With the calendar turning from April to May and most rosters across the country starting to become more solidified, ESPN released its inaugural bracketology report for the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects Tennessee to be a three-seed in the West Region, facing off 14-seed McNeese in the first round and either six-seed Gonzaga or 11-seed VCU in the Round of 32. Other top seeds in the West Region include one-seed Houston, two-seed Michigan, four-seed UCLA, five-seed Arkansas and seven-seed Kansas.
Tennessee is one of 13 SEC teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament as of May, joining two-seed Kentucky, three-seed Florida, four-seed Auburn, five-seed Arkansas, six-seed Missouri, six-seed Alabama, seven-seed Mississippi State, eight-seed Vanderbilt, eight-seed Texas, nine-seed Oklahoma, nine-seed Georgia and 11-seed Ole Miss.
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It’s been an offseason with plenty of roster movement. The Vols lost a number of key players to graduation this offseason including Zakai Zeigler, Chaz Lanier, Jordan Gainey, Jahmai Mashack, Darlinstone Dubar and Igor Milicic. That group includes four starters and five of its top six players from last season’s Elite Eight team.
But Rick Barnes and his staff have done a strong job rebuilding the roster this offseason. That started with not losing any of the returning players to the transfer portal. Combo guard Bishop Boswell, power forward Cade Phillips and centers Felix Okpara and JP Estrella are all back.
That was a solid front court on its own and Tennessee bolstered it by landing Vanderbilt transfer power forward Jaylen Carey in the transfer portal. The Vols practically had to build their backcourt from scratch, landing All-Big 10 point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie as well as Louisiana Tech shooting guard Amaree Abram.
Tennessee signed a five player recruiting class including five-star wing Nate Ament, four-star wing Amari Evans, four-star center DeWayne Brown, three-star point guard Troy Henderson and French shooting guard Clarence Massamba.
