Skip to main content
Tennessee

Bracketology Update: Tennessee moves down after the home loss to South Carolina

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey01/31/24GrantRamey
Dalton Knecht
(Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK) Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht (3) moves between South Carolina defenders during a basketball game between Tennessee and South Carolina held at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center on Tuesday, January 30, 2024.

Tennessee basketball’s 63-59 loss to South Carolina Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena dropped the Vols one spot on Joe Lunardi’s overall seed list in his latest NCAA Tournament bracket projection. 

Lunardi updated his seed list on Wednesday, with Tennessee moving down from the No. 5 overall seed to No. 6, sticking as the second team on the No. 2-seed line.

Purdue, UConn, Houston and North Carolina remain Lunardi’s No. 1 seeds, in that order, while Arizona replaced Tennessee at No. 5 overall as the top No. 2 seed. Wisconsin, which Tennessee beat 80-70 in Madison in November, is the No. 7 overall seed and Marquette is the No. 8 overall seed.

The move to the No. 6 overall seed moved Tennessee to a region with Houston as the No. 1 seed, Duke as the No. 3 seed and Iowa State as the No. 4 seed.

The other No. 3 seeds per Lunardi are Kansas, Creighton and Alabama. Illinois is a No. 4 seed, along with Kentucky and Auburn. The Vols beat Alabama 91-71 at home two weeks ago and beat Illinois in Knoxville in December.

Vols remain the highest-seeded SEC team in ESPN Bracketology

Tennessee (15-5, 5-2 SEC) goes to Kentucky (15-4,5-2) on Saturday for an 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: ESPN) at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

Lunardi currently has the Vols as the top-seeded SEC team and one of eight teams from the league currently in his field of 68. Alabama is the second highest as the No. 12 overall seed, ahead of Kentucky (No. 15), Auburn (No. 16), South Carolina (No. 24), Ole Miss (No. 33), Mississippi State (No. 34) and Texas A&M (No. 40). 

Florida (No. 72) is in Lunardi’s “First Four Out” category. Georgia is also on the outside looking in as the No. 84 overall seed.

Tennessee dropped one spot in the NET rankings after the loss to South Carolina. It was the first non-Quad 1 loss of the season for the Vols and moved them to 5-1 in Quad 2 games. The Vols are 3-4 in Quad 1, 2-0 in Quad 2 and 5-0 in Quad 3. 

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee at No. 10 Kentucky, Saturday, 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

The KenPom.com ratings also dropped Tennessee one spot from No. 4 to No. 5. The Vols were No. 3 in the ratings after the win at Vanderbilt Saturday night. 

Most notably, Tennessee dropped 10 spots in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency rating — scoring 117.0 points per 100 possessions — going from No. 18 to No. 28 after scoring a season-low 59 points against the Gamecocks.

After the road trip to Kentucky, Tennessee hosts LSU and goes back on the road for back-to-back games against Teas A&M and Arkansas. Vanderbilt comes to Knoxville, then its back on the road at Missouri before February ends with home dates against A&M and Auburn.

There are three March games on the regular-season schedule, with road games at Alabama on March 2 and South Carolina on March 6, then the annual home game against Kentucky on March 9.

The SEC Tournament is set for March 13-17 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with Selection Sunday and the reveal of the NCAA Tournament bracket set for March 17.

You may also like