Tennessee basketball enters the final week of the regular season winners of four straight games and seven of its last eight.
Boasting an 11-5 SEC record, Tennessee is currently in fourth place in the SEC and needs to win just one game this week to lock up a top four seed in the SEC Tournament and the subsequent double-bye.
The Vols are one game ahead of Missouri (10-6) and two games ahead of Ole Miss and Texas A&M (9-7). Tennessee holds the tiebreaker over Missouri and Texas A&M, meaning the Vols would have to drop both games this week to potentially fall behind Missouri or Ole Miss in the standings.
Tennessee faces Ole Miss on Wednesday night in Oxford before returning home to face South Carolina on Senior Day to end the regular season. The Gamecocks are currently in last place in the SEC. With Tennessee needing just one win to clinch a double-bye and a home matchup with South Carolina remaining, the Vols almost certainly won’t play until Friday in Nashville.
The very furthest Tennessee could fall in SEC Tournament seeding is to the six seed. For that to happen, the Vols would have to lose both games, Missouri would have to beat Oklahoma and Kentucky while Ole Miss would have to beat both Tennessee and Florida.
More From RTI: Jahmai Mashack Came Up Huge For Tennessee Basketball Before Game Winning Shot
Tennessee can finish no worse than sixth place in the SEC. But how high could they climb? Auburn has locked up the one-seed with a week to play but the Vols could get as high as a two-seed.
The Vols enter the week a game back of both Florida and Alabama (12-4). The Gators and Alabama face each other on Wednesday night in a critical matchup for SEC and NCAA Tournament seeding. Florida then faces Ole Miss on Saturday and Alabama concludes the regular season at Auburn.
If Tennessee wins both games this week, Alabama beats Florida on Wednesday and then loses to Auburn on Saturday then all three teams will finish the season 13-5 in conference play. The Vols would hold the three-way tiebreaker because they have a 2-1 record against the Gators and Crimson Tide. In this scenario, Florida would have a 1-2 record against Tennessee and Alabama while the Crimson Tide would have a 1-1 record against Tennessee and Florida.
In a two-way tie, Florida would hold the tiebreaker over Tennessee because the two teams split its matchups and the Gators beat SEC Champion Auburn. Tennessee holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against Alabama.
With one week remaining in the regular season, Tennessee could finish between second and sixth in the SEC with two, three and four being the most likely scenarios.
