Tennessee suffered their first conference loss this past week against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville. Despite the loss, though, the Vols were able to bounce back for a comeback victory against Georgia in Athens on Saturday to close out another week of basketball.
The Vols’ loss to Mississippi State only dropped them down one spot to No. 6 in the AP rankings but didn’t have too much of an impact on Joe Lunardi’s weekly bracketology projections.
Lunardi’s bracketology report on Monday has Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region (Detroit). The Vols have typically been a two-seed in the projections this year but have primarily been in the South region or even the East region. This is Tennessee’s first time in the Midwest projections from Lunardi’s picks.
Tennessee is matched up against No. 15 Winthrop in the first round of the projections and will take on the winner of No. 7 St. John’s and No. 10 Nebraska in the second round. The Vols are 2-0 against Winthrop with the last game taking place back in 2006.
Both projected games will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Two familiar names also land in ESPN’s Midwest Region in the bracketology report. Purdue, a team that Tennessee fell to in the Maui Invitational tournament, is the No. 1 seed in the region. Mississippi State, the team that gave Tennessee their first conference loss last week, is the No. 9 seed in the region. Other notables include No. 3 Baylor, No. 4 Marquette, and No. 5 Oklahoma.
For a second straight week, there are eight SEC teams in the projections. Florida, Tennessee’s conference opponent on Tuesday night in Knoxville, made up the ninth team from the conference in the projections earlier in the season but have been left out the past two weeks. The Gators are part of ESPN’s “Next Four Out” category.
No. 6 Tennessee (12-4) will host Florida (11-5) in a snow-covered Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville on Tuesday evening at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Midwest Region (Detroit)
- No. 2 Tennessee
- No. 9 Mississippi State
West Region (Los Angeles)
- No. 3 Kentucky
- No. 5 Alabama
- No. 10 South Carolina
East Region (Boston)
- No. 8 Texas A&M
South Region (Dallas)
- No. 3 Auburn
- No. 8 Ole Miss
For a full look at Joe Lunardi’s projections, click here.
