Assessing what Tennessee's two exhibition losses mean for the Vols

An On3 column under the Schump Change banner takes stock of the fallout from Tennessee's two exhibition losses, a preseason start that has given the Volunteers more to sort through than a smooth pair of tune-up wins would have. Exhibition defeats do not count in the standings, but they shape the conversation around a team, and this piece is devoted to weighing what Tennessee should take from them.

The available summary offers no scores, statistics or specific conclusions from the column, so the particulars of its argument cannot be stated here. Its focus, though, is clear enough: how much concern two preseason losses should cause, and what they reveal about a Tennessee team still coming together under Rick Barnes.

For the Vols, the value of the exhibitions will be measured by what follows them. If the problems exposed in the preseason are corrected once the regular season begins, the losses become an early lesson; if they linger, they will look like the first warning of a longer problem.