The SEC Tournament is expected to be a juggernaut this season thanks to the conference's elite depth. 

Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl recently suggested that winning the SEC Tournament this season might be more difficult than reaching the Final Four. 

"There's a chance that the SEC tournament could be potentially harder than making it to the Final Four," said Pearl (via ESPN). "You're talking about facing higher ranked teams than you would in the Sweet 16."

That's why some Tennessee Vols fans have speculated that UT would be better off losing on Friday in the SEC Tournament than playing in all three games and potentially being "worn out" for the NCAA Tournament the following week. 

A year ago, the Volunteers lost in the quarterfinals (which was the first game of the tourney for UT) to Mississippi State. As a result, Tennessee received six days off before their first NCAA Tournament game. The Vols reached the Elite Eight last season. 

Getting knocked out of the SEC Tournament early might be beneficial health-wise for the Vols, but Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes made it clear on Wednesday that his team is going into the conference tournament with the intentions of winning it. 

"I don’t think there’s a team out there that’s not going to go to Nashville wanting to win every game," said Barnes. "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.”

I doubt anyone expected Barnes to say anything differently, but his comments certainly confirm that Tennessee is in it to win it this weekend in Nashville. 

Fun Rick Barnes fact of the day

Maybe some other folks knew this, but I had no idea. Barnes nearly became Tennessee's head coach in 1989 after Don DeVoe was fired as the program's head coach. 

ESPN's Chris Low detailed the story in a column about SEC basketball on Wednesday. 

From ESPN: When Tennessee fired Don DeVoe following the 1989 season, Barnes met with then-Tennessee athletic director Doug Dickey about the job. Barnes remembers telling journalist and close friend John Feinstein and Gavitt, who remained a mentor to Barnes until his death in 2011, about the Tennessee interview.

"They both said, 'You can't take that job. They don't care about basketball. You're already in a basketball league,'" Barnes said. "That was the perception, and it didn't have anything to do with Doug Dickey. That's just where the league was. They were set on being the best football league in the country.

"Now there is an emphasis in this league to be the best in every sport, a tremendous amount of pride, and what's happened in basketball is unlike anything I ever thought I'd see in the SEC, not from where I grew up in the Carolinas."

I guess it was just destiny that Barnes ended up on Rocky Top all these years later. 

Quote from Tony Vitello shows exactly why the Tennessee Vols baseball program is elite

There’s a reason for the success