Coming off of Saturday night’s win over LSU, Tennessee has retained its spot as a projected 6-seed in the Midwest Region in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology report for ESPN. The Vols will have a chance to continue their two-game win streak when they host Oklahoma on Wednesday night in Knoxville.
Tennessee dropped from a 5-seed to a 6-seed coming off its midweek win over Mississippi State last week. The Vols picked up the victory in Starkville, but the close call against the Bulldogs and the previous loss to Kentucky were enough to put Tennessee in shaky territory and ultimately move down a spot.
Tennessee has primarily projected out as a 6-seed in Lunardi’s rankings since late January, with a few flashes to the 5-seed and one quick drop to the 7-seed. The Vols are 18-7 overall and 8-4 in conference play heading into Wednesday night’s game against Oklahoma.
But while Tennessee has retained its spot as a 6-seed in the Midwest Region, there has been some movement around it. Lunardi has Tennessee projected to play the winner of an 11-seed play-in game between UCLA and San Diego State in the first round from Portland, with a potential second-round matchup against either 3-seed Gonzaga or 14-seed California Baptist. Other notable entries in Tennessee’s projected Midwest Region bracket include overall 1-seed Michigan, 2-seed Iowa State, 4-seed Vanderbilt, and 5-seed Louisville.
Tennessee will travel to Nashville this weekend for its first of two rivalry games against the Commodores this season, with Vanderbilt making the return trip in the regular season finale from Knoxville.
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On Monday, CBS Sports posted a video to social media with former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl listing how far he thought specific teams would go in the NCAA tournament. Alabama, for instance, got a Round of 64 exit from its former rival coach.
Pearl listed Tennessee with a Sweet 16 exit. There’s no explanation or reasoning posted for each team, just a quick answer. He’s also got Auburn, which is coached by his son Steven and a current 8-seed projection in the tournament, going all the way to the Sweet 16. In Lunardi’s latest projection, the Tigers would have to go through 1-seed UConn in the Round of 32 to get there.
Tennessee (18-7, 8-4 SEC) will host Oklahoma (13-12, 3-9 SEC) on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. ET in the Food City Center. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the game.
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