We’re now a handful of weeks into the college basketball season and have a much better view of how teams across the country look. This includes Lady Vols basketball, who just earned its first quality win of the season by defeating Stanford on the road.
As a result, ESPN’s Charlie Creme has updated their bracketology. They have Tennessee clocking in as a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament, a one-spot drop from the prior projection.
The Lady Vols would open the tournament against 13-seed High Point at home in Creme’s projection. The winner would then play the winner between 5-seed Baylor and 12-seed Boise State, also in Knoxville.
If Tennessee is able to return to the Sweet 16 for the second-straight season to begin Kim Caldwell’s tenure, it’d be a trip to Fort Worth, Texas. Likely opponents in this round, according to Creme’s projection, are 1-seed UConn, 8-seed Georgia and 9-seed Illinois.
Other top seeds on a potential path to the Final Four include 2-seed Oklahoma, 3-seed Iowa State and 6-seed Ohio State. The Lady Vols are one of 11 SEC teams in the projected field, marking the second-most of any conference. The Big Ten is the only one with more at 13 teams.
More From RTI: Everything Lady Vols Basketball HC Kim Caldwell Said After Beating Stanford on the Road
After the win over Stanford, the Lady Vols now have plenty of time to prepare for the next portion of the out-of-conference slate. Tennessee won’t play again until Sunday, Dec. 14. That is over a week off between the game against the Cardinal to round out a week-long trip to California to play a pair of games.
The next matchup is slated against Winthrop at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET and will air on SECN+. Then, it’s a clash with No. 22 Louisville on Dec. 20 in Brooklyn, New York. That game is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET on FOX.
The final game before SEC play will be back at home against Southern Indiana on Dec. 22. The SEC schedule begins on Jan. 1 against Florida at home before road matches with Auburn and Mississippi State.
