ESPN Bracketology: Tennessee doesn't have a path to the final No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament
Tennessee Basketball has nothing to play for against Auburn on Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinal, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. His Bracketology update on Saturday had Auburn locked into the No. 1 overall seed and the final No. 1 seed going to the Alabama-Florida winner.
Tennessee (26-6), the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament, faces No. 1 Auburn (28-4) at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN, with No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Alabama to follow in the second semifinal game.
The NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed on Sunday evening on CBS. The SEC Tournament championship game will be played at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.
“The Alabama-Florida winner should be the fourth and final No. 1 seed,” Lunardi wrote on Saturday in his latest Bracketology update.
Tennessee is No. 6 overall seed in ESPN Bracketology
Florida has been Lunardi’s final No. 1 seed the last 10 days, with Alabama as his No. 5 overall seed and Tennessee as his No. 6 overall seed.
Tennessee beat Texas 83-72 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal on Friday. Auburn beat Ole Miss 62-57. Alabama advanced with a win over Kentucky and Florida beat Missouri.
Tennessee dropped to No. 6 in the NET rankings after Alabama’s 99-70 win over Kentucky late Friday night.
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The KenPom ratings have the Vols at No. 5 overall. They dropped to No. 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency (88.7) after the win over Texas and moved up to No. 18 in adjusted offensive efficiency (119.6).
Auburn is No. 2 in the NET, Florida is No. 4 and Alabama is No. 6.
ESPN has Tennessee in East Region, playing first weekend in Cleveland
Lunardi’s NCAA Tournament bracket projection on Saturday morning had Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the East Region (Newark), where Duke is the No. 1 seed. He had the Vols facing No. 15 Bryant in Cleveland, opposite of No. 7 Gonzaga and No. 10 Arkansas.
ESPN’s four No. 1 seeds are Auburn, Duke, Houston and Florida, respectively. Alabama and Tennessee are followed on the No. 2 seed line by Michigan State and St. John’s. His No. 3 seeds are Texas Tech, Maryland, Wisconsin and Kentucky, respectively, and his No. 4s are Iowa State, Texas A&M, Arizona and Purdue, in that order.
Lunardi currently projects 13 teams to make the NCAA Tournament, with Oklahoma and Arkansas in the ‘Last Four Byes’ category and Vanderbilt in the ‘Last Four In’ category. Texas is listed third of the four teams in the ‘First Four Out’ after losing to Tennessee on Friday.
The Vols have never been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but have been a No. 2 seed three times, including twice under Rick Barnes. The 2019 team went to the Sweet 16 as a No. 2 seed, before losing to No. 3 Purdue in overtime, and last season’s team went on a run to the Elite Eight as a No. 2 seed, before losing to No. 1 Purdue in the Midwest Region.
