IIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTT’SSSSSSS MONDAY!!!!!!!!!
And it’s an SEC baseball tournament week Monday. So, let’s grab those lawn chairs and coolers, fire up the grill, and light up those orange and white fireworks of Tennessee-Vols-related thoughts ready to pop off inside my mind.
1) That was a very fun weekend of baseball. The Vols swept the Gamecocks to secure the SEC title after Kentucky fell 12-4 to Vandy on Saturday afternoon. That’s the Vols’ second SEC title in the last three years.
2) We’ll see if the Vols can make it 2 SEC tourney titles in 3 years, too, as that gets underway on Tuesday in Hoover. The Vols face the winner of the Vandy-Florida tilt at 5:30 pm ET on Wednesday. That game presents an interesting opportunity, as while Vandy and Florida are likely on the right side of the bubble, one of those teams will suffer a loss on Tuesday, and Tennessee can knock the winner down a rung on Wednesday. Kind of nice to help Vandy and/or Florida potentially sweat it out on Selection Monday.
3) I’ve seen some fans say they don’t care if the Vols win in Hoover because of what happened in 2022. Or that they hope they don’t get the 1 seed because of the poor recent history or bad luck by that seed in the NCAA tournament. I say whatever happens in previous years has absolutely no bearing on what happens in 2024. Win the tournament in Hoover. Get #1 overall seed. Win regional. Win super regional. Go try to take home first ever title in Omaha. Look, I’m not telling you what to want, but *whispers* “it’s ok to want those things to happen. There’s no such thing as jinxes or bad luck in sports. I literally, out loud, told the baseball Gods to go straight to H-E-double hockey sticks after the Texas Rangers lost Game 5 to the Astros back in October, and the Rangers rallied to win it all.”
4) Plus hey, Tony Vitello said that A.J. Russell is going to be back for the tournament, although the when and in what spot wasn’t made clear. If he’s indeed back, that’s another arm to add to the mix, although the pitching has been very good in his absence. Man, sign pitching coach Frank Anderson to a lifetime contract already. The man has undoubtedly done yeoman’s work.
We’ll see how things go for Tennessee on Wednesday. Go Vols!