Tennessee’s struggling basketball Vols will play the University of Louisiana, better known as the Ragin’ Cajuns, in Orlando on Thursday in the NCAA tournament.
The Lafayette team, 26-6, is the representative of the Sun Belt Conference. Some are predicting an upset because of the absence of Vol point guard Zakai Zeigler. CBS says Tennessee-Louisiana tipoff will be 9:40 p.m. Vols are favored by 10.5 points (subject to change).
Rick Barnes says his Vols are not finished. He thinks they have a chance to make an impact in the tournament.
“I’m telling you, I think we’ve got as much a chance as anybody,” the coach said. “There are a lot of teams that would like to be where we are right now. There are a lot of teams that won’t look forward to a matchup with us.”
Tennessee is seeded fourth in the East regional. Louisiana is seeded 13th. If Barnes is correct, if the regional follows form and Tennessee advances, it would probably play Duke on Saturday. The Blue Devils will open against Oral Roberts.
If the tournament adheres to Barnes’ NCAA record, the end is near. His post-season record is 25-26.
This is Tennessee’s 25th all-time NCAA appearance. This is Barnes’ 27th appearance as a head coach and fifth leading the Vols.
It appears there is minimum optimism. One fan summed it up: “Consistently inconsistent.”
Tennessee won three of its most recent eight Southeastern Conference games. It defeated Ole Miss and lost to Missouri in the league tournament.
Josiah-Jordan James is the current poster person for inconsistency. He scored 20 against the Rebels and three against the Tigers. JJJ did contribute one rebound.
The Vols were up and down. They were 18-3 at their peak. They defeated Gonzaga in a pre-season exhibition. They defeated Kansas to win the Battle 4 Atlantis in November.
They toppled Texas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in late January. They shocked No. 1 Alabama on Feb. 15.
Not so good were the buzzer-beating defeats and the setback at Vanderbilt.
Louisiana’s big game was at Texas, a defeat, 100-72.