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Where Tennessee stands in ESPN Bracketology after the win over Missouri

IMG_3593by:Grant Rameyabout 9 hours

GrantRamey

Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee Basketball | Andrew Ferguson, Tennessee Athletics
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee Basketball | Andrew Ferguson, Tennessee Athletics

No. 4 Tennessee put a tighter grip on its projected No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with the 85-81 win over No. 15 Missouri Wednesday night at Food City Center.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi wrote Thursday that the Vols “solidified the fourth No. 1 seed” with their seventh Quad 1 win of the season. Lunardi on Wednesday afternoon wrote that a loss against Mizzou would drop Tennessee to a No. 2 and vault Purdue to the No. 1-seed line.

“Purdue is on the Vols’ heels,” Lunardi noted. 

Lunardi in his projected tournament bracket on Tuesday had Tennessee as the No. 1 seed in the West Region (San Francisco), playing the first weekend of the tournament in Raleigh, N.C., facing No. 16 Central Connecticut in the first round, opposite of No. 8 Clemson and No. 9 West Virginia.

Iowa State was the No. 2 seed in the West, Texas A&M was the No. 3 seed and Wisconsin was the No. 4. Missouri was the No. 5 seed.

Up Next: No. 4 Tennessee at Oklahoma, Saturday

Auburn, Duke and Alabama continue to be the top-three No. 1 seeds, in that order. The No. 2 seeds, in order, are Purdue, Florida, Houston and Texas A&M.

The No. 3 seeds are Iowa State, Kansas, Marquette and Texas Tech. The No. 4s are Michigan State, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Arizona.

Tennessee (19-4, 6-4 SEC) goes on the road to Oklahoma (16-6, 3-6) on Saturday (Noon Eastern Time, ESPN) and plays four of its next five on the road, going to Kentucky, Texas A&M and LSU.

Purdue (18-5, 10-2 Big Ten) has won 10 of its last 11 games and hosts USC on Friday night. 

The Vols are ranked No. 4 in the NET with a 7-4 Quad 1 record. They’re 2-0 in Quad 2, 3-0 in Quad 3 and 7-0 in Quad 4.

Purdue is No. 10 in the NET with a 7-5 record in Quad 1 games. The Boilermakers are 6-0 in Quad 2, 2-0 in Quad 3 and 3-0 in Quad 4. The four Quad 1 losses were at Marquette, at Penn State, on natural floors against Texas A&M and Auburn and home against Ohio State.

Vols move up five spots in ESPN College Basketball Power Rankings

Tennessee moved up five spots to No. 4 in ESPN’s weekly college basketball power rankings on Thursday, ranked behind No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Alabama. Purdue was ranked fifth. 

“After a couple of rocky weeks, Tennessee notched two big wins, and in almost entirely different ways,” ESPN’s Jeff Borzello wrote. “Zakai Zeigler and Igor Milicic Jr. missed Saturday’s game against Florida, but Tennessee was elite defensively. Coupled with the fact Gators star Walter Clayton Jr. was hampered by an ankle injury, the Vols rolled by 20.

“Zeigler and Milicic returned for Wednesