Tennessee basketball: Vols realize they were lucky Mike White rejected them

The Florida Gators’ loss to the LSU Tigers was bad for Tennessee basketball. But it reminded Volunteers fans they were lucky not to get Mike White.

It was horrendous for Tennessee basketball to watch. They just needed one favor from one of their most hated rivals, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida Gators. Both were playing the LSU Tigers at home. If either wins at home, they are in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. But neither could do it.

Vols fans got to see first-hand Wednesday night just how inept Florida’s offense is. In regulation, they couldn’t pick up an LSU press late and got a 10-second violation. Then, in overtime, they couldn’t get a shot off in their final possession down by one coming off a timeout after Jalen Hudson slipped.

As a result, LSU won another close match-up 79-78 and all but clinched the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. They almost certainly won’t lose to the Vanderbilt Commodores at home in the regular season finale.

But, in the process, Tennessee basketball fans were able to be reminded of one thing. They should all be celebrating that Florida Gators head coach Mike White turned them down back in 2014 when Dave Hart was looking for Cuonzo Martin’s replacement.

White rejected the Vols, stayed with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs for another year and then replaced Billy Donovan at Florida. That first season, Vols fans probably were wishing they could have had White after the Donnie Tyndall fiasco.

But a year later, they scored big with Rick Barnes. And while Barnes inherited a mess, White inherited a program at its peak under Donovan. Four years later, the Vols are a top 5 team thinking about a national championship. White is just trying to make the NCAA Tournament. And he showed that he can’t coach a lick in close games. So the Vols were, let’s just say, lucky.

This was the first time UT fans had a reason to watch Florida up close under White without their team playing. And they could objectively see that the guy is as clueless as Josh Pastner when it comes to offense.

White is a defensive specialist, but he had no idea how to adjust on offense Wednesday night. This isn’t to excuse Will Wade, who made some mistakes. But every time Wade switched up his defense, Florida looked completely lost.

When the Gators got the ball on the last possession, they were down by one with 20 seconds left. They first ran the clock down to eight seconds before White instructed the timeout. Then they didn’t get a shot off coming off the timeout. And this was in overtime at home with a chance to get into the NCAA Tournament conversation on the line.

Simply put, that was an embarrassing sequence. And it shows with the slide of the program under White. As Tennessee basketball rises under Barnes, fans will be frustrated that White’s team didn’t deliver for them in Wednesday night’s game. But Florida’s not delivering just serves as another reminder of how lucky the Vols were to be rejected by White.