Musselman Will Need NCAA Tourney Approach

Tennessee Vols start what will need to be personal tournament run through last of SEC schedule

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Feb 13, 2024 12:32 PM EST

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When the season began, there was legitimate discussion about whether the SEC might possibly be the best conference in college basketball. That also included the idea of Arkansas as a national title contender, especially after the Razorbacks took down Purdue in a wild atmosphere at Bud Walton as part of a preseason charity game.

However, as time has moved on and reality has set in, the only legitimate threat to a national championship coming out of the SEC appears to be Tennessee. The Razorbacks have long since fell by the wayside, Auburn has dropped off the competitive map recently, Alabama lacks consistency and Kentucky plays like it's, well, young. As for South Carolina, they might be too new to dancing to do much damage.

Yes, the Volunteers are coming off a blowout loss to Texas A&M and appear to struggle away from home, but they are loaded with highly experienced players who have been embedded in Rick Barnes' system for a long time. Plus, the veteran coach who has been drawing up basketball plays since before most SEC fans were born, has been slowly inching his way closer to another Final Four.

Tennessee teams featuring several current players went to the first round in 2021, second round in 2022 and the Sweet 16 last season. In an NCAA Tournament atmosphere where experience and senior leadership seems to matter more and more each season, perhaps no team has its parts more suited for a long run.

As for Arkansas, any chance at Muss magic pretty much requires a strong showing against the Volunteers Wednesday night. An upset cracks open the back door ever so slightly into the NCAA Tournament.

The Razorbacks have numerous potential Quad 1 wins ahead of them on the schedule and every SEC win makes a miracle run in the SEC Tournament that much more feasible. There are few Arkansas fans left who believe such a run is possible, but the Razorbacks did show dramatic improvement Saturday against Georgia.

The current bracketology projections according to Joe Lunardi are as follows:
(2) Tennessee
(3) Auburn
(3) Alabama
(5) South Carolina
(6) Kentucky
(7) Texas A&M
(8) Florida
(9) Mississippi State
(11) Ole Miss

Five of the last eight games on the Razorbacks' schedule is made up of teams projected to go to the tournament. All but one are on the road, so there is a lot of potential ground to be gained for NET rankings.

Of course, the only two paths for Arkansas to make the NCAA Tournament is to cobble together 20 wins or win the SEC Tournament. At 12-11, the Razorbacks would need to win all but one of their remaining games and then win at least one SEC Tournament game.

With so many tournament teams on the schedule, perhaps Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman treats this as the Hogs' own NCAA Tournament and mentally enters full March coaching mode. That means doing what he does best when spring rolls around – taking down the biggest dog on the block.

In this case, instead of Gonzaga or Kansas, he will need to pull an even bigger upset and take down Tennessee Wednesday night. If that happens and the Razorbacks somehow knock off Mississippi State and Texas A&M on the road, which will be almost equally as impossible, the schedule softens up with a couple of home games against Missouri and Vanderbilt.

Those are big ifs. But, if anyone knows the art of how to survive and advance, it's Musselman. If he somehow pulls it off, sign him up for Coach of the Year because he will have truly pulled one of the greatest college basketball miracles ever.

Anyone can win one game on a given night. Winning 9-of-10 down a stretch full of NCAA Tournament teams after the wheels not only fell off, someone poured kerosine on them and lit them on fire, would be the greatest accomplishment of Musselman's career.