Bracketology: Tennessee Entering SEC Tournament as Projected NCAA One-Seed

Sharpen those pencils, everyone. The NCAA Tournament is right around the corner.

With the regular season in the rearview mirror, only the conference tournaments across the nation remain before the official tournament brackets are announced this Sunday evening.

The fight for the final one-seed has been the talk of the college basketball world – or at least in Knoxville, Chapel Hill, and Tucson – lately. Arizona, the team that held that final one-seed projection for the final stretch of the regular season, looks to be out of the running after a tough loss to unranked Southern California in the regular season finale. The Wildcats do have more Quad 1 wins compared to the Vols and the Tar Heels but also have a significantly worse strength of schedule.

Both ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm, the two leading bracketology experts, have Tennessee as the final one-seed landing in the West Region

Here’s a look at the statistical variables between Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arizona:

More from RTI: Kentucky, Tennessee Lead SEC Regular Season Awards

With Tennessee’s one-seed projection in the West Region according to both publications, the Vols are looking at a play-in winner in their first tournament matchup.

Lunardi’s projections have Tennessee slotted against either Stetson or Merrimack in the first round, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tennessee would then have a projected second-round game against either eight-seed Dayton or nine-seed Oklahoma.

If Tennessee were to make the Sweet 16 from the West Region, the game would take place in Los Angeles, California.

Other notable projections from Lunardi’s West Region include two-seed Arizona, three-seed Baylor, 4-seed Illinois, six-seed Gonzaga, and 11-seed Mississippi State.

Jerry Palm also has Tennessee as the one-seed with a projected first-round matchup against either Stetson or Merrimack, just like Lunardi.

Tennessee’s second-round projection features some more intrigue, though. The Vols projected Round-of-32 game will be against either eight-seed Gonzaga or nine-seed Texas.

Notable projections from Palm’s West Region include two-seed Arizona, three-seed Iowa State, four-seed BYU, and five-seed South Carolina.

The Vols can solidify that one-seed West Region projection this week in the SEC Tournament by winning their first two games in the quarterfinals and semi-finals, especially considering the likely Saturday opponent will be Auburn. One win over the weekend will make things a bit more interesting as eyes shift over to see what North Carolina is doing in the ACC Tournament.

Is it better for Tennessee to land as the final one-seed or the top two-seed? Rocky Top Insider’s Nathanael Rutherford breaks it down here.

Check out Lunardi’s Bracketology report by clicking here and check out Palm’s Bracketology report by clicking here.