Tennessee Basketball began the season with a 10-3 record in non-conference play, highlighted by wins over Houston and Louisville with losses to Illinois, Kansas, and Syracuse. Rick Barnes’ Vols opened up SEC play last Saturday in Fayetteville, falling to the Razorbacks by a score of 86-75 in Bud Walton Arena.
Tennessee will have a chance to bounce back from that loss with its SEC home opener against Texas on Tuesday night in Knoxville.
Ahead of the Vols’ game against the Longhorns, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his latest Bracketology report. Lunardi has Tennessee as the 5-seed in the Midwest (Chicago) Region, taking on 12-seed Murray State in the first round of action from Tampa, FL. That would set Tennessee up for a projected second-round matchup against either 4-seed Texas Tech or 13-seed Memphis.
If Lunardi’s projection came true today, the Vols would have a few familiar foes in their bracket. Other notable teams in the Midwest Region projection include 1-seed Michigan, 2-seed Vanderbilt, and 3-seed Houston. Tennessee still has two matchups on the table against the red-hot Commodores in SEC play, and has seen Houston twice in the last nine months, with one win and one loss.
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This is the third straight update that Tennessee has been a five-seed in Lunardi’s projections. The Vols dipped down to a six-seed during their three-game losing streak in non-conference play, but have been sitting as a five-seed ever since.
Tennessee will host Texas in its second SEC game on Tuesday night before hitting the road for a rivalry matchup at Florida on Saturday afternoon. The Vols then return to Knoxville for two straight home games against Texas A&M and Kentucky next week.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the Vols’ game against the Longhorns on Tuesday night.
Check out Joe Lunardi’s full bracketology report for ESPN here.
