Before Tennessee basketball used a comeback win to beat Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, the NCAA Tournament committee released what would be its top four seeds if the tournament began today.
The committee has Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the East Region and the fifth overall seed just one spot back of Florida and a No. 1 seed.
Other top seeds in Tennessee’s region include one-seed Duke, three-seed Arizona and four-seed St. John’s. With that bracket lay out, the Vols would, in theory, face Arizona in the Sweet 16 and either Duke or St. John’s in the Elite Eight. Second weekend games in the East Region are in Newark, New Jersey this tournament.
With Selection Sunday just over four weeks away, Tennessee is one of five SEC teams projected to be a top two-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Auburn, Alabama and Florida currently project as one seeds while Texas A&M projects as a two-seed. Kentucky projects as a three-seed while no other SEC team is currently a top-four team.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways As Zakai Zeigler Propels Tennessee Basketball Past Vanderbilt
Following the March Madness Bracket Preview Show, Tennessee knocked off Vanderbilt 81-76 to avoid the season-sweep against the Commodores. The Vols trailed by 13 points at halftime before coming out the gates in the second half with a completely different energy to earn an 81-76 win.
Senior point guard Zakai Zeigler was phenomenal in the second half, scoring 22 points on seven-of-nine shooting from the field including some critical buckets late in the game. He also had four second half assists to finish the game with 10.
The Vols have bounced back-and-forth from a one-seed and a two-seed most of the last month according to bracketologists.
Tennessee has its midweek bye this week before playing five straight SEC games to close the regular season. They have a chance for three high level wins facing Texas A&M and Ole Miss at home and No. 2 Alabama at home.
The Vols also face the two worst teams in the conference, facing LSU in Baton Rouge and then South Carolina in Knoxville for Senior Day.
