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Updating Tennessee basketball's odds to win the Southeastern Conference championship

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey01/24/24GrantRamey
Tennessee Basketball
Guard Santiago Vescovi #25 and Guard Zakai Zeigler #5 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Food City Center in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee basketball has the second best odds to win the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship, according to BetOnline. The Vols are listed at 9/4 (+225), trailing only Auburn, which is listed at 11/10 (+110).

Tennessee (14-4, 4-1 SEC) is currently one game behind Auburn (16-2, 5-0) in the league standings. The Vols are a half game ahead Kentucky (14-4, 4-2), which lost at South Carolina Tuesday night, and currently hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over Alabama (12-6, 4-1) after beating the Crimson Tide 91-71 on Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

BetOnline has both Kentucky and Alabama at 5/1 odds to win the conference. Florida and Texas A&M both have 66/1 odds while Mississippi State and South Carolina are both 75/1. 

Georgia is 100/1, ahead of Ole Miss at 200/1. Arkansas, Missouri and Vanderbilt are all listed at 250/1. 

Tennessee, with no midweek game this week, goes to Vanderbilt (5-13, 0-5) on Saturday for a 6 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: SEC Network) at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville. 

The Vols go to Kentucky on Saturday, February 3, and the Wildcats come to Knoxville on March 9 in the regular-season finale at Thompson-Boling Arena. 

Tennessee hosts Auburn on February 28 in its lone meeting with the Bruce Pearl’s Tigers during the regular season. The Vols play at Alabama on March 2 to finish the home-and-home season series with the Crimson Tide. 

Rick Barnes has led Tennessee to two SEC championships, winning the regular-season championship in 2017-18, with a 13-5 league record, and the SEC Tournament in March 2022, the program’s first conference tournament title since 1977.

ESPN currently projecting Vols as top No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament

ESPN’s latest Bracketology update from Joe Lunardi has seven SEC teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament. Tennessee is currently the No. 5 overall seed per Lunardi, ahead of No. 9 Auburn, No. 10 Kentucky and No. 17 Alabama.

South Carolina, No. 42 overall in Lundardi’s seed list, is in his Last Four In category while Ole Miss is in the First Four Out and Florida is in the Next Four Out. 

Tennessee is the top No. 2 seed while Auburn and Kentucky are the first two teams on the No. 3-seed line. Alabama is a No. 5 seed in Lunardi’s projection, ahead of No. 8-seed Texas A&M and No. 9-seed Mississippi State.

Vols ranked No. 4 in both NET and KenPom.comratings 

Tennessee is up to No. 4 overall in the NET rankings, the metric the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses to help seed the tournament. The Vols are 3-4 in Quad 1 games, 5-0 in Quad 2, 1-0 in Quad 3 and 5-0 in Quad 4.

The Vols are also No. 4 in the KenPom.com ratings. They’re No. 19 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 2 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

Auburn is No. 9 in NET while Alabama is No. 9 and Kentucky is No 18. Auburn is No. 5 in the KenPom ratings, ahead of No. 8 Alabama and No. 16 Kentucky.

Tennessee is second in strength of schedule according to KenPom. Alabama has played the sixth toughest schedule while Kentucky is 74th and Auburn is 94th.

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