At least according to Joe Lunardi of ESPN, Tennessee survived a two-loss week to remain a projected No. 5 seed. The analyst has the Volunteers in the next group out, sitting just outside of a top-16 seed. Alabama remained on the 4-line after coming back to steal a win over Tennessee on Saturday night.
CBS Sports also has Tennessee as a No. 5 seed, matching up with No. 12 seed High Point in the West Region. The Vols would be matching up with 4-seed Gonzaga in the second round
there, each paired up with No. 1 seed Arizona and No. 2 seed Purdue.
Tennessee blew golden chances to lock up a double-bye in the SEC Tournament last week, blowing leads to Missouri and Alabama. Now they’ll need some help to make that happen. Tennessee also could have moved into that top-16 overall group of national seeds, but now instead must fight to remain a No. 5.
“You expect to be in one-possession games like this, really close,” Rick Barnes said of the weekend loss. “You expect it, and you can’t give some away. Again, I’m not taking anything away from Alabama and Nate. They do a great job. You can’t come out the second half the way we did, just not locked in the way we were at the start of the game, and we should be.”
The Volunteers will take a road trip to South Carolina on Tuesday night before finishing up at home against Vanderbilt. Of course, now we have the lingering injury situation of Nate Ament to figure as well.
The SEC Tournament bracket will be set on Saturday night, then it’s one week until Selection Sunday.
