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Lucas Panzica talks about Tennessee Volunteers basketball, as they head to the NCAA Tournament as a 2 seed. He asks the question of what would constitute a "successful" tournament run for Rick Barnes' 2024-25 Vols.
*The Vols Have To Do THIS, Otherwise The NCAA Tournament Is A Failure...*
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March Madness is here
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The NCAA tournament bracket is set, and the Tennessee volunteers have a very interesting
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path forward in the tournament. But today, we're going to talk about what constitutes success for Tennessee in 2025 in the NCAA tournament
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Hey, Lucas Panzeke here from 104, 5, The Zone and A to Z Sports
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So Tennessee is the two seed in the Midwest region matched up with
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15 seed Wofford, taking on the Terriers to open things up in the round of 64 after the
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Vols lost in the SEC championship game against Florida following an impressive win in the
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semifinal against the team that turned out to be the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament
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the Auburn Tigers. As you look at where Tennessee has landed in this bracket, a couple of
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things stick out. Number one, Tennessee fans don't have to go far. The Vols are playing in the
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Lexington on the opening weekend. Just over an hour drive from Knoxville, Tennessee will be in a
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very familiar venue in Rupp Arena to play Wofford and then either UCLA or Utah State. If it is
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chalk and UCLA is the team that moves into the second round to play Tennessee, then the vols will be
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going up against the team that almost swiped away Rick Barnes a few years ago when UCLA tried to
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hire Barnes away, and then Tennessee AD, Philip Fulmer was the one that had to talk out a contract
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extension to keep Barnes in Knoxville. You could argue it was Fulmer's best contribution for Tennessee
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as, of course, an athletic director, not as a football coach. If Tennessee is able to get the
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win against UCLA they would likely be playing one of two teams Kentucky or Illinois Obviously that Kentucky matchup is one to keep an eye on if it does happen in the Sweet 16 as it will be the third matchup against the cats this season Tennessee is 0 and 2 against Kentucky in the 2024 campaign
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And then, of course, there's Illinois, who Tennessee faced during the non-conference slate and defeated on a coast-to-coast
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buzzer-beating layup by Jordan Ganey. Either way, there are interesting matchups all around
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And Tennessee could very well be on a crash course with number
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one seed Houston in the Midwest region in the elite eight. So what would constitute success for the Vols in this tournament
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In my opinion, it might be elite eight or bust for the Tennessee Valls
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The worst case scenario for Tennessee, obviously, would be to get bounced in the opening
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weekend in the first or second round. I don't think we can say that the worst case scenario is to lose on opening weekend and then
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say that the Sweet 16 would constitute success just by winning one extra game
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To me, Sweet 16 needs to be the absolute baseline, but Elite 8 should be the expectation for Tennessee to match
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the best run it has ever made in the NCAA tournament, the run that they made just last season, of course
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with Dalton Connect at the helm. Now, of course, the balls are in pursuit of their first final four
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in men's basketball history. But Tennessee, as a two-seed, one of the best teams in the country
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a team that spent five weeks as the number one team in the country
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according to the eight people, a team that was knocking on the door of a one seed throughout the course of the regular season
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the expectation should absolutely be a lead eight or further, especially given the matchups that could stack up in front of Tennessee
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and some of them could be pretty favorable for the Vols. It is March Madness. Anything can happen. It's about survive and advance
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And for Tennessee, for us to truly consider this a successful season, I think
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That tournament has to end up at least in the Elite 8 for the Vols
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