On Wednesday, the SEC Tournament will begin in Nashville as 16 teams fight for the conference title. This includes Tennessee basketball, which will get its run underway on Thursday.
Heading into the event, ESPN’s Jeremy Woo updated his mock draft with the NCAA Tournament just around the corner. This includes Vols’ freshman phenom, Nate Ament. Woo slotted Ament as the projected No. 9 pick in the draft. This would send him to the Chicago Bulls.
“He turned his season around in conference play after a slow start, averaging 19 points in 16 league games and reminding teams why he was so highly rated coming into the season,” Woo wrote about Ament. “He has at times left evaluators wanting more, but checks valuable size and skill boxes that should make him a long-term NBA fixture. Whether Ament can take a star leap hinges on the evolution of his shot-creation skills.
“The Bulls cleared out their roster at the trade deadline and should be in a best-available mindset moving forward, with a clear need for more perimeter shooting.”
More From RTI: Where Tennessee Basketball’s National Title Odds Sit Heading into the SEC Tournament
It’s currently unclear whether Ament will be good to go for the SEC Tournament, though. He suffered a leg injury against Alabama on Feb. 28, forcing him to exit the game. He gave it a brief go later, but checked back out and did not return.
That was the last time Ament has seen game action. He’s progressing in practice, but Vols head coach Rick Barnes didn’t commit to him playing in Nashville with the all-important NCAA Tournament on the horizon.
“He’s okay,” Barnes said on Tuesday. “He did some more. He did some things with Chad (Newman) the last couple days, and I think he’ll see a little bit more today. But still, we’ll just see. He has been doing more with Chad running and G (Garrett Medenwald), those type things. He’ll probably push a little bit more today and see how he responds from it.”
Tennessee will play the winner between 12-seed Auburn and 13-seed Mississippi State on Thursday. The game is scheduled for approximately 3 p.m. ET.
More to follow: College Basketball Betting Sites
