ESPN Moves Tennessee Basketball Up To A One-Seed Following Win Over South Carolina

Tennessee basketball’s 66-59 win over South Carolina on Wednesday night meant a lot for the Vols. It avenged their lone home loss of the season back in January and it clinched the outright SEC Regular Season Championship for the first time since 2008.

And with the win, ESPN moved Tennessee basketball up to the final one-seed with just one game left in the regular season.

Houston, Purdue and UConn are locked into one-seeds with the three teams winning their respective conference and holding just three losses with one game remaining in the regular season.

But the final one-seed has been up for grabs and Tennessee has been tracking down Arizona over the last two weeks. And just in the last 36 hours, Tennessee’s resume has significantly improved while Arizona’s has gotten slightly worse without playing a game.

Entering Tuesday, Arizona boasted an 8-3 record against Quad 1 opponents while Tennessee boasted a 6-5 record. But Florida’s win over Alabama moved the Gators up the NET rankings and led to Colorado dropping.

Tennessee’s home win over Florida is now a Quad 1 victory while Arizona’s home win over Colorado is now a Quad 2 win. Combine that with the Vols win over the Gamecocks and Tennessee boasts an 8-5 record in Quad 1 games while Arizona has a 7-3 record against Quad 1 games.

More From RTI: What Dalton Knecht And Jonas Aidoo Said About Tennessee Clinching The SEC Championship

The Vols having more Quad 1 wins than Arizona is a big boost. Tennessee has a better stretch of schedule, won a better conference and has fewer losses against both Quad 2 and Quad 3 wins than the Wildcats.

“No doubt,” Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht said on whether the Vols should be a one-seed. “We know we’re at our best every single time. We’re just going out, we don’t care about the one-seed. We’re just going out, ready to compete against everybody.”