Joe Lunardi moves Tennessee basketball up to a No. 1 seed after the win at South Carolina
Tennessee basketball was playing for more than an SEC championship against South Carolina Wednesday night. The Vols were playing for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and earned one in the 66-59 win over the Gamecocks.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi moved Tennessee (24-6, 15-3 SEC) up to the fourth and final No. 1 seed as his No. 4 overall team in his latest NCAA Tournament projection. The Vols spent recent weeks as the No. 5 overall seed on Lunardi’s seed list.
After scoring 26 points to lead the Vols to the win at South Carolina, Dalton Knecht was asked if his team is currently worthy of a No. 1 seed.
“No doubt,” Knecht said.
Then he circled back.
“We’re just going out, we don’t care about the No. 1 seed,” Knecht said. “We’re just going out, ready to compete against everybody.”
Tennessee jumped past Arizona for the No. 1 seed in the West Region (Los Angeles), with the Wildcats now in the No. 2 spot in the West. The Vols moved up to a No. 1 seed in CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm’s bracket on Sunday, after an 81-74 win at Alabama.
Vols chasing first NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed in program history
Wednesday was Tennessee’s first outright SEC regular-season championship since 2007-08. The Vols shared the title with Auburn in 2017-18 and won the SEC Tournament championship in 2022, the program’s first since 1979.
“That’s few years back,” Tennessee center Jonas Aidoo said of the 2018 split title. “And then we still got the (SEC) tournament and the big (NCAA) tournament too, so it is just really exciting.”
“Enjoy it,” Knecht said, “but at the same time we still got another championship we got to win.”
Tennessee is now 8-5 in Quad 1 games after winning three straight, beating Auburn, Alabama and South Carolina. The Vols are 6-1 over their past seven Quad 1 games, dating back to an 85-66 home win over Florida in January. They’re 5-1 in Quad 2 games, 6-0 in Quad 3 and 5-0 in Quad 4.
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Another Quad 1 opportunity awaits on Saturday with No. 15 Kentucky (22-8, 12-5 SEC) coming to Thompson-Boling Arena for a 4 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: CBS) on Senior Day.
“Each game is a challenge,” Aidoo said. “We’re just taking each game one by one, so we’re just getting ready for the big tournament.”
Up Next: No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 15 Kentucky, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, CBS
A No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament has never happened in Tennessee program history. The Vols have been a No. 2 seed three times (2006, 2008 and 2019) and a No. 3 seed twice (2018, 2022).
“I don’t talk about things that, or think about things, that we have no control over,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Friday when asked about the No. 1-seed discussion, “other than what we do on the court.
“I’m sure there’s always going to be debates about this, that or whatever. But all I can say is that when we’re done with the regular season, I can’t imagine anyone’s played a more difficult schedule than we have all year long.”
