
Tennessee is on the rise in Joe Lunardi’s latest Way-Too-Early Bracketology update for ESPN on Tuesday.
Lunardi’s early bracketology report is set to update once a month until October. In his previous set of rankings, Tennessee was listed as a three-seed. Perhaps he saw Ryan Schumpert’s practice observation report for RTI from the Vols’ summer workout last week, because something has sparked a rise up the bracket.
Tennessee is now listed as one of the four No. 2 seeds in his report, landing in the West Region. The four No. 1 seeds are Florida, Houston, Duke, and Purdue, while the other three on the two-line include UConn, Michigan, and St. John’s.
Lunardi’s latest projection has Tennessee taking on 15-seed Florida Gulf Coast in the first round, followed by a potential matchup against either 7-seed Southern Cal or 10-seed Ole Miss in the Round of 32. Other notable inclusions in the West Region projection include 1-seed Duke, 3-seed Arizona (hello, Tobe Awaka), 4-seed UCLA, 5-seed Alabama, 6-seed Ohio State, and 8-seed Vanderbilt… Talk about some well-known foes in the region.
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After losing a bevy of established players in the offseason such as Zakai Zeigler, Jordan Gainey, Jahmai Mashack, Chaz Lanier, and Igor Milicic Jr., Tennessee did well reloading the roster and putting it in a position to compete at the highest level once again.
Rick Barnes’ staff struck gold in the transfer portal with Maryland guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, and adding in the likes of Vanderbilt’s Jaylen Carey and Louisiana Tech’s Amaree Abram helps provide some good role and rotational pieces.
Perhaps the biggest addition, though, is five-star wing Nate Ament. The 6-foot-9 forward dazzled in the lone practice that the media have been able to see this summer, highlighted by his smooth offensive ability. While there’s obviously an adjustment period for a true freshman coming onto campus, Ament’s natural talent is a lot of why excitement continues to rise around the Vols’ upcoming team.
“What stands out about playing with Nate? I mean, he’s almost 6-11 and he can do everything a six-foot guard can do,” Tennessee freshman Amari Evans said with a grin about Ament last week. “So that’s definitely crazy to me.”
There’s still a lot of room to grow and mesh, but there’s also plenty of time between now and the season to do that. The Vols have added some good talent this offseason and clearly the optimism remains high with Barnes still at the helm for his 11th season on Rocky Top. We’ll just have to wait and see how everything pans out this fall.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Basketball news and notes this offseason.
Check out Joe Lunardi’s June Bracketology update for ESPN here.
One Response
Hopefully there will be improvements.
Just saw enough bricks to build a new Food City!