Will Vols alter tournament history?

The Florida Gators have won back-to-back national championships in basketball. They also have won back-to-back SEC Tournaments.

That's not an aberration.

Although the SEC Tournament has no direct bearing on the NCAA Tournament, the conference's best teams often do well in both. That's why I expect fourth-ranked and SEC regular-season champ Tennessee to be playing in the SEC title game Sunday.

Never mind the Vols' abysmal history in the SEC Tournament. This is its best team -- one worthy of a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed and quite capable of playing in the Final Four.

And the SEC Tournament should reflect that.

Sure, there are exceptions. For example, take Florida in 2000. After being eliminated in the second round of the SEC Tournament, the Gators made it to the national championship game as a fifth seed.

But since the conference expanded to 12 teams in 1992, Florida in 2000 is the only team to make the Final Four after failing to advance at least to the semifinals of the SEC tourney.

The last two Florida national championship teams aren't the only ones to build momentum in the SEC Tournament and sustain it all the way to a national title.

Kentucky's 1998 national champions did the same. They won three SEC Tournament games by an average of 22 points before winning six consecutive games in the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats also won the national title in 1996 -- after losing in the championship game of the SEC Tournament. Mississippi State, which won the SEC Tournament, then made an NCAA Tournament run of its own, reaching the Final Four semifinals.

Since 1992, Arkansas is the only one of the five SEC national champions that didn't at least play for the SEC Tournament championship. In 1994, the Razorbacks lost to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament semifinals before making their national championship charge.

Kentucky's 1992 and 1993 teams fell short of a national title, but their play further illustrates the correlation between the two tournaments.

The 1992 Wildcats won three SEC Tournament games by an average of 17 points. They then won three consecutive NCAA Tournament games before losing to Duke 104-103 in overtime in the East Regional final.

The 1993 Wildcats won three SEC Tournament games by an average of 29.7 points -- an average somewhat skewed by a 101-40 victory over UT -- before their dazzling NCAA Tournament performance.

Kentucky won its first four NCAA Tournament games by an average of 31 points before losing to Michigan in overtime in the Final Four.

Since UT has had such a small basketball presence in March, you can't prove much by its Tournament comparisons.

The Vols haven't won the SEC Tournament since 1979. And they never have advanced beyond the sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament.

Even their best teams have stumbled in the SEC Tournament. Coach Jerry Green's 1999-2000 team won 26 games but lost its SEC tourney opener.

Coach Bruce Pearl's first UT team was good enough to merit a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament, yet it lost its first game in the SEC Tournament. Wichita State upset the Vols in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

In three seasons, coach Bruce Pearl has dramatically altered the course of Tennessee basketball. The Vols have been ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time in school history, they have won the SEC regular-season title, and they're on the verge of earning their first No. 1 seed in an NCAA Tournament.

Now, it's time to change their Tournament history. And that starts Friday with the SEC Tournament in Atlanta.

(Contact John Adams at adamsj@knews.com.)

(John Adams writes for The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee at www.knoxnews.com.)