View from 315A

Note: I did not post on the Vols’ 30th win at I was on the road and did not see it.

Tennessee may eventually be eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, but the Butler did not do it. The Vols survived their first overtime game of the season with a 76-71 victory over #11 Butler in Birmingham. JaJuan Smith hit four straight free throws in the final 13.6 seconds of overtime to seal the win.

The Volunteers made their first three 3-pointers and jumped out to a 13-2 lead with 14:40 left in the first half and led by as many as 13 in the first half. Butler did not lead until A.J. Graves hit a short jumper in the paint to give the Bulldogs a 68-66 with 1:46 left in overtime.

The Vols won despite committing 20 turnovers, including seven from Tyler Smith and six from J.P. Prince. Turnovers contributed to Butler's seconf half rally.

It was the first time in the history of the tournament that two 30-win teams met in only the second round. Both teams felt they should have been seeded higher, particularly the 11th ranked, but 7th seeded Horizon league champions. (They did lose their only game against a tournament team at the time of seeding.) JaJuan Smith penned “No. 1 Seed” on his sneakers for the second consecutive game as motivation.

Wayne Chism led the team in scoring with 16 points, including the go ahead bucket in overtime. Tyler Smith added 15 points and 8 rebounds.

The Vols won the battle of the boards, 43-34. Tennessee had been out-rebounded by 12 in each of their last two games.

It was only the third time the two teams have ever played. This was a rematch of last season’s NIT Season Tip-off semifinal at New York, won by Butler 56-44. The other meeting was in 1958.

With the win, Tennessee reaches the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season. Tennessee lost to eventual national runner-up Ohio State in the semifinals of the South Region last year. They fell in the second round as a No. 2 seed in 2006, the only other time they were seeded as high.

Butler finished the season at 30-4, a school record for victories.

The Vols next game will be Friday (March 27th) in Charlotte against Rick Pitino and Louisville. Tip-off has not yet been set by the NCAA.

Some random game thoughts:

• The game was highly annoying to watch as CBS continually cut to other games, especially a hopeless Miami rally against Texas.
  
• Ten different Volunteers scored.
  
• J.P. Prince made his first ever college start - at point guard. While I am clearly in favor of minimizing Jordan Howell’s minutes, I am not sure the tournament is the correct time to make a change of this magnitude.
  
• Prince had 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, but also had six turnovers including one on each of the last two possessions in regulation. He was promptly replaced by Ramar Smith.
  
• Howell did enter the game with 9:43 remaining in the second half. Ramar had four fouls.
  
• Why hasn’t Tennessee recruited a point guard?
  
• Ryan Childress, whose playing time has also dropped significantly, entered briefly with 1:17 remaining in the first half - long enough to leave his man, Pete Campbell, for a wide open three-pointer. Campbell hit eight 3's in the Bulldogs’ opening round win.
  
• Tennessee’s leading scorer Chris Lofton was held to single digits for the second straight game. He did have more points (6) in the first three minutes of the game than he had during the entire game of the Vols’ opening round victory.
  
• Verne “Mrs. Tim Tebow” Lundquist jinxed Tyler Smith by acknowledging that he had hit his first seven free throws. Naturally, Tyler missed his eighth.
  
• 31-year old Butler coach Brad Stevens is the third-youngest coach in NCAA history to have a 30-win season. I would be willing to bet the farm that he is the youngest looking coach to ever hit the mark.
  
• Butler had won their previous two overtime games this season.
  
• Butler also lost for the first time in 25 games when making at least eight 3-pointers.
  
• Teams that merited a 1-3 seed are 22-2. Only Duke and Georgetown have lost.
  
• Of the six teams that entered the firld, Tennessee is the only SEC team remaining. The SEC posted an unimpressive 4-5 record on opening weekend.