Vols Hoops History in St. Louis

This could be the second biggest day in Tennessee sports history.

Sure, it's open for debate-- that's what makes sports so much fun, but there is no disputing that the outcome of today's Midwest Region final in St. Louis could carve a whole new identity for UT athletics.

Bruce Pearl has been talking all week about making history, and the Vols did it with a win over Ohio State in the semifinals here on Friday night. It was the first-ever Sweet Sixteen win for a UT men's basketball team.

Now, the Vols have bigger fish to fry. Beating the Spartans will put Tennessee into the Final Four. Nevermind that two months ago the season looked lost. Nevermind that Bruce Pearl's rotation now makes it seem like the Vols are sometimes playing 5-on-4 out there. Nevermind the Vols barely looked like an NIT team in the SEC Tournament.

None of that matters now.

UT fans have celebrated national championships in football since the 1930s. There have been eight national titles won by the Lady Vols in basketball. Tennessee has been No. 1 in swimming, track and field and even tennis.

No national title will be won in St. Louis today. But Bruce Pearl has a chance to climb the ladder and cut down a net in a regional championship game-- and that's NEVER been done at Tennessee.

Given the attention the NCAA Tournament now gets-- I'd put a win over Michigan State near the top of UT sports accomplishments. Here's my list, as it stands now:

1. Football: National title in 1998. Really, the year after Peyton Manning left.

2. Pat Summitt hired: April 30, 1974. Need I say more?

3. Football: National title in 1938. Tennessee's first championship in the football. Undeafeated.

4. Football: National title in 1951: Votes tabulated before loss to Maryland in Sugar Bowl.

5. Baskeball: Vols win Sweet 16 win versus Ohio State.