Bracketology: So far, Tennessee is holding steady as the No. 2 seed…….
Following its first conference loss in Starkville last week, Tennessee’s situation has stabilised thanks to a furious comeback against Georgia and a resounding victory over Florida. Zakai Zeigler is playing at a level we have never seen from him, while Dalton Knecht is blazing hot.
Notwithstanding some lacklustre offensive performance from Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James, those two, along with some assistance from big man Jonas Aidoo, have Tennessee winning basketball games. When the Volunteers meet Alabama on Saturday, who has won six straight games, they’ll be hoping to maintain that formula.
Tennessee, now 13-4 overall, has been settled on the projected two-seed line for several weeks now in various versions of NCAA Tournament projections. Those early losses in big games against Purdue, Kansas and North Carolina haven’t hurt too bad, and Tennessee has taken advantage of some chaos and upsets at the top of the seed list.
According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, Tennessee remains on that two-seed line this week. Lunardi placed the Vols in Purdue’s region with a first round matchup against No. 15 seed St. Peters. Tennessee is the highest seeded SEC team in the projection, quickly followed by Auburn and Kentucky — both No. 3 seeds. Alabama lands as a No. 4, for reference. Overall, eight SEC teams made the tournament in this particular projection.
Over at CBS Sports, Jerry Palm also has Tennessee as a No. 2 seed, also projected to land in Purdue’s region.
At the moment, Tennessee is ranked sixth overall in the NCAA’s NET rankings. They’ve been flawless thus far in other matches, but they’re 2-4 in Quad 1 matchups. The fifth-ranked NET team, Alabama, will test the Volunteers’ home record this Saturday. They have remained unbeaten at home this season.
