The men’s basketball NCAA Tournament bracket was announced on Selection Sunday.
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes met with media Monday and was asked about the Vols’ No. 3 seed instead of being a two-seed.
“Well, you know, I think it is what it is,” Barnes said. “We can discuss it and talk about it – I’m here today to talk about this and what I do. I do believe that after Selection Sunday that the chairman or people of the committee should have to have a national day of press conferences so that (the media) can ask questions, not just for two or three minutes, from people that really cover college basketball throughout (the season). When you look at it, to answer your question, everybody said that we were a 3-seed going into the SEC Tournament, so it doesn’t look like the tournament helped us. Certainly, I don’t understand how a team in the SEC that wins 12 games like Texas A&M, and is playing great basketball at the end (of the season), not being in the tournament. It just baffles me, it really does. If that’s the way it’s going to be, if the conference tournament doesn’t mean anything and the teams that are already slotted in the tournament cannot improve their seeding, we should stay at home and let the teams that are trying to get into the tournament fight for that one bid; that gives our league a chance to get more.
“Those are the questions I really think should be asked and answered. There’s people out there much more thorough than I am, in terms of looking at résumés and all that. From a coaches standpoint, this is what we have and we’re going to go from here, but on a national level and for our game, maybe a press conference where tough questions have to be answered helps people going forward. If it’s scheduling people are doing, they can take care of that themselves. Like I said, it is what it is. We’ve got to go play basketball and I’m proud of our guys for their effort that they’ve put in all year long and to have the chance to be a part of this is what we work for.”
Brackets: Fill out your NCAA tournament bracket here!
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