After surging up the rankings following a dominant start to the SEC schedule, Lady Vols basketball was placed as high as a projected 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament by ESPN’s bracketology. However, a loss to Mississippi State at home dropped Tennessee to the 4-seed line.
This past Sunday, things continued to skid in the wrong direction for the Lady Vols. Despite going into the half tied, Tennessee lost by 30 on the road to UConn. So, how did ESPN’s updated bracketology reflect that loss?
The answer is not very severe. The Lady Vols remain a 4-seed in the projection, which means they would host the first two rounds of the tournament. In ESPN’s projection, Tennessee would open against 13-seed Murray State. The winner of that game would get the winner of 5-seed West Virginia and 12-seed Oregon State.
If Kim Caldwell can lead the Lady Vols back to the Sweet 16, the likely opponent would be 1-seed UCLA. Tennessee already lost to the Bruins by 22 points on the road in November. Other top seeds in the region on the path to a Final Four are 2-seed Vanderbilt and 3-seed Ohio State.
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Next, the Lady Vols stay on the road. Tennessee will face Georgia on Thursday, Feb. 5. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET and will air on SECN+.
Then, the Lady Vols meet South Carolina on the road on Sunday. That game begins at 3 p.m. ET and will air on ABC.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be tough,” Caldwell said about the upcoming stretch. “We gotta do it one game at a time. I didn’t really love where this was at in our schedule, especially with that game being moved. But that’s what the SEC is. You play – I think we only have two unranked games left on our schedule. And so, you have to do it one game at a time. You can’t look big picture. You gotta do it scout-specific and chip away at it.”
