Tennessee basketball opens up SEC play on Jan. 3 at Arkansas following its non conference finale against South Carolina State. If the Vols take care of business against South Carolina State, they’ll enter conference play 10-3 with three power five wins and two marquee wins.
ESPN released a Christmas brackeology update earlier this week with Tennessee coming in as the five-seed in the East Region.
Joe Lunardi projects Tennessee to face off with 12-seed Yale in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia. The Vols would then face off against either four-seed Illinois or 13-seed High Point in the Round of 32.
Tennessee and Illinois have become rather familiar in recent years. The Vols defeated Illinois during the 2023-24 seasons and 2024-25 seasons before losing to the Fighting Illini in Nashville earlier this month. Of course, the two sides are facing off in the Music City Bowl later this month.
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The other top teams in the East Region in Lunardi’s projection include No. 1 seed UConn, No. 2 seed Duke and three-seed Kansas.
Being a five-seed would be Tennessee’s lowest seed since the 2020-21 season when they were also a five-seed and lost to 12-seed Oregon State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. In the four-years since, Tennessee lost in the Round of 32 as a three-seed, the Sweet 16 as a four-seed, the Elite Eight as a two-seed and then again in the Elite Eight as a two-seed.
Despite being down compared to last season, ESPN’s latest bracketology update projects 10 SEC teams to make the NCAA Tournament including two-seed Vanderbilt, four-seed Alabama, five-seed Florida, six-seed Arkansas, seven-seed Auburn, seven-seed Kentucky, eight-seed Georgia, nine-seed LSU and 12-seed Oklahoma.
The Vols open up SEC play on Saturday, Jan. 3 at Arkansas in what begins a challenging January schedule. Tennessee has road trips to Florida, Alabama and Georgia as well as a home matchup against Kentucky and Auburn.
