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Message: [QUOTE="bballnut90, post: 2997640, member: 2117"] Very different team and very different times. They were a #3 seed in the tournament, so saying they were "barely stumbling" into the tournament is far from the truth. In 1996-97 Tennessee played by far the most difficult schedule in the country...possibly the toughest schedule ever. 17 of Tennessee's 39 games were against Sweet 16 teams, and 10 of those were against #1 or #2 seeds. They had 5 games vs. #1 seeds and 5 games vs. #2 seeds that year. The SEC was also at its peak with 6 teams in the Sweet 16. Tennessee was without a PG much of the year and caught fire once Kellie Jolly was healthy. Jolly went on to have massive games against UCONN in the Elite 8 and against ODU in the title game. Tennessee was also coming off a National Championship season and made the NCAA Finals the year prior. Compare that to this year where Holly put together one of the worse non-conference schedules in Tennessee history, and the SEC is the weakest it has ever been. Tennessee is 1-3 in conference play and hasn't played the top 2 teams yet. This team is coming off 2 years of underperforming and losing in the second round which has created a disgruntled fanbase. This team is in serious jeopardy of not even making the tournament unless they start playing better. Literally nothing about this team compares to the 1996-97 squad unless you look at what their final win percentage might end up being. [/QUOTE]