Evaluating Sweet 16 clash between Tennessee Volunteers, Creighton Blue Jays

On3’s Bracketologist James Fletcher III joined Andy Staples On3, with the focus on the Sweet 16 clash between the Tennessee Volunteers and Creighton Blue Jays.

Looking ahead to the matchup, Fletcher III believes a lot of the focus will be on Volunteers leader Rick Barnes, and what Tennessee will do if the program doesn’t advance to the Elite Eight next weekend.

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“This team was different than past Rick Barnes’ teams. Now, they come up against the Creighton team that is just so good offensively. A really fun team to watch,” Fletcher III said. “I love this Creighton team, with [Trey] Alexander, with Ryan Kalkbrenner, with Baylor Scheierman. I think that they’re just so complete, in their starting unit. What they’re able to do spacing the floor. Defensively, how they match up with teams. I really, really like this Creighton team. And so it’s gonna be hard, to pick a winner in this one, between Tennessee, who’s got the defensive end of it. They’ve got Dalton Knecht to carry them on offense. But is he going to be enough? Can Creighton slow him down enough to let their offense kind of carry the day?

“And then from there, I think maybe the most interesting conversations surrounding this game, has nothing to do with what happens on the floor. But if Tennessee were to lose, where does that leave us in the Rick Barnes discourse, about March Madness success. Because he got through those first two games. He made it through the opening weekend. But I think the expectation with this Tennessee team is to go further than here, to make at least the Elite Eight. However, you run into a Creighton team that’s just that good. You might just lose the game, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Evidently, Staples doesn’t believe Barnes should take heat in Knoxville if Tennessee falls to Creighton, especially with the way the bracket has shaken out in 2024.

“I feel like when you’re when you’re in a chalk situation in the Sweet 16, like you can’t make value judgments on the coach, unless they just get completely bombed, which I don’t think is gonna happen,” Staples elaborated. “But at this point, it’s two really good teams playing each other in a single elimination tournament. It’s not like, we talked about Kentucky and [John] Calipari after the open loss. It’s a very different situation. You know, in this case, if Barnes loses to [Greg] McDermott, I mean, it’s like — well, if you reverse it, does it say anything about Greg McDermott if they lose to Tennessee? No. Like, these are two really good teams. And only one of them can win.

“And I feel like we’re in a lot like — Illinois, Iowa State same thing. North Carolina, Alabama. Same thing. Duke and Houston, same thing. Like it’s not a value judgment on the coach when you got a 1-4, 2-3 game in the Sweet 16.

Alas, it remains to be seen what the result is, but Creighton versus Tennessee is certainly one of the more interesting clashes of the Sweet 16, for a myriad of reasons.