By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Tennessee will test the NCAA Selection Committee’s willingness to overlook RPI and to disregard the first half of the basketball season.
The Tennessee team that is the No. 2 seed in the Southeastern Conference tournament is not the same team that lost to Oakland, Austin Peay, and College of Charleston in November and December.
The easy explanation is that Jarnell Stokes graduated high school early, joined the team, and transformed the Vols into every-night winners.
Not true. His first game was Jan. 14, a loss to Kentucky. He also play 23-27 minutes in losses to Georgia, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky, again. At the end of January, the Vols were 2-5 in the SEC.
It takes time to incorporate a new face into the lineup and Martin gets the credit on that point and for staying in the moment. The hole that took weeks to dig required an equal amount of time for extrication.
The Vols persevered, just as they did last week when they were down 15 on the road against an LSU team that had played well in recent weeks. Saturday’s victory over Vanderbilt was Tennessee’s eighth in the last nine conference games and improved the Vols’ RPI to 75, a bubble number if there ever was one.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, no team with an RPI of 75 or higher has received at an-large bid in the last 15 years. Only seven teams with an RPI of 63 or higher have been invited.
If the selection committee is hung up on RPI, consider that Tennessee’s RPI was 196 after a 7-7 record in non-conference games and 15 since January — stunning evidence that the Vols are a different team.
According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, an NCAA bid is possible if Tennessee beats the Ole Miss-Auburn winner on Friday and probable if the Vols win on Saturday. If the committee is open-minded, one W should be enough.
The vote for Martin for SEC coach of the Year is for what the Vols did vs. expectations. In the preseason poll, Tennessee was picked to finish 11th of 12.
Kentucky’s John Calipari might win since his Wildcats are only the third team in more than 50 years to go unbeaten in SEC. The thing is, the Wildcats were supposed to win big.
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Losers of five of their last six, the Razorbacks have played their way out of the postseason.
Let’s leave it that way; no begging for an NIT bid or something lesser.
Besides, the team that takes the floor next November will look different than the group that goes against LSU at noon on Thursday in New Orleans. For starters, Marshawn Powell will be back in the lineup. Plus, Mike Anderson will — make that must — add some newcomers who can have an immediate impact.
Stokes and Anthony Davis, who influences virtually every possession by Kentucky’s opponents, are only two examples of what talented freshmen can do for a team.
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Tom Collen must have had a good feeling about the postseason prospects for his Razorbacks. Why else schedule a game at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Thursday night?
The Razorbacks were knocked out of the SEC Tournament in the second round, but, even if they had made it to Sunday’s final, they would have been on the sideline for almost two weeks.
The SIU game is a nice bridge between the March 2 loss to LSU and the NCAA Tournament that begins March 17.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
