On Tuesday night, the Tennessee Volunteers were dismantled by the Vanderbilt Commodores 90-71. No, it wasn’t a loss that is totally going to shake the core of the entire city of Knoxville the same way that HC Lane Kiffin’s departure for USC did, but it could be a sign to come for a team that may be set to freefall through the SEC standings.

Maybe HC Bruce Pearl shouldn’t be smiling so much. After all, he dismissed G Tyler Smith from the basketball team 11 games ago, and since then, the team has only averaged 71.2 points per game, which is a far cry from the 76.7 for the duration of the season.

It’d be hard to picture an NCAA Tournament without the Volunteers, but let’s take a look at their resume right now just for fun, shall we?

Sure, there are some pretty good conference wins over Florida and Ole Miss, but all in all, a 6-3 record with only two road wins isn’t remarkable. Outside of SEC play, a win against Kansas is going to go a long way, but just like a lot of other major conference schools, there really aren’t any legitimate road wins on the slate.

The only really shameful losses as of right now were to Southern California and Georgia.

An SOS of 36, an RPI of 19, and an 18-5 record looks pretty solid, right?

So why am I wasting my time putting down the Vols? Just check out what’s left on this schedule…

Away @ Kentucky, Home vs. Georgia, Away @ South Carolina, Away @ Florida, Home vs. Kentucky, Home vs. Arkansas, Away @ Mississippi State, SEC Tournament

Hmm… A team that was 18-4 coming into yesterday will almost certainly be 18-6 by the time this weekend is over. There are only two games on this schedule that feel like absolute wins (Home vs. Georgia, Home vs. Arkansas), but the Hogs have already proven that they can play anywhere in this conference when they went on the road and took out Ole Miss in Oxford. A slip up in that game and a few road follies, and the Vols could suddenly be a 20-10 team going into the SEC Tournament and possibly needing a victory in that tourney to nail down a ticket to the dance.

For our money though, we’re far more concerned about how badly the Vols have been against the college basketball spreads. Tennessee dropped to just 1-5 ATS in its L/6 games, and it still only has one cover away from Rocky Top in the SEC. UT has also only scored 80+ points once in conference play this year after pulling that feat off five times in ’08-’09. This is also a squad that is struggling from beyond the arc on the season, shooting just 33.1%. That won’t get it done in the SEC, and it certainly won’t accomplish anything in the postseason either.

The oddsmakers haven’t really caught on quite yet, and before they do, it’s time to capitalize. Keep rolling against the boys from Rocky Top!