Tennessee basketball has put together an impressive transfer portal haul and doesn’t plan to be done just yet. With other teams across the country also reloading for the 2026-27 season, ESPN has updated its bracketology, projecting the field for the 2027 NCAA Tournament.
ESPN’s bracketologist, Joe Lunardi, has the Vols earning a 4-seed in the tournament. This places the Vols in a first-round matchup with 13-seed Akron in the projection. That game and the next would be played in Spokane, Washington.
The winner would then get the winner between, you guessed it, 5-seed Purdue and 12-seed Belmont. The storylines there are obvious. The Boilermakers eliminated UT in the Sweet 16 of the 2019 tournament and the Elite Eight in 2024. The Vols share the state of Tennessee with Belmont, and just grabbed guard Tyler Lundblade off its roster through the transfer portal.
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If Tennessee can make it to a fifth-straight Sweet 16 under Rick Barnes, the likely opponents would be 1-seed Duke, 8-seed Auburn or 9-seed Wisconsin in the projection. A fourth-straight Elite Eight would likely be against 2-seed Illinois or 3-seed Alabama, two teams UT will play in the regular season.
Those games would each be played in San Antonio as a part of the South Region. Other regions are located in Los Angeles, Kansas City and New York.
The Vols’ positioning as a 4-seed is the fourth-highest mark in the conference. It trails just projected 1-seed Florida and 3-seeds Alabama and Arkansas. Texas is also slotted as a 4-seed.
The other notable position inside the field is NC State. Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey just took the head coaching job there to replace the departing Will Wade. Lunardi projects the Wolfpack to earn a 10-seed and open with 7-seed Kentucky as the final at-large bid to earn a bye.
