Tennessee basketball lost its spot atop the AP Poll on Monday and for the first time in a number of weeks, they fell off the one-line in ESPN Joe Lunardi’s bracketology update on Tuesday morning.
The Vols remained a one-seed in Lunardi’s midweek update following their lopsided loss at Florida last week. But it was after Tennessee’s 74-70 win at Texas where Tennessee fell to the top two-seed spot. Alabama jumped Tennessee in the bracketology after going on the road and defeating Texas A&M on Saturday night.
Tennessee has a 15-1 record compared to Alabama’s 14-2 record at this point in the season. The Vols are 4-1 in Quad 1 games while Alabama is 4-2 in Quad 1 games. Neither team has lost a Quad 2-Quad 4 game. However, the Crimson Tide have five quad two wins compared to Tennessee’s one quad two win.
In ESPN’s latest update, Tennessee is a two-seed in the East Region where they would face 15-seed Cleveland State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Raleigh. The Vols would face either seven-seed Georgia or 10-seed North Carolina in the Round of 32.
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Other top teams in the East Region include one-seed Duke, three-seed Houston, four-seed Michigan and five-seed UConn.
There are 11 SEC teams projected to make the tournament according to Lunardi including one-seed Auburn, one-seed Alabama, two-seed Florida, three-seed Kentucky, three-seed Texas A&M, four-seed Mississippi State, six-seed Ole Miss, seven-seed Georgia, nine-seed Oklahoma and 11-seed Missouri. Arkansas and Vanderbilt are each in the first four out while Texas is in the next four out.
CBS Jerry Palm’s bracketology report is similar to Lunardi in regards to Tennessee. The Vols are a two-seed in the Midwest while Alabama grabs the final one-seed spot. The big difference is that Tennessee would face either seven-seed Houston or 10-seed St. John’s in the Round of 32.
Palm has Houston as a seven-seed while Lunardi has them as a three-seed. That is a pretty shocking difference. Facing either Houston or St. John’s in the second round would be a pretty brutal draw with KenPom ranking Houston No. 3 and St. John’s No. 20 nationally.
Tennessee basketball is back in action on Wednesday night when they host No. 23 Georgia at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
