The Tennessee Volunteer basketball team is overjoyed with its No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Its opponent, Winthrop, is not.

A four-and-six close to a season, the Dane Bradshaw cat-out-of-the-bag wrist injury, Chris Lofton’s struggles to get open, the team’s wading-pool depth, and a penchant for early exits in tournament season.

An opponent with something to prove.

Could spell trouble for the Volunteers.

It was supposed to be the beginning of a reversal of fortunes for tournament play.

Instead, it was a double reverse. Same as it ever was.

The Tennessee Volunteer basketball team lost — again — its first game in the SEC Tournament. Go ahead and erase those penciled-in appointments for 1:00 today and 1:00 tomorrow. Florida or Kentucky or LSU or some other team will be SEC Champions after all.

Point guard C.J. Watson showed up with 23 points on eight of 12 shooting including three of five three-pointers. Dane Bradshaw was okay, despite having a wrist injury for over a month that requires surgery. Christ Lofton and Andre Patterson, however, had subpar games with only 12 and two points respectively.

The key to the loss, however, was probably the turnovers. Tennessee had 21 to South Carolina’s 16.

What does this mean to the Vols’ chances in the NCAA Tournament? Not sure. On the one hand, Tennessee is on a skid, losing four of their last six games. Maybe their shallow depth is showing late in the season.

On the other hand, South Carolina had seen Bruce Pearl’s controlled chaos style of play for the third time, and the conventional wisdom is that it’s just very hard to beat a good team three times. How many of the Vols’ opponents in the NCAA Tournament will have seen the odd style and have time to prepare for it?

And the Vols will get some rest now. By the time they crank up the music for the Big Dance, the team will have played only one game in almost two weeks. That should help with the legs and the hops.

Back to the other hand again, there’s the rust issue.

Is Tennessee’ basketball season down to only one more game? Or do they have one last run in them?

What do y’all think?

Well, the basketball Vols used smothering defense to erase a 16-point second-half deficit and beat Vanderbilt 68-59 on Saturday. It wasn’t pretty early. I remember thinking at about the 12:00 minute mark when the Vols had two points that at that pace, they would score eight points by the end of the game.

But they eventually stopped the bleeding and then caught fire in the second half, using their defense of all things, to stymie the Commodores. Chris Lofton was 2 of 11 in three point attempts, but was 6-7 inside the arc.

Tennessee now gets a bit of well deserved rest in the form of a bye in the first round of the SEC Tournament. Their next game will be at 1:00 p.m. on Friday against the winner of Thursday’s South Carolina-Mississippi State match up. Should they win, they’ll play at 12:00 on Saturday against Alabama, Kentucky, or Ole Miss. The SEC Championship game is at 12:00 on Sunday.

Somebody stop Morris!

Somebody stop Rondo!

The Vols could not stop Morris in the first half and at times appeared not to even try to stop Rondo in the second. In the end, Tennessee lost to Kentucky 80-78 when C.J. Watson’s desperation three-point attempt found the rim instead of the net and bounced out.

Good game, though, and the giant human checkerboard was cool, huh? Anybody have their own pictures I can post?

And anybody know why coach Pearl was so steamed at Chris Lofton during a second-half timeout?

One of the coaches had this to say after the game:

When you shoot like we did the latter part of the second half, you’re going to win a lot of games. This shows we can compete with anyone, and we have the ability to go on the road and win a game like this against the East Division champions. With their power rating, it’s a feather in our cap.

That’s something you would expect from a Tennessee coach about a win over or a close loss to Kentucky, not the other way around.

Game recap here.

Tennessee Volunteer basketball fans get a chance to honor C.J. Watson, Stanley Asumnu, and Andre Patterson during tonight’s game against the Kentucky Wildcats. The three seniors will attempt to do what was almost unimaginable this time last year: sweep the dreaded Wildcats in front of a sold-out Thompson-Boling Arena and the world’s first gigantic, human orange and white checkerboard.

As VolQuest.com put it:

With a win, Tennessee sweeps the regular season series for the first time since the 1998-99 season, and would give Pearl a very impressive 4-0 mark against his two biggest division rivals in Kentucky and Florida. Not a bad way to punctuate your maiden voyage through the SEC.

Not a bad way for the seniors to say goodbye, either.

Coach Pearl’s thoughts on Watson:

He just does it all for us and he’s logged a lot of minutes. This league has got the best point guard play in college basketball. C.J. has to bring it every single night, and he has on most all occasions. He’ll go down as one of the best point guards in the history of Tennessee basketball, and especially now that he’s got a championship, that will add credibility to his legacy.

He’s got a great future. He will make an NBA roster. He’s just going to be one of those guys that plays for a long time because he can defend, he can run a team, he can make open shots and he’s a really smart player. He’s really, really good off the ball.

Pearl also had some good things to say about Patterson despite the fact that he introduced himself by suspending him:

Andre has been one of those guys, that if you look back at our preseason comments, we said he had to step up. I felt like of all our players, Andre had more to give, and he has stepped up. He’s still an undersized player in the SEC who is our best rebounder. He’s one of our best inside scorers and a guy that’s able to take the ball to the basket and break defenses down.

I feel closer to Andre as the season has progressed. There was a lot of discipline involved and a lot of tough love early. Andre has made progress, but he had a ways to go. His experience has helped us win basketball games.

If you can get tickets to tonight’s game, go and become part of the checkerboard. If you can’t get tickets, tune in. Regardless of what happens the rest of the season, the 2005-2006 team should be remembered and revered as one of the greatest stories in the history of Tennessee basketball. The team has over-achieved its way from obscurity to a national top 10 ranking and positioned itself for a run in the Big Dance.

