While Tennessee basketball doesn’t begin play at this week’s SEC Tournament until Friday afternoon, the 2025 tournament begins on Wednesday afternoon with four games.
The Vols are the four-seed in the SEC Tournament, earning the lucrative double-bye for the second straight season and the fourth time in the last five years.
But what are Tennessee’s odds to win the SEC Tournament?
The Vols have the fourth best odds to win the conference tournament at +600 according to the DraftKings Sportsbook. SEC Regular-Season Champion Auburn has the best odds at +200 followed by Florida (+270) and Alabama (+450).
There’s a major drop in odds following Tennessee with Kentucky (+1900) and Texas A&M (+2500) coming in immediately behind the Vols.
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Tennessee faces one of Texas, Vanderbilt or Texas A&M in its first SEC Tournament game on Friday afternoon. The Vols won their lone road matchups at Texas and Texas A&M this season while splitting their two games against Vanderbilt.
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If Rick Barnes’ 10th Tennessee team wins its first game, they’ll likely face top-seeded Auburn in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon. The SEC Tournament is in Nashville for the third straight season and Barnes is hoping that Tennessee fans will pack out Bridgestone Arena to give the instate school an advantage.
“I hope it’s not a neutral-site. I hope Nashville is all Volunteers when we’re there,” Barnes said on Saturday following Tennessee’s win over South Carolina. “You get to tournament play, you hope that — we expect our fans to be with us and we want to play and certainly we don’t want to disappoint.”
Despite the better Tennessee fan turnout, the Vols haven’t been great in SEC Tournaments in Nashville under Barnes. In the six SEC Tournaments in Nashville during Barnes tenure, the Vols have once lost in the championship (2019), once lost in the semifinals (2021), three times lost in the quarterfinals (2016, 2023, 2024) and once lost on Thursday (2017).
The Vols have been great in the two SEC Tournaments not in Nashville during Barnes’ tenuring, losing in the championship game in St. Louis (2018) and winning the tournament in Tampa (2022).
Tipoff for Tennessee basketball’s first game is at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon. ESPN is broadcasting the game.
