Tennessee bumped down to a season-low 7-seed projection in last week’s ESPN Bracketology report, but things haven’t lasted long. After a ranked win over No. 17 Alabama last Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Tennessee has risen back up to a familiar spot.
In Joe Lunardi’s update from Tuesday afternoon, Tennessee is back to a 6-seed in the East Region in the bracketology report. Tennessee’s projection has the Vols with a first-round matchup against either New Mexico or Virginia Tech in an 11-seed play-in game, with a potential second-round matchup against 3-seed Texas Tech or 14-seed Portland State.
Other notable teams in Lunardi’s East Region projection include 1-seed Duke, 2-seed Illinois, 4-seed Kansas, and 5-seed Arkansas. Tennessee, coincidentally enough, has seen each one of those teams this year, but hasn’t beaten any of them. The Vols lost to Duke in a preseason exhibition matchup, fell to Kansas in the Players Era Thanksgiving tournament, lost to Illinois in Music City Madness in December, and fell to Arkansas in Fayetteville to open the SEC season.
Tennessee has now been a 6-seed projection in four of Lunardi’s last five bracketology updates. Prior to that, Tennessee spent four straight weeks as a 5-seed projection.
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The Vols currently sit at 13-6 overall and 3-3 in the SEC with a road matchup at Georgia set for Wednesday night in Athens. Tennessee has alternated wins and losses through all six of its conference games so far, with wins over Texas, Texas A&M, and Alabama, and losses to Arkansas, Florida, and Kentucky. Saturday’s win at Alabama was the Vols’ first true road win of the season after previously going 0-3.
The biggest bright spot for the Tennessee basketball team right now is undoubtedly the play of Nate Ament. After a few slow games against ranked teams and at the start of conference play, Ament has been playing much better offensive basketball as of late. His last four games have seen him go for 17 against Florida, 23 against Texas A&M, 17 against Kentucky, and a career-high 29 against Alabama. Ament has looked much more assertive in his offensive game plan, and Tennessee has needed that level of production to take some of the load off of Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
Following Wednesday’s game against Georgia, Tennessee will return to the Food City Center for a home contest against Auburn on Saturday night in Knoxville to close out the January slate.
Georgia (16-4, 4-3 SEC) will host Tennessee (13-6, 3-3 SEC) on Wednesday night in Athens. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the game from Stegeman Coliseum.