Tonight will be the last opportunity for the home crowd to show the senior leaders of the team their appreciation for the magical season.

The Tennessee Volunteers hosted the Arkansas Razorbacks in sold-out Thompson-Boling Arena this afternoon. Chris Lofton had a subpar game. So did Dane Bradshaw.

It almost didn’t matter. Behind C.J. Watson, who was wearing a No. 53 Bernard King jersey and was really the only Vol who had a good game, Tennessee was neck and neck with the Hogs until a technical was assessed against Arkansas’ No. 5 for yelling “There you go, Bradshaw,” after dunking on him. Tennessee then went on a 16-4 run and gradually pulled away to a double-digit lead and maintained it through most of the second half.

But then the Hogs closed to within 4 with about 5:00 minutes left and took the lead on a three-pointer with about 4:00 minutes left. From that point on, Tennessee could not hit a shot (except for one trey by Lofton) and could not stop Arkansas’ big men from scoring under the basket.

Oh, well. Not much at stake for Tennessee, and the Hogs were motivated by bubble-dwelling.

By the way, when did Montel Williams start coaching Arkansas?

A thing of beauty.

No, not coach Bruce Pearl’s game-long impersonation of a soaker hose. Definitely not that.

And no, not Noah’s multiple blood-seeping facial lacerations. Well, maybe that.

And no, not the over-contrasted Jefferson-Pilot telecast of the game, rendering all things orange the color, saturation, and hue of a solar flare instead. Somebody please tell me it’s not my t.v.

No, the thing of beauty was Dane Bradshaw’s game-sealing play of the game.

With the game tied at 72 with 18.8 seconds remaining and the Gators’ Corey Brewer inbounding the ball at half court, the Gators just need to hold the ball for the last shot. If it goes in, they win. If not, they go to overtime.

When the whistle blows, Brewer’s fake pass to his left is tracked inch-for-inch by the long arms and big body of Tennessee’s Major Wingate. Brewer shakes Wingate to the right before attempting a bounce pass back to the left, but Bradshaw explodes out of Wingate’s shadow to get a hand on the ball at the top of the key.

Several things then happen all at once.

Four players — Bradshaw, still looking for a handle on the ball, two Gators, and Vol guard C.J. Watson all converge on the ball. One Gator sprawls to the floor after bumping into Watson. Meanwhile, Bradshaw gets traction on the ball and does a sweet, sweet, sweet 360 spin move away from the remaining defender, covers the distance to the basket in a single step, and finger-rolls the ball into the goal.

Brewer stands slack-jawed at the top of the key, and coach Pearl wets the sole remaining dry spot on his two-thousand dollar suit.

On the other end, Brewer misses a three-point attempt, and the Gators foul Chris Lofton, who clinches it with two free throws. Vols win 76-72, sweep the hated Florida Gators, hit the 20-win mark, and clinch the SEC East Championship. They are well on their way to a No. 2 seed in the Big Dance.

All after beginning the season unranked.

Somebody say sweet!

ESPN2 is profiling the Tennessee men’s basketball team and head coach Bruce Pearl on its reality show The Season at 7:30 p.m. tonight. The show was shot in Knoxville last week.

Apparently, the ESPN crew followed Pearl to the cafeteria, where he often eats and mingles with students in his ongoing effort to sell UT basketball, and players C.J. Watson and Andre Patterson to class.

Get an inside-the-huddle look at coach Pearl keeping the team loose by instructing Patterson and Dane Bradshaw to play rock, paper, scissors to determine who would start the second half against Georgia.

Hey, make it an evening — Jefferson Pilot is showing the Vols-Gators game at 8:00 p.m. Tune in to see how Major Wingate responds to Pearl’s public criticism of his desire.

Oh, and now seems like a good time to refer to Pat Dooley’s column on Gatorsports.com on why everybody hates the Gators (Hat tip to EDSBS). I would add a few to the list, not the least of which involves the showering of visiting fans with cups of urine and post-game murders.

Note: the Getting to Know Tennessee’s Class of 2006 series will resume tomorrow. Maybe Friday.

The Tennessee Volunteer basketball team continued its winning ways last night with a huge win over its nemesis to the north, the Kentucky Wildcats.

Former Kentucky Mr. Basketball Chris Lofton was again the catalyst, scoring a career-high 31 points in the Vols’ 75-67 victory. UT ended an eight-game losing streak to Kentucky and strengthened its leading position in the SEC East.

Said Chris Lofton, “I got in my rhythm and my teammates kept feeding me the ball. I just tried to block everything out tonight.”

The Vols led most of the way, but Kentucky closed the gap as the clock wound down. Then, with 2:26 left in the game and the Vols behind 64-65, Major Wingate put Tennessee back on top with a bucket underneath to make the score 66-65.

Lofton scored the next seven points and was still calling for the ball when the clock ran out. “I was going to do something I probably shouldn’t have done,” he said. “I’m glad they didn’t throw me the ball.’’

I noticed something from the television coverage that was very telling. When the Vols scored the basket that effectively guaranteed the win, they danced over to the timeout huddle only to be greeted by coach Bruce Pearl yelling at them to calm down, to control their elation. Not one single player on this team has ever beaten Kentucky, much less at Rupp Arena. Pearl looked like he was instructing them, however, to act like they weren’t surprised they won.

Pearl coaches 24-7. During the game, he coaches from tip-off to final buzzer. His style of play uses all 94 feet of the court, and he makes the most of the talent on his team.

Pearl wins because he uses everything at his disposal.

The Tennessean has a nice article on junior forward Dane Bradshaw, who is becoming the face of Tennessee Volunteer basketball.