Tennessee basketball wrapped up its regular season with a 75-65 victory over South Carolina on Saturday afternoon. But despite the victory, the Vols fell in ESPN Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update.
Tennessee entered Saturday as the top two-seed matched with Houston in the Midwest Region but is now the two-seed in the East Region with Duke. Lunardi did not specifically state that Tennessee has fallen behind Alabama in his rankings but the seeding more-or-less says the same thing.
While one spot isn’t a huge deal on the surface it is pretty significant. Duke is all but locked into the second ranked one-seed while Houston is currently the final one-seed. Seeding rules keeps the NCAA Tournament committee from pairing teams in the same conference as the one-seed and the two-seed in the same region.
Put in simple terms, the selection committee has to group Tennessee and Alabama with Duke and Houston and not Auburn or Florida. Both Duke and Houston are very good teams but Duke is arguable the best team in the country. It will be a real advantage for whoever the committee pairs with the Cougars instead of the Blue Devils.
In Lunardi’s latest update, Tennessee faces 15-seed South Alabama in the Round of 64 before facing either seven-seed BYU or 10-seed Georgia in the Round of 32 in Lexington.
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And whichever team the committee ends up seeding higher between Tennessee and Alabama will almost certainly pair up with Houston in the Midwest Region while the other will pair up with Duke in the East Region.
While Alabama enters SEC Tournament week ahead of Tennessee in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology update, the two are extremely close.
The Vols are 25-6 (12-6 SEC) with a 10-6 record in Quad 1 games and a 4-0 record in Quad 2 games. Alabama is 24-7 (13-5 SEC) with a 10-7 record in Quad 1 games and an 8-0 record in Quad 2 games. Tennessee (No. 5) is a spot ahead of the Crimson Tide (No. 6) in the NET rankings and holds the head-to-head advantage over Alabama.
It’s uncertain how significant the SEC Tournament results will be for NCAA Tournament seeding. In the past it has meant very little but with Tennessee and Alabama so close, it could mean more this season.
Both teams earned a double-bye until Friday’s quarterfinals. Tennessee is the four-seed and will face one of Vanderbilt, Texas and Texas A&M in its first game while Alabama is the three-seed and will face one of Kentucky, Georgia and Oklahoma.
