For just the second time in school history, the Tennessee basketball team is ranked No. 1 in the country as the Vols ascended to the top spot in this week’s Associated Press poll.
With Michigan losing to Wisconsin and Duke losing at home to Syracuse earlier in the week, Tennessee’s sweep last week — beating Arkansas and Alabama — vaulted them from No. 3 to No. 1.
Tennessee had the endorsement of both teams it beat last week, too as both Mike Anderson of Arkansas and Avery Johnson of Alabama called Tennessee the best team the country.
“I would vote them number one if I had a vote,” Anderson said following his team’s 19 point defeat to the Vols.
For head coach Rick Barnes, the No. 1 ranking isn’t a first for him. While at Texas he got the Longhorns to the top spot. And while the recognition is good, it’s obviously not a focus.
“I don’t think anything about it,” Barnes said Saturday when asked about the possibility of being ranked No. 1.
“I think we are going to be in a lot of games like this if we are ranked first, 21st, or 41st. I think this league is like that where everyone is biting, and right now you are in the middle of conference season and this is something new to these guys. The guys that are playing right now built this thing. To be where we want to be you have to deal with that and is it nice to ranked? Of course, because of the attention that comes to your program. You do that by staying focused on what is at hand. You do that by playing basketball and not letting the outside noise in. That is where you find out how close you are as a team when you come unraveled. We are focused at the task at hand and that is winning another basketball game.”
Following the Alabama win, junior forward Grant Williams said the thought of being at the top spot is great for fans and even exposure for the program, but the focus must be on Wednesday night’s game against Vanderbilt.
“I don’t want to say I don’t care, but when you think about it we are playing a game and we have to worry about the sport of basketball. We have to worry about the opponent in front of us,” Grant Williams said.
“If you start worrying about the outside things then its going to hurt us and you going to start paying attention to yourself. We are a team and we are just worried about who’s in front of us whether that’s practicing the next day or that’s Vanderbilt. Being ranked No. 1 would be nice and or fans would love it, but for us we just have to focus on each other.”
Tennessee takes to the floor as the No. 1 team Wednesday night when the travel to Nashville to take on a Vanderbilt team that is winless in SEC play.
