Tennessee announces plans to ‘checker’ Thompson-Boling Arena against North Carolina

You might not have noticed through the insane search for a new football coach, but the Tennessee Volunteers are pretty good on the hardwood this year. Rick Barnes has a really deep group that has proven able to play with anyone in the country so far. The Vols are 7-1, ranked 24th in the country and currently slated as a No. 7 seed in the latest NCAA tournament projections.

Tennessee has one more really big test awaiting them before SEC play starts. The No. 11 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels will make the short trip to Knoxville on Sunday, December 17th at 3 PM eastern.

After the Lipscomb win, Tennessee announced that the game against the Tar Heels will be a ‘Checker TBA’ event.

If you’re going to the game, check here for your section’s color.

You know about the Checker Neyland efforts, but it was Thompson-Boling arena that was the first to sport the orange and white checkerboard look in 2006. That look will be recreated on Sunday.

It will be interesting to see how much Carolina blue is in the stands on Sunday. It’s about a five hour drive from Chapel Hill to Knoxville, so I’ll bet we see some blue pockets mess up some visuals here.

Regardless, a sell-out crowd and a big time opponent should make for an incredible environment as Tennessee welcomes the defending national champs to town. Maybe they can finish off the upset this year.