MIKE STRANGE

Mike Strange: Tennessee's ride was fun while it lasted

Mike Strange
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Tennessee's men look like a basketball team that's out of gas. If that's the case, at least the Vols got farther down the road than anybody thought they would.

It's reasonable to be disappointed in the way the 2016-17 season is winding down for Tennessee. With two games left before the SEC tournament the Vols are trending downward from NCAA tournament bracket-crasher to hanging with the motley crowd on the NIT bubble.

The daily exercise for Vol fans has changed from comparing RPIs to dissecting what's gone wrong. At this point, presuming even to hang a 15th consecutive loss on LSU in Baton Rouge on Wednesday night is risky.

It's a long slog from November to March. This one didn't seem nearly as long as it might have. A brief recap:

Early skirmishes flashed unexpected potential and 2016 ended in nice road wins. January, once past a rocky start, saw that potential translate into tangible results.

Wins at Vanderbilt and Auburn. Down goes Kentucky. Take that, Kansas State and Big 12.

The high-water mark crested early in the second half on Feb. 4 at Humphrey Coliseum. Tennessee led Mississippi State by 17 points on a Jordan Bone basket with 16:35 to play. A fifth straight win was on its way into the bag for a trip back to Knoxville.

Well, you know what happened. Since that collapse in Starkville, things haven't been the same. The Vols gritted out a win over Ole Miss and held serve at home against lowly Missouri. The rest has been tough to watch.

Coach Rick Barnes stuck to his guns Monday that there's still a lot of basketball left. Technically, he could be correct. The sport is defined by March.

The question, then, is whether Tennessee can find a way to reboot at this late hour.

Good luck. Beginning with the turning point at Mississippi State, UT has lowered its fewest-points count four times in seven games: 59, 58 and then last week to 56 against Vanderbilt and 55 at South Carolina.

Why? It's a stew of factors. Young point guards in a funk. Teams have figured out how to defend the Vols, in particular freshman Grant Williams.

"Grant is learning that it gets more difficult when people start game-planning for you,'' Barnes said.

Game-planning is easier when you're one-dimensional. Detrick Mostella's 3-point shooting is missed. The Vols are lagging at 30.9 percent in SEC play. Freshman Jordan Bowden, another guy who can stroke it, has been out the past three games and his return is uncertain. Teams are daring UT to bust a zone defense and the Vols aren't.

Robert Hubbs III has had fluid drained off his knee twice in recent weeks, Barnes said Monday. After a procedure Friday, Hubbs toughed it out for 30 minutes at South Carolina. Point guard Bone has a shoulder issue, Barnes said.

Some people believe in a freshman wall, some don't. But consider this: of the four SEC teams relying most on freshmen, Tennessee, Auburn and Mississippi State are all in a tailspin. Kentucky is the exception.

Inexperience can rear its head more ways than one. Vanderbilt and South Carolina, both of whom took the Vols to task last week, are veteran-dominated teams. They've done February before. They fully understand what's at stake.

But, with apologies to Coach Shakespeare, I come today not to bury the Vols but to praise them.

Given the bleak preseason forecast, Tennessee fans should appreciate that this journey turned out to be more interesting than it might have been. What we've seen the past two weeks was always a possibility from the get-go.

The idea is to peak at the end. It apparently isn't going down that way for the Vols. Still, it's better to build expectations and then fall short than to never have any at all.

Mike Strange may be reached at mike.strange@knownews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Strangemike44.

More Mike Strange Headlines: