Why Tennessee baseball is equipped to win a national championship – for real this time
Tennessee baseball has been here before. Tony Vitello’s success is not new. He’s made winning the expectation. In previous seasons, though, talented Vols teams fizzled before the NCAA championship. That doesn’t mean this team will.
In fact, these Vols are a deserving frontrunner to win the national championship. Their path will continue with an NCAA super regional against Evansville.
The underdog Purple Aces advanced as a 4-seed out of their regional. There’s nothing underdog about these Vols.
On this edition of “The Volunteer State,” Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network and the News Sentinel’s Mike Wilson and John Adams detail Tennessee’s path to a championship and why this team doesn’t feel like a repeat of the 2022 Vols.
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Two years ago, Tennessee was an NCAA Tournament frontrunner after becoming a smashing regular-season success. It got bounced in the super regional.
This team is not that team, and these Vols don’t have much weakness.
Here are three reasons why these Vols are positioned to earn a different result than in 2022.
1. Tennessee Vols are about their business.
The 2022 team turned Lindsey Nelson Stadium into a party. The Vols provided the theatrics – oh, did they ever – and fans ate it up. They also fixed a giant target on their backs, and opponents relished the idea of eliminating Tennessee.
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TOPPMEYER: If SEC expands again, consider 4 ACC teams. But what about Notre Dame football?
These Vols are mature. They’re all about ball. And their ball is pretty darn good. They’ve also shown they can bounce back, recovering from an early loss in the SEC Tournament to win the crown.
2. There’s no other dominant force.
The tournament is fairly open. No other team lurks out there that you simply don’t want to face. The bracket features no equivalent to 2023 LSU and its ace Paul Skenes, who handed the Vols a loss in Omaha last season. Wake Forest also was a force in '23.
The juggernaut is missing from this bracket. In its absence, the Vols are the best thing going.
3. Tennessee baseball enjoys a forgiving path
Let’s just say it: Notre Dame was a tougher super regional opponent in 2022 than Evansville is. The Aces have merit. They’re a veteran team, and Kenton Deverman is a strike-throwing No. 1 starter. But, whereas Notre Dame eliminating Tennessee counted as an upset, Evansville advancing to the CWS would be a shock of epic proportion.
Also in this episode
∎ The hosts explain why Vitello reminds them of two former Tennessee coaches in other sports, plus a former national champion football coach from the ACC.
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Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist and a published author. John Adams is the News Sentinel's senior columnist and a two-time published author. Mike Wilson covers the Vols with award-winning coverage for the News Sentinel. He's authored no books, but likes to read them. You can subscribe to read all their coverage, or check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Tennessee Vols baseball is equipped to win NCAA championship. For real
