Volunteer Country

Nichols: Enjoy the ride, no matter how it ends

Like every other school in the nation, Tennessee has endured a lot for this college basketball season. So let’s try to enjoy the ride, no matter how the Vols’ and Lady Vols’ seasons end.
Jake Nichols|
Nichols: Enjoy the ride, no matter how it ends
Nichols: Enjoy the ride, no matter how it ends

The picture featured above is from March 28, 2019.

That night, Tennessee lost 99-94 against Purdue in Louisville, ending a tournament run that seemed much too short-lived.

We all remember that game. The incredible comeback. The Admiral Schofield threes. The Grant Williams dunks. And, of course, the Lamonté Turner foul, which parlayed into Sweet Sixteen heartbreak after the Boilermakers sent the game into overtime.

That loss sticks in my mind for another reason, too. It came during my senior year at Tennessee, and I hopped on I-75 to Kentucky that afternoon to cover my first March Madness game. “Giddy” was an understatement as I steered my black Jeep into the garage next to Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center.

Never could I have imagined what unfolded that night, let alone what came less than a year later. None of us could.

As Covid-19 raged around the world last March, the NBA season was one of the first major events to be canceled. So, too, went the NCAA Tournament, better known as “March Madness,” one of the most beloved and cherished events in our country.

That tournament, like the Master’s and the Super Bowl, is one of the few times a year when even non-sports lovers can turn on their televisions and watch magic unfold.

Except the only “magic” in the past year has been the swiftness with which one can catch the virus that has forced an entire world indoors.

Rather than play their way into our hearts, 2020 Cinderella teams toppled onto their couches, glass slippers still on their feet.

Rather than watch the 2020 edition of “One Shining Moment,” we watched countless episodes of “The Office.”

The same went for a young Tennessee men’s team that hoped to play its way into last year’s conversation, and an energized UT women’s group that looked to make a return to prominence under Lady Vol legend and first-year coach Kellie Harper.

Instead, each team’s run was silenced, just like every other program across the nation.

Now, here we are in 2021: one year later. And what a year it’s been. Joe Exotic has long been imprisoned, and Michael Scott has been away from Scranton for far too long.

Still, March Madness has returned.

And for both hoops programs clad in PMS 151, tournament time couldn’t come any sooner.

Barnes’ boys: edgy and optimistic

Rick Barnes’ program has experienced a rocky season, and that’s without factoring in the socially distant in-game attendance, weekly testing or forced pause due to positive COVID-19 test results.

The Vols are 18-8 overall, 10-7 in the SEC. A team that was once in the top five has had some incredible wins: 79-74 over No. 10 Arkansas, 80-61 over No. 12 Kansas and 78-66 over Florida in an SEC Tournament quarterfinal.

But in between those wins came some excruciating losses. The worst among them: 75-49 to Florida, 70-55 against Kentucky, 78-65 versus LSU and 73-68 to first-seeded Alabama in last weekend’s SEC Tournament semifinal.

In other words: “consistently inconsistent.”

That last loss, of course, came with an asterisk. Against the Tide, Tennessee was without fifth-year senior John Fulkerson, who took two sharp, cheap elbows from Florida’s Omar Payne last Saturday in the Vols’ quarterfinal win. The concussion and facial fracture have left Fulkerson “day-to-day” for the Big Dance now that the Vols are in Indy, and it left UT undermanned against Nate Oats’ team in a game Tennessee should have won, anyway.

Barnes’ team led by as many as 15 in the second half last week, but Alabama proved its worth by clawing back into the contest.

Tennessee rebounded from its typical second-half slump, but it still trailed with under a minute left. A brilliant last-minute defensive switch from Barnes put Davonte “Ticket” Gaines in for the defensively-weaker Santiago Vescovi. After stopping SEC Player of the Year Herb Jones, “Ticket” absorbed a foul before missing a pair of free-throws that could have reclaimed the lead for Tennessee. Instead, Gaines left the floor surrounded by teammates, his tear-stained face shrouded in a white Gatorade towel.

Barnes has since stood by his team, especially Gaines, and the Buffalo native has offered his own remarks in a search for vengeance. If Friday’s game goes as expected, Gaines could get his second chance on Sunday.

After being slotted as a 5-seed — not bad, but not where the Vols could have been had they not played so inconsistently this season — Tennessee learned it will face 12-seed Oregon State in the first round. The game will be on Friday at 4:30 p.m., shown live on TNT from the Indiana Pacers’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The Beavers got hot during the Pac-12 tournament, and seventh-year coach Wayne Tinkle leads a team that can be dangerous from long range. Still, if the Vols take care of business, they should advance to Sunday.

And that’s where the trouble really starts. Should 4-seed Oklahoma State beat 13-seed Liberty, the Vols will face the Cowboys in a matchup that will pit Keon Johnson against fellow freshman phenom Cade Cunningham.

That duel could be incredible, but if Fulkerson is still unavailable, Tennessee could quite possibly face an early exit. Still, the Vols’ ceiling (and apparent edge) can make this team dangerous. Barnes would certainly agree, at least with what he said after the Alabama loss.

“It’s a group of guys that I wish I could coach for a long time,” Barnes said. “We play hard, but there was just an attitude and an air about us that made you feel like, 'This group is getting it.'

“They may know they're not going to be perfect,” he added, “but I'm really enjoying watching what they're doing, because they're on edge in a good way."

Between practices in Indiana, however, players are trying to maintain that sharpness while taking the edge off for a little while. The team arrived in Indianapolis on Monday night, and the Vols have done yoga, watched Netflix and played video games in their individual rooms for entertainment.

They certainly haven’t been able to do much else, as the team took a light walk outside the hotel this week for a brief glimpse at fresh air.

