Head Coach Rick Barnes Transcript

On not receiving a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament…
“Well, you know, I think it is what it is. We can discuss it and talk about it – I told Tom – 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. So, 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.”

On the SEC Tournament being evidence of playing their best basketball at the end of the season…
“Yeah, I do think we did some good things. Each game had its own challenges, but we did a lot of good things. I thought, especially yesterday, we knew we were going to have to do a good job of knowing – we had a couple of games playing our traditional big lineup, subbing two guys at a time – with A&M playing a small lineup we would play that lineup as long as we could and then size down to our small lineup. I thought the guys did a really good job against a team that was playing as well as any team in the country and should be in the tournament. We guarded the ball well and certainly they had four days where they just fought like crazy and they fought yesterday till the very end. I thought our guys really did do a good job of perimeter defense and trying to really guard the basketball.”

On the four-guard-plus-Fulkerson lineup used at the end of games…
“When Fulky (John Fulkerson) is really locked in and playing well and doing the things that he can do, we can get him the ball around the elbow area, guys cut off of him. Our movement has been good, we’ve become a team that is moving and cutting, moving those parts around. That’s when we are playing our best basketball and he, and our post guys really in general, they all know basketball pretty well. Knowing that they were playing the matchup zone they were in, doing the different things, and we finally got settled down and we were really just trying to keep our movement going. But, he was good in that area. We like it when he can get some space there to work with.”

On his first conference title since 1994…
“Well, one, I think it is extremely hard to win a regular season championship, it’s hard to win conference tournaments. All leagues are different, I mean I can sit and talk about all the different ways that things play out through the years. Honestly, when you get to be my age and you look around and have a group of guys like we have – and I have had so many wonderful, I mean just unbelievable players – I know how hard they work. Now I will tell you, and I’ve said it before, I made the mistake many, many years ago of making it about me and I was wrong, dead wrong, in that. But now, it truly is about the players. I guess I’ve matured, I’ve grown up with them. I love it, I love the way those guys celebrated because they deserve it. A lot of emotion came out there because this year, we weren’t perfect. We had ups and downs within our program that we had to deal with, but when you see it coming together and the effort that these guys put in it and the respect that they really do have for each other. This group will someday be brought back here, I won’t be here, but they’ll be brought back and be honored for many, many years to come and that’s something that they will be remembered (for). They will be conference champions for forever. There will be a bond there that they will look back one day and, when they children and grandchildren, it will mean even more to them.”

On Josiah-Jordan James’ performance during the tournament…
“He’s played good, Josiah and Santi (Santiago Vescovi), both of those guys don’t get the credit for what they do on the defensive end. What they do, I mean Josiah’s block there was an incredible block. What Santi had to do guarding (Quenton) Jackson yesterday, I mean that kid played an incredible tournament. Santi, we were going back-and-forth about putting Santi on him with how important he is to us. Both of those guys just went at it with each other. So many people look at steals and things like that when they talk about defense, but it’s the fix-it plays that Jo did, even when he’s not making shots. But when he’s starting to play at all three levels like he is, that’s the player that we know he can be. I think he’s just getting started for how good of a basketball player he can be.”

On playing an unfamiliar opponent in the NCAA Tournament…
“I think, looking at it, I don’t know a lot about them right now, but Longwood is a guard-heavy team with experienced players. I know how hard it is to go through a league when you only lose, what, one game and win a championship. We all know how the transfer portal works, too. Every game is going to be a hard game, the scouting report and all three games this past weekend were different. Our guys have learned how to adapt to that quickly, but we will get busy with it tomorrow. I wish our tournament would end on Saturday. You think about it, we end on Sunday, late, get back here. We were flying back through the selection show, then we turn around and get put in an early afternoon game, but that’s the way it is. That’s why I wish, as a league, we would look at moving our tournament (championship) to Saturday, which will be hard to do because it has been brought up so many times. I think everybody in our league, certainly coaches, would like it to be that way.”

On the off the court reason the Vols have been successful this year…
“I think anytime you win and you’re successful, it’s leadership. I talked a lot about it yesterday, when we ended last season, the first thing we talked about was leadership. I said ‘we can’t move forward until we get more from within the program and you guys are willing to lead each other and some days talk to each other in a way you don’t know how to do.’ It’s hard to be a leader, it’s hard to be a team where you are willing to, not in a bad way, but be able to say to someone ‘man, that’s a tough shot. Take care of the basketball.’ Those kind of things ‘hey, you’ve got to block out,’ because often times when you deal with young players they’re like ‘hey, worry about you’ or whatever. So, we ended our season talking about it, and we started this year during the summer talking about the same thing. Then, as you go through a year, injuries creep in, outside voices that these guys hear from their different camps that they deal with. The leadership is what brought us to it, and it did come from within, it really did. We went through, like every team and I think every team goes through it, thinking of Josiah and Santi and they lead in different ways. Uros (Plavsic)’s voice became a big voice. I can go down the line with so many different guys. Zakai (Zeigler), the way he came in and brought something that we didn’t know all about it, his DNA has had a tremendous effect on this team and, certainly, Kennedy (Chandler) and the way he has continued to grow. Victor Bailey Jr., you can’t ask for a better teammate than him. For a guy that certainly has been a big part of our program, I’d be disappointed if he and the other guys on the bench didn’t want to play for us, because they want to play, but for them to encourage their teammates… I walked into the locker room last night, right before the team went out there on the floor and VJ Bailey had Uros in a corner just saying ‘hey man, you got to get every rebound, do you understand?’ I mean VJ was telling him. When you get that kind of interaction with a team, that’s when you know you’ve got something special.”

On the idea that late in the season is all about guard play…
“There’s a lot more, I mean you’ve got to have terrific guard play. You’ve got to be able to defend the 3-point line, you’ve got to take care of the basketball. I mean it’s a team sport and because of that, I mean, everybody is valuable. When you go up against a team that’s got all guards and you run into a matchup where the other team is really big, either they’ve got to size down to you or if you don’t have big guys, what do you do? So, I think it’s all important and I think the mindset of continuing to get better, like tomorrow is an important day for us. It’s a big day of preparation and we wanted these guys to enjoy what they accomplished yesterday, but they know and I know what our ultimate goal has been. The fact we are there with a chance to go after it is where we want to be.”

Super Senior Forward John Fulkerson Quotables

On how his role changes when he is playing with another post player versus being the only post player on the floor…
“I guess it’s really just going from the 4 to the 5. I guess my role really is the same, just a different position. I think the biggest change with that, whether I’m playing with Josiah (James) or Uros (Plavsic), is probably on the defensive end. When you ask that question, the thing that comes to mind is rebounding on both ends of the floor at the 4 and the 5, I think that’s the most important thing.”

On how Sunday’s SEC championship compares to winning the SEC regular season title in 2018…
“As bad as I hate to say it, it felt a lot sweeter yesterday. And that’s no discredit to the championship that we had in 2017-18 and those teammates. But this one was a lot sweeter and I was a lot more emotional I think maybe because I have a bigger role on this team compared to that team, but it was great. Both of them were really good.”

On if he thinks this past weekend was Tennessee’s best basketball and why he thinks Tennessee has continued to improve all season…
“I would say we’re definitely playing some of our best basketball right now and we’re really meshing and playing well together. As far as us getting better, I would say first of all, credit to our coaches for pushing us. That’s what coach Barnes says a lot, is just getting better, getting better, getting better. I think that kind of goes to us as players and listening to what they say, but also just buying in. Everyone buying into their role, having each other’s backs and knowing what all we can accomplish if we play together and try to get better every day.”