Winners of its last three and six of its last seven games, Tennessee basketball is in the thick of the NCAA Tournament one-seed conversation ahead of its SEC showdown against Alabama on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.
Where do the latest bracketology updates peg Tennessee ahead of Saturday’s top 10 tilt?
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi updated his bracket on Friday morning and ESPN’s top bracketologist has Tennessee has the top two-seed in the field headed to the East Region. In the East Region, the Vols are paired with one-seed Duke, three-seed Texas Tech and four-seed Purdue.
CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm also updated his bracket on Friday morning but did not include a seed list. Palm has Tennessee as the two-seed in the West Region along with one-seed Houston, three-seed Michigan and four-seed Missouri.
The NCAA Tournament selection committee does not seed teams in a linear list. For instance, the top two-seed doesn’t necessarily go with the lowest one-seed. The NCAA, who pays for teams travel in the tournament, instead often seeds teams geographically.
More From RTI: Stacked SEC poised to send record number of teams to the men’s 2025 NCAA Tournament
That’s what happened to Tennessee last season when they were the top two-seed in the field but got matched up with the second highest seeded team, Purdue, in the midwest instead of going to the west to face the weakest one-seed, North Carolina.
That scenario is in play again this season. It could wind up being better for Tennessee if the seeding committee has them lower than Florida or whatever SEC team ends up on the two line. In that case, Tennessee would be the two-seed in the West Region, avoiding Duke in the East Region.
However, the best scenario for Tennessee is to end up being a one-seed and they get a chance to help themselves out on Saturday when they face Alabama. Both Lunardi and Palm have Alabama as a one-seed. Lunardi has the Crimson Tide as the third one-seed and as previously noted Palm didn’t list his seeds.
Entering the rivalry matchup, Alabama’s resume is just slightly better than Tennessee. Sitting at 23-5, Alabama is 10-5 in Quad 1 games and 7-0 in Quad 2 games. Tennessee is also 23-5, boasting a 9-5 record in Quad 1 games and a 5-0 record in Quad 2 games. The Vols are fourth in NET while Alabama is sixth.
If Tennessee defends its home court and knocks off the Crimson Tide, the Vols’ resume would be better than Alabama’s entering a highly important final week of the regular season.
