An Update on John Fulkerson's Status Ahead of the NCAA Tournament

A nasty pair of elbows to John Fulkerson's face and head during the quarterfinal round of the SEC tournament against Florida earlier this week ended Fulkerson's SEC tournament and has his NCAA tournament status in Jeopardy.

Tennessee remained in Nashville following the loss and will bus to Indianapolis for the NCAA tournament tomorrow. The Vols are the No. 5 seed in the midwest region and will face Oregon State on Friday.

Fulkerson suffered a concussion and facial fracture from the elbows, and he returned to Knoxville today for a procedure and will return to be with the team tonight.

"You can only imagine, he wants to be out there," Rick Barnes said earlier today. "If he could, he would. He'll be back with us tonight, on the bus tomorrow."

"It's been great," Barnes added on his mentality. "Obviously, you can only imagine how much he wants to be out there. If he could, he would. I know that he'll be back tonight and he'll be on the buses with us tomorrow. I've said it before that it's never about him. It's never going to be about John Fulkerson. He wants his teammates to win and he wants to be a part of it. No one is pulling for him more than his teammates. They love him and they want to see him have a chance to be successful because they know how hard he's worked during his time here and that he's helped them get to where they are right now."

"It was very different than in the past," Barnes said about his team finding out they were in the tournament.

"To be honest, when it came up, there were a couple claps and then everybody got up and walked away. I just think it's different. We're all in to that right now. They fought hard to be a part of this tournament and they knew they would be a part of it, obviously. We felt like we would probably be seeded somewhere between five and six. I don't want you to think that they're not excited, because they really are excited to play, but it's just different. It's very different. We're here in a big ballroom where you could put down two basketball courts. And we're spread out and everybody's there. We were all sitting there from the very beginning of the show, but once it popped up there were some claps and then everybody was going out getting ready to eat. That's being honest with you. But to be where we were a year ago, I'd like to thank the SEC for doing their part, but I'd also like to thank all of the players in this league and around the country, because they were the ones that had to work through what we're going through right now, it's not over. And the fact that we have a chance in the national tournament—I just think the players around the country, what they're gone through, we should really appreciate it, and the people that have worked so hard to get us to this point. But it is different. And it's going to be different there, but I think that when the games start, I think we're all going to be used to 'sort of, kind of.' But I will tell you this, I felt like this weekend's SEC Tournament was just an unbelievable atmosphere compared to what we've had to deal with all year long. It felt really like and NCAA Tournament first round game, that's what it felt like. So that made this week really good. We had great support over here in Nashville, which you would expect from Vol Nation. But going to Indy, I don't think we know."

TV times and stations are not set for Tennessee's matchups at this time.