After an early season loss against Colorado, Tennessee basketball has regained its footing winning eight consecutive games. The winning streak has catapulted Tennessee to No. 6 in the AP Poll ahead of Saturday’s top 10 showdown at Arizona.
The AP Poll isn’t the only place Tennessee is rising as the Vols are moving up the seed line in recent bracketology update.
In ESPN’s mid December update, Tennessee is a No. 2 seed in the South Regional. In the projection, the Vols are poised to face 15-seed Liberty in the first round and either No. 7 seed Iowa or No. 10 seed Texas Tech in the Round of 32. The opening weekend matchups are in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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Other top seeds in the South Region include No. 1 seed Purdue, No. 3 seed Baylor, No. 4 seed UCLA and No. 5 seed Auburn. Purdue is the No. 1 seed in the entire tournament, making the Vols the lowest ranked two-seed in the field.
Tennessee is one of six SEC teams in the field, joining No. 1 seed Alabama, No. 3 seed Arkansas, No. 4 seed Kentucky, No. 5 seed Auburn and No. 5 seed Mississippi State. Ole Miss is one of the first four teams out while LSU is one of the next four teams out.
While Tennessee will play all the SEC teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament, the Vols have/will face a number of non conference foes projected to make the tournament. Tennessee has knocked off No. 2 seed Kansas and No. 5 seed Maryland with matchups against No. 2 seed Arizona and No. 3 seed Texas still ahead of them.
The Vols return to the court Saturday night in Tucson against Arizona. Tip-off is at 10:30 p.m. ET with ESPN2 broadcasting the game.
