Joe Lunardi drops Tennessee back down to a No. 2 seed in latest ESPN Bracketology update

Tennessee basketball’s run as a No. 1 seed in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN Bracketology projection lasted roughly 24 hours. In Friday’s update, Arizona was back to being the fourth No. 1 seed after a triple-overtime win at Utah Thursday night.

Friday morning’s update had Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the West Region, facing No. 15-seed Troy in Charlotte and playing opposite of No. 7-seed Texas Tech and No. 10 Butler. 

No. 6 BYU-No. 11 Ole Miss and No. 3. Wisconsin-No. 14 High Point were in the opposite quad. Baylor was the No. 4 seed in the West on the upper side of the bracket and Creighton was the No. 5 seed. Virginia was a No. 8 seed.

The Vols moved up to the No. 1-seed line Thursday morning, jumping Arizona to grab the fourth spot on the top-seed line after the 88-68 win over LSU on Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee at Texas A&M, Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN

Tennessee jumped past Arizona, which had been the No. 4 overall seed in Lunardi’s seed list update Wednesday night. Purdue, UConn and Houston are the other No. 1 seeds, respectively, in Lunardi’s Bracketology update.

Tennessee has never been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but have been a No. 5 seed or higher in all five NCAA Tournament appearances under Rick Barnes. The Vols were a No. 4 seed a year ago, a No. 3 seed in 2022 and a No. 5 seed in 2021. They were a No. 2 seed in 2019 and a No. 3 in 2018. 

Tennessee is the highest of eight SEC teams that Lunardi had in his projection for the 68-team field. Alabama was a No. 3 seed and No. 10 overall on the seed list before losing at Auburn.

Auburn is a No. 3 seed, Kentucky dropped to a No. 6 and South Carolina moved up to a No. 5. Mississippi State is in the “Last Four In” category.

After the win over LSU, Tennessee (17-5, 7-2 SEC) is back on the road for two games away from home, starting at Texas A&M (14-8, 5-4) on Saturday night (8 Eastern Time, ESPN). The Vols go to Arkansas (11-11, 2-7) on Tuesday night (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2). 

Lunardi wrote Wednesday evening that Tennessee could move to the No. 1-seed line in his latest NCAA Tournament projection by blowing out LSU later Wednesday night in Knoxville.

Tennessee in recent weeks had been either the No. 5 or No. 6 overall seed in Lunardi’s projections, dropping to No. 6 after the loss to South Carolina last week then moving back up to No. 5 after the win at Kentucky. 

Vols ‘firmly’ made their case for a No. 1 seed with the win at Kentucky Saturday night

After the 103-92 win over then-No. 10 Kentucky Saturday night at Rupp Arena, Lunardi wrote that Tennessee had “firmly” made its case for a No. 1 seed but that North Carolina and Houston were still standing in the way.

The Tar Heels won the head-to-head matchup with the Vols, 100-92 in the ACC-SEC Challenge game at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill on November 29, and Houston started the week with six Quad 1 wins and a No. 1 ranking in the NET.

North Carolina lost at home to Clemson on Tuesday, giving the Tar Heels two losses in their last three games. They lost at Georgia Tech on January 30 before answer with a win over rival Duke at home on Saturday.

Arizona has a 6-1 record over its last seven games, after going 6-5 over its previous 11 games.

“Tennessee firmly made its case for a No. 1 seed by racing past Kentucky at Rupp Arena,” Lunardi wrote over the weekend. “The Vols’ wire-to-wire victory certainly passed any possible ‘eye test,’ giving us five teams with legitimate to-line profiles.”