Rick Barnes, coaching staff use Kobe Bryant to motivate team on staying present

Rick Barnes has been singing the right tune for Tennessee, as the Volunteers are one of the hottest teams in the nation. His team captured the SEC Tournament title, but the Tennessee coach recognizes that there’s still more work to be done. So, Barnes and his coaching staff are utilizing the words of Kobe Bryant to keep Tennessee’s minds in the right place entering the NCAA Tournament.

After capturing the SEC Tournament title, Barnes spoke about how Bryant’s words help his team stay in the moment.

“I’ll give really great credit to my coaches,” stated Barnes. “They’re always looking for angles to keep these guys present in the right now and to stay in the moment. Coach [Justin] Gainey today pulled up a clip of Kobe Bryant, and they were up two games, and the reporter said you don’t seem like you’re very happy. He said, ‘We’re not done. We’re not finished.’ It’s hard. They’re kids, and they should enjoy this.

“We started talking four, five weeks ago about every game is playoff game because we knew we were still wanting to try to stay in the hunt for an SEC regular season championship, and we came here. The message was on Friday night, this is the championship game. We said yesterday, this is the championship game. We said it again today. This is the championship game.”

Evidently, the words of Bryant are echoing throughout the Volunteers, serving as a melody for their success. Continuing, Barnes added that he learned from Coach Wimp Sanderson — who he was an assistant under at Alabama from 1985-86 — that you have to treat every game like there’s no tomorrow.

“Something that Coach Sanderson always said, in tournament time — if you don’t play it like it, there will be no tomorrow,” stated Barnes. “We also tried to just stay with our routine that we do. But again — my assistants do just an incredible job. Not only what we do as time, but working behind the scenes. Talking to them, delivering messages that we think each individual guys.”

As you can see, Rick Barnes and his assistants are striking all the right chords with the Tennessee players entering the NCAA Tournament. The motivated Volunteers will be tough to eliminate in March.

Rick Barnes on balancing SEC Tournament title, NCAA Tournament preparation

Furthermore, Rick Barnes spoke about how Tennessee is balancing celebrating their SEC Tournament title, while also preparing for the NCAA Tournament.

“I want those guys to enjoy it,” stated Barnes. “I have never been one to enjoy a lot until after the season is over with and you reflect on it. Because I’m always thinking next, next, next. But I’m really happy that these guys. They should enjoy it because it’s very hard to win a championship at any level. Regular season, postseason, conference tournament, NCAA. It’s hard.

“When they do it, it’s something they should enjoy it. And I’m really ecstatic for our program, but for these guys and for our university. I can’t say enough again about our fans, the ones that could get here. They were awesome. They made their presence felt here again today.”

Rick Barnes and Tennessee faithful certainly enjoyed cutting down the nets in Tampa. However, it’ll look like a small get-together compared to the party that’ll take place in Knoxville if the Volunteers end the NCAA Tournament on top.