Vols guard Jahmai Mashack's comments after advancing to the Sweet 16 will warm hearts all over East Tennessee
After taking down the UCLA Bruins on Saturday night in Lexington, the Tennessee Vols are just two wins away from reaching the Final Four for the first time in program history. Tennessee efficiently dispatched of Wofford and UCLA during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third […]
After taking down the UCLA Bruins on Saturday night in Lexington, the Tennessee Vols are just two wins away from reaching the Final Four for the first time in program history.
Tennessee efficiently dispatched of Wofford and UCLA during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third straight year.
There are several players on Tennessee's roster that have made an indelible impact on the program that will play their final game in a Vols uniform at some point in the next couple of weeks.
However, those players, which include Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack, and Jordan Gainey, aren't making the Vols' NCAA Tournament run about themselves. Instead, they want to win a national championship for Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes, a future Hall of Fame coach who is still searching for his first natty.
"For me and Z (Zeigler), I talked to him about it, this Final Four run and national championship run isn't for us, it's for him (Barnes)," said Mashack after Tennessee advanced to the Sweet 16. "We win, we love winning, we love getting the recognition, but we want it for him most of all. And I think that's just the main thing is trying to win every game for Coach Barnes — because he deserves more recognition than he gets."
Barnes is one of the best people in all of sports. If anyone deserves to celebrate a win in the national championship game, it's Barnes.
The Vols, though, have to win four more games to achieve that goal — which is a goal that's shared by every team remaining in the tournament. It won't be easy, and it might not happen for Tennessee, but one thing that's evident after the opening weekend of the tourney is that the Volunteers are playing inspired basketball right now.
And an inspired team is a dangerous team this time of year.
