Another Vols Choke

Oh well for that late-season momentum that was going to catapult the Tennessee Vols men's basketball team into the Big Dance.

Oh well for the momentum that was going to lead the Vols to their first SEC Tournament championship since 1979.

This 2009 season has definitely been interesting for the Vols. A lot of us thought that UT would once again be the class of the SEC this season.

Not so.

Bruce Pearl was a tad too ambitious with the schedule this season. We found out rather early that this young team would not be able to play with the big boys until they matured a bit.

The Vols suffered losses to Gonzaga, Temple, Kansas, Gonzaga again, and Memphis out of conference. In conference, the hated Kentucky Wildcats beat the Vols twice. They also lost to LSU, Auburn, Ole Miss, and finally Alabama.

It was definitely a rough season, and quite disappointing. Especially after Tennessee had won three must-win games in a row. This included the SEC East-first-place-tie-clinching blowout at South Carolina on Thursday night.

Welcoming the 16-13 Crimson Tide into Knoxville, most UT fans figured the outright East championship was ours. After all, 'Bama had only won 6 SEC games so far, and said goodbye to star PG Ronald Steele; not to mention former coach Mark Gottfried earlier this season.

Tennessee surely was not expecting to get beat on a last second shot to these guys!

It happened though. It erased any and all momentum that Tennessee might have had going into the conference tournament later this week. Now the Vols find themselves back on the bubble.

Bruce's boys have to win at least one or two games in the SEC tourney to be assured of a spot in the 'Big Dance'.

Had Tennessee taken care of business on Sunday that would not be the case.

Oh well, I guess we fans are getting used to the choking by now.