Tennessee Basketball’s SEC Tournament draw is officially set for next week’s event in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The Volunteers will be the 5-seed in the tournament and earned a single-bye with their 11-7 conference record. Tennessee will play its first game during the second round of the tournament on Thursday and will take on the winner of 13-seed Mississippi State and 12-seed Auburn.
Tennessee’s path isn’t an easy one, though. Rick Barnes’ squad will have to go through 4-seed Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals and will likely face 1-seed Florida in the semi-finals. Tennessee split its series with Vanderbilt during the regular season and was crushed by Florida in Gainesville early in the SEC slate.
If the Vols can manage to get through their first three games and to the championship contest on Sunday, they’ll likely face either 2-seed Alabama, 3-seed Arkansas, or 6-seed Texas A&M.
But while Tennessee has the 5-seed in the tournament, the Vols actually have the fourth-best odds to win the event. Fanduel Sportsbook has Tennessee with +850 odds to win the SEC Tournament, which sits only behind Florida (-180), Arkansas (+700), and Alabama (+700). The 4-seed in the tournament, Vanderbilt, has +1800 odds to win.
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These odds are subject to change throughout the week, but it does make for an interesting note less than 24 hours after the bracket was officially released. It also suggests that Tennessee could be the favorite over Vanderbilt if the Vols make it past their first game in the second round.
There’s a fairly big dropoff in the odds between Tennessee (+850) and Vanderbilt (+1800), but there’s an even bigger dropoff between Vanderbilt and the next team on the list. Despite being the 9-seed in the tournament, Kentucky has the sixth-best odds at +3500 on Fanduel.
Aside from the first game against either Auburn or Mississippi State, the Vols will likely have to go through a handful of teams that they have already lost to in order to wear the SEC Tournament crowd at the end of the weekend. Tennessee picked up losses to Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt during the regular season, and we’ll see if it gets a chance at revenge this weekend in Nashville. The Vols did split their series against the Crimson Tide and Commodores, for what it’s worth.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Basketball coverage leading into the SEC Tournament next week.
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