world if it does. At this point of the season, there are plenty of games left, not to mention the conference tournament, to allow for redemption and rehabilitation.

I remember when Ron Zook was head football coach at Florida. He once told me about the differences between the NFL and the college football game. Said Zook: “In the NFL, you could lose six or seven games and still make the playoffs. In College football, you might be able to lose one game and still have a shot at a national championship.”

Of course, with this zany new playoff format, a team might qualify with three losses, or more, some day.

As dissimilar as the NFL and college football are, so too are college football and college basketball. A team can afford to lose five, six or seven games and still go to the NCAA tournament. Keep in mind that in 1983, North Carolina State, coached by Jim Valvano, won the NCAA tournament with 10 losses. Same for the 1996 Tennessee Lady Vols, who went 29-10 after beating Old Dominion 68-59 in Cincinnati for the national title.

I don’t think the Vols will lose 10 games this year, but the league is stout enough that if they did, they could still sneak in there and make a pretty good tournament run, perhaps even winning it all.

Even if the Vols somehow survive the rigors of the SEC, there are still plenty of great teams across the USA. As of Jan. 20, keep in mind two things. College football is just now crowning its football champion, and college basketball has a long way to go.

The Vols are going to lose a few more games and some of them might be frustrating losses. A lot has to play out this year before anything is decided.

As loaded as the SEC is this year, you can bank on one thing, though: It’s going to be entertaining.

Jim Steele is a correspondent for Richardson Media Group and may be reached on X @steelesports or via email at pressbox1@gmail.com.