Tennessee gets upset again

Last weekend, Tennessee was the team everyone was talking about after they knocked off Pitt.

Are they the best team in the SEC? Are they a Final Four contender? Can they be a No. 1 seed?

This weekend, the same will likely be true, although for a very different reason.

For the second time this week, Tennessee was knocked off by an unranked opponent. On Tuesday, it was Oakland, and experienced, tested mid-major with an NBA prospect playing center. That loss could have been written off. The Vols came in with a big head and were taken down by an opponent that simply wanted it more.

It happens.

Lesson learned, right?

Wrong. On Friday night, Tennessee was knocked off by Charlotte 49-48. The same Charlotte team that was 4-6 on the season heading into the game. The same Charlotte team that was smacked by Davidson their last time out. The same Charlotte team that just had their leading scorer dismissed.

Charlotte packed in their defense, daring Tennessee to fire away from three. Tennessee did, and while they didn't necessarily take bad shots, they didn't make them. The Vols were 2-17 from three on the night, missing their first twelve. They shot just 34.9% from the floor and only managed to get to the free throw line seven times, making just two.

The Vols appear to be a team still finding themselves. Scotty Hopson has proven to be as consistently inconsistent as he's been his entire career. Melvin Goins had two points and no assists in 27 minutes as the starting point guard. Is this a three point shooting team? A team that runs through their bigs? If Hopson and Goins aren't capable of being leaders for this team -- and let's be clear, you aren't being a leader if you are the No. 7 team in the country and getting upset in back-to-back games -- the Vols are in trouble.

Perhaps even worse is that this team, with so many question marks after these last two games, will be losing their head coach for their first eight SEC games.

Welcome back to earth, Tennessee.