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March Madness: Vols win, Kentucky loss embarrasses NCAA Selection Committee

By Caleb Calhoun

UK head coach John Calipari, left, was dejected after they lost their first round NCAA Tournament game against Saint Peter's at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, In. on Mar. 17, 2022. Saint Peter's won 85-79 in OT.Uk Saints05 Sam
UK head coach John Calipari, left, was dejected after they lost their first round NCAA Tournament game against Saint Peter's at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, In. on Mar. 17, 2022. Saint Peter's won 85-79 in OT.Uk Saints05 Sam /
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How can you not laugh at this if you’re a Tennessee basketball fan? The Vols won the season series against the Kentucky Wildcats 2-1, they finished higher in the SEC regular season, and they went further in the SEC Tournament by winning it. Both teams were 26-7. Somehow, though, Kentucky got a higher seed in March Madness.

Well, as little sense as it made for the Selection Committee to pull such a stunt in the NCAA Tournament, blatantly ignoring what happened in the conference tournaments, they were humiliated by it more quickly than you can imagine. It only took the first day of the Round of 64.

Kentucky, a No. 2 seed, lost 85-79 in overtime to the Saint Peter’s Peacocks for an early exit in March Madness. That came mere hours after the Vols, a No. 3 seed, absolutely obliterated the No. 14 seed Longwood Lancers 88-56. Need more proof the Selection Committee got it wrong?

Look, upsets happen in the NCAA Tournament. However, this one has to sting the NCAA just a bit more because it was obvious to anybody that UT had a better resume than Kentucky. Now, you could go by certain analytical rankings to put the Wildcats ahead of them, but head to head and conference standings have to count too.

The Selection Committee ignored those standings, they ignored the head-to-head matchups, and they ignored the SEC Tournament. In the process, they humiliated themselves by setting up a seriously vulnerable team to lose in the first round of March Madness.

You may think Vol fans are overzealously tap-dancing on Kentucky’s grave. Well, if that’s the case, they are right to. Kentucky fans claimed the Vols’ first win over them was their “Super Bowl.” Well, Kentucky wasn’t around for their SEC Tournament Championship game. And they won’t be around for how long the Vols are in the Big Dance.

What they were around for, outside of losing as a No. 2 seed, was two of three losses to the Vols in basketball. Oh, they were also around for one of their five best football teams the past 60 years still managing to lose at home to a Vols team that went 7-6.

On the bright side Kentucky fans, your team played just as much a role in what the Vols wanted to have happen as the Vols did. You helped them humiliate the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. All it took was for you guys to prove early on you got the No. 2 seed on name alone.

Perhaps in the future the committee will figure out a new way to incorporate head-to-head and conference tournaments into the Big Dance. They shouldn’t overvalue them, to be fair, but it should be more than just giving the conference champions the shot at an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

dark. Next. Five things SEC Tournament told us about Vols

Rick Barnes’ team still has plenty of work to do in March Madness, though. It’s obviously work Kentucky doesn’t have left. Embarrassing the Selection Committee was one of the goals of this event, though, and that happened in the blink of an eye.

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