Tennessee basketball is Joe Lunardi's top No. 2 seed, but 'Vols aren't moving up any time soon'
Tennessee basketball is back up to the No. 5 overall seed in the latest NCAA Tournament projection from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, but that’s as high as the Vols will be climbing for the time being.
“There is a real gap between the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds right now,” Lunardi wrote on Tuesday, “so the Vols aren’t moving up any time soon.”
UConn is Lunardi’s No. 1 overall seed playing in the East Region, ahead of Purdue (Midwest), Houston (South) and Arizona (West). Tennessee leads the No. 2-seed line, paired with Purdue in the Midwest, coming in ahead of North Carolina, Marquette and Kansas.
Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee at Missouri, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Lunardi’s updated bracket on Tuesday had Tennessee playing in Charlotte for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, facing No. 15 Quinnipiac and playing opposite of No. 7 Utah State and No. 10 Nebraska.
The other top seeds in the Midwest, with regional play in Detroit, were No. 3 Baylor, No. 4 San Diego State, No. 5 Kentucky and No. 6 Saint Mary’s.
Tennessee (19-6, 9-3 SEC) is on the road at Missouri (8-17, 0-12) on Tuesday, a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network at Mizzou Arena. The Vols return home to host Texas A&M on Saturday, an 8 p.m. ET start on ESPN.
Top 10
- 1New
AP Poll Top 25
Three new teams enter Top 10
- 2
Coaches Poll
Top 25 shakeup after Week 9
- 3Trending
Michigan-MSU fight
Things turned ugly as game ended
- 4
Marcel Reed
Kirk Herbstreit reacts to Texas A&M win
- 5
Prime Payday
Deion Sanders earns 2 big bonuses
The gap between the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds can be seen in Quad 1 wins. Houston picked up its ninth Quad 1 win Monday night in a home win over Iowa State. Purdue and UConn also have nine Quad 1 wins while Arizona has seven.
Tennessee has five Quad 1 wins. Kansas, North Carolina and Marquette all have six.
Vols have four Quad 1 games currently left on schedule
The Vols have four Quad 1 games currently left on schedule, all in the final two weeks of the regular season — Auburn (February 28), at Alabama (March 2), at South Carolina (March 6) and Kentucky (March 9).
Alabama is the second-highest seeded SEC team behind Tennessee, as a No. 3 seed and is Lunardi’s No. 9 overall seed. Auburn dropped to a No. 4 seed and No. 16 overall after the home loss to Kentucky Saturday night.
Kentucky moved up to a No. 5 seed and is No. 18 overall on Lunardi’s seed list. South Carolina and Florida are No. 7 seeds, Mississippi State is a No. 9 seed and Texas A&M is a No. 10 seed. Ole Miss on Tuesday was Lunardi’s last team in the field.
