Ranking Tennessee Vols sports worst affected by coronavirus ending season

4. Men’s Swimming and Diving

Swimming and diving was big for both Tennessee Vols programs before everything came to an end, and when you combine the men’s and women’s side, it was by far the best program overall. Things were a bit less impressive on the men’s side, but that doesn’t mean that it still doesn’t deserve a major shoutout for how everything proceeded during the year. They did very well.

After finishing sixth place at SEC Championships back in the middle of February, the program was poised to make a strong showing at NCAA Zone B Diving Championships and had two people from there, Matthew Wade and Will Hallam, qualify for NCAA Men’s Championships. However, the ensuing week brought about the virus that shut everything down.

The crazy thing was that UT was ranked No. 12 nationally in the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America top 25. Like many sports on here, though, that didn’t translate to a high SEC ranking, as there were four other teams ranked ahead of them from the league: the Texas A&M Aggies, Georgia Bulldogs, Missouri Tigers and Florida Gators.

That explains how they could still finish No. 6 at SECs, as all four teams plus the Alabama Crimson Tide managed to finish ahead of them. When you take that into account, they may have underachieved bit down the stretch. However, it doesn’t matter. They were still in prime position to have a strong showing at NCAAs, and that makes this cancellation devastating.