The Vols may be struggling, but their senior leader is taking aim at the program's best scoring average in more than 20 years.
With the demoralizing loss at Missouri over the weekend, there's a fear many will lose interest in Tennessee's season. The Vols fell to 12-13 (5-7) and, with an RPI sinking to the 120s after becoming just the second team to lose to Mizzou in conference play, now find their NIT hopes in unrealistic territory. As happened at the tail end of last season, you reach a point where it's just as much of a stretch to believe this team can win four games in four days in the SEC Tournament as it is to construct a scenario to get back in NIT range in RPI (in this case going 4-2 the rest of the way home, then winning at least one game in Nashville, then hoping for minimal upsets in low/mid-major conference tournaments).