Such is life in “the bubble,” which the NCAA adopted for the men’s and women’s tournaments after the NBA’s success with the same format.

As for Tennessee’s success, we’ll see if Barnes’ boys can live up to his confidence to avoid popping their chances.

Harper’s horde: star-studded in the Lone Star State

For Kellie Harper’s Lady Vols, their 2021 version of March Madness will take place in San Antonio, Texas.

And, if we’re being honest, it’s this Tennessee team that’s shown more of the consistency needed to wrangle a national title.

Granted, the last orange-tinted hardware came in 2008. But the Lady Vols (16-7, 9-4 SEC) are looking to change that, as they prepare for a record 39th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance — making Tennessee the only program to reach every single edition of the Big Dance.

And Harper’s horde has certainly found its rhythm.

Two losses to No. 10 Georgia and an SEC Tournament stumble against No. 2 South Carolina are the largest blemishes for a Tennessee team that endured almost as much off the court as its male counterpart dealt with on the court.

This season, the Lady Vols experienced two Covid-19 shutdowns, endured travel woes and winter storms in Texas, and still managed to beat No. 6 South Carolina at home less than 48 hours after evading the storms and landing back in Knoxville. Harper’s team also beat No. 12 Indiana in Bloomington, battled tooth-and-nail with top tournament seed UConn, and survived a scare against Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament before falling in a rematch against the Gamecocks.

That Ole Miss win was a special one for the Lady Vols, too. Senior Rennia Davis came back from an ankle injury to notch a double-double, powering UT past the Rebels.

Davis has been the heart and soul for Tennessee, even through a changing of the guard. After Holly Warlick was fired, she greatly considered transferring.

Instead, with advice from her AAU coach and her mother, Davis stayed true to her commitment. The move has paid off, as the senior has overcome her team’s lack of tournament hardware to etch her own name into Lady Vol lore.

The two-time honorable mention All-American has 1,770 career points, putting her just shy of Tanya Haave (10th) on the program’s all-time list.

Davis also averages 15.4 points per game, which is better than all but four of the Lady Vols’ top scorers in history. She’s also at 923 career rebounds, which puts her at No. 17 out of the all-time top 10.

One familiar former Tennessee star within rebounding range? Candace Parker, whose 972 rebounds rank eighth in the program’s rich legacy.

Davis grew up watching Parker, and she’s one of the few players on this team that can recall the days when Pat Summitt would lead players like Parker, Shannon Bobbitt, Alexis Hornbuckle and Nicky Anosike to back-to-back titles and heights many thought unreachable.

Kellie Harper knows those heights well, too. The Lady Vols’ coach — then Kellie Jolly — served as the team’s point guard for three national championship runs in the late 1990s, and she has earned plenty of respect with a whistle, too.

With Tennessee’s selection as a 3-seed on Monday, Harper became just the second women’s coach in history to take four teams — Western Carolina, NC State, Missouri State and Tennessee — to the NCAA Tournament.

From noteworthy achievements as a player to her accomplishments as a coach, Harper’s journey has brought her full-circle.

“It’s pretty cool,” she said. “The journey is such a big part of what we do, and it brings you here. This program has built its legacy on winning, and to lead this program into the tournament.. it’s exciting.”

Now, Davis’ name is part of that legacy, too. With a wide-ranging arsenal of skills, the senior could reach another milestone as a WNBA lottery pick. But personal accolades aren’t enough, especially not for someone who knows this team’s standard almost as well as Harper.

“These kids don’t know the history of this school,” Davis said. “These kids don’t know about the national championships, Pat Summitt. They don’t know any of it because Tennessee hasn’t been that in years. And I don’t think that’s right.”

We’ll see if the Lady Vols can get back to those days. Their seeding doesn’t hurt, and neither does a motivating matchup against Warlick transfer Anastasia Hayes, who will lead 13-seed MTSU on Sunday against a UT team led by Davis, All-SEC selection Rae Burrell and standout senior Kasiyahna Kushkituah.

Hayes’ face won’t be the only well-known one, either. Harper revealed earlier this week that she played AAU basketball under Blue Raiders coach Rick Insell, so the familiarity will be palpable.

If the Lady Vols pull out a win, they’ll face the winner of 6-seed Michigan and 11-seed Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday.

That would set up another Sweet Sixteen scenario for Tennessee, and an Elite Eight appearance could pit the Lady Vols against UConn.

My, what storylines that would hold.

Enjoy the ride

First, though, the Lady Vols have to get through the first two rounds.

So, too, does Barnes’ team.

Both coaches have expressed optimism in their chances, but they’ve also reiterated the nerves felt through the last several months in a season unlike any other.

“You’re just holding your breath day-to-day, week-to-week,” Harper said. “There’s more going on than basketball, but it brings us joy. We are grateful and thankful to have this opportunity.”

Echoed Barnes: “I don't think there's any question that it's one of the most stressful things that we've gone through all year... you’re waiting until the morning until (the test result) pops up on your phone. You hope and pray for a negative test. For everybody, you really do.”

And that’s the real kicker for this March, with men’s and women’s tournaments alike.

After no March Madness in almost two years, wins this spring aren’t just chalked up on brackets.

They’re found in the building of brackets themselves, in the nail-biting games we’ve already seen, and in the churning anticipation that comes with those wonderful eight notes on the tournament’s classic musical intro: “Da-nuh-nuh-da-nuhhh-duh-duh!”

Sure, a run for either team from Rocky Top would be fun to watch, and each program has more than enough firepower to string together such a streak.

No matter how this ends, though, let’s all try to remember one thing above all else: to just enjoy the ride.

Because Tennessee-induced madness, even in this month, is certainly better than no March Madness at all.

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Jake Nichols
JAKE NICHOLS