What Rick Barnes said Wednesday about Tennessee in the SEC Tournament

What Rick Barnes said before practice Wednesday at Food City Center, previewing No. 6 Tennessee in the SEC Tournament this weekend at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville:

If it feels different this time of year

“Well, just the fact that we’ve had, it seems like, a little longer break here than normal with the guys. And we tried to obviously get them healthy and rested and knowing that, like every team, regardless of how you want to try to analyze things, everyone goes to a conference tournament wanting to win it. And with that said, we also know that about getting our guys as fresh as we can, but yet trying to stay sharp and know that whoever we play is going to have either one or two games under their belt, and whoever it is, we have to be ready.”

Tennessee losing the rebounding battle the last three games and if that’s an emphasis moving forward 

“Rebounding is always a point of emphasis because, when we rebound like we do, we know that teams are going to come in and, and that’s going to be a point of emphasis for them, too. And I think as a year goes on, if it hadn’t been, I think it becomes a big point of emphasis for everybody. Because it’s such an important part of it. But again, when we lose the rebounding battle, you got to give our opponent credit for it because, believe me, we’re trying to keep them off the glass and we’re trying to get as many of our misses as we can. 

And I think people obviously know that, but we’ve got to get the right guys going at the right time, all the time. And we haven’t been as consistent as we need to be.”

How to scout for the SEC Tournament when Tennessee could play either Texas A&M, Vanderbilt or Texas on Friday afternoon

“Well, they’re already scouted. We play with them (during the season), but our coaches have already, even before we get on the bus to go over there, coaches have already went back and looked at games since we played them and all that. And then they all have a chance to go to the game and see if there’s anything prior to us or whoever it is that we play. But they, we’ve got all that done now and we’ll just wait and see who it is.”

How the scouting process will happen Thursday leading into Friday’s game

“After the game, we’ll get with them real quick. I don’t know, what time is the game before? (3:30). “So we’ll have a chance to walk through in the hotel. Like we would do it (in other tournaments). We’ll do it exactly like we would like any of these (tournaments) in The Bahamas. Watch film, walk through in the hotel, tape down the court and go from there.” 

Watching Lucas Campbell’s growth from a player to an assistant coach

“Did you say watch him grow up or watching him grow up? Oh, you’re talking about watching him continue to grow up. Okay. *sarcastically*

“No, I love Lucas. From the first time I met him, you have to love his spunk and who he is. And it has been neat watching him go from, he came here as a track athlete and changed over here and he’s been with us from the very beginning and I’m not surprised that he wanted to get into coaching. He’s a guy that’s gonna do extremely well with it because he’s got a great personality. I mean, when we have recruits on campus, he does an incredible job with that. Now seeing him become a father, it’s neat. It really is. But he’s, again, you think about it, he’s been with us from really day one and I’m blessed for it and our program’s blessed for it.”

Darlinstone Dubar’s importance ahead of potentially playing three games in three days

“Well, he is important, but they’re all important. I mean, you saw it happen at Illinois this year. I mean, at this time of year, you’re down to either win and move on or you don’t. And so you need him and again, I think he will be, I think he has been, but it’s no doubt that every one of these guys are important.”

Walking the balance of having a competitive edge but making sure they’re rested for this weekend

“Yeah, again, like I was saying earlier, I don’t think there’s a team out there that’s not going to go to Nashville wanting to win every game.Winning’s a habit, so is losing. So I mean, if you let down and your players see you’re not trying to go at it. I just think it sends the wrong message. So you’ve got to go in and focus like we have all year and deal with the result when it’s over with.”

On Zakai Zeigler winning back-to-back SEC Defensive Player of the Year awards:

“Well, one, I appreciate that other people appreciate what we see every day and what he does every game to try to disrupt teams 94-feet and, you know, he is on the ball most of the time getting screened probably as much as any player in the country. And the way he continues to go at it in such a high level. We’re blessed that he’s been with us, but I just appreciate that so many other people recognize what he means to us.”

The feedback he received from coaches and media around the country about the senior day festivities following Saturday’s win over South Carolina

“Unbelievable. I can’t tell you how many people — I tell you, I’m as proud of what happened after that game with our fan base ’cause we didn’t know what would happen. We knew that we couldn’t get it all in (senior day ceremony) the way we’d normally do it, but the fact that they stayed here and recognized our support people, our players, and obviously it was a big day for Zakai (Zeigler) and Jahmai (Mashack), who’s been here and  stuck with it for four years. It was really a special day. And again, just a great blessing to have a fan base like we have.

“And believe me, we thank the good Lord every day for what we have here ’cause we know there’s so many people that would love to be where we are and have the opportunity that we have here. But that truly is, in my 10 years here, it’s one of the most special things that I’ve seen.”

What about Chaz Lanier’s shot allows him to get it off so quickly

“I think it’s just repetition after repetition, what he does and the way he goes about it, that’s how he’s always done it. You know, he gets it out front quick and you know, we always talk about seeing the rim and getting it outta your hands. He’s been doing it a long time and I think he’s even gotten better since he’s been here.”

Tuesday being 30 years since he and Dean Smith got into it at the ACC Tournament, what he remembers about it

“That I was a pretty young, immature guy probably. I go back and I’ve said before, I grew up just having the utmost respect for Coach Smith, and obviously I do. And not only what he did, but his legacy and it’s just competitive and you know, he was a high level competitor as we all know, but I was at Clemson, we were all trying to get it going there. Just in the heat of competition, we both got a little excited.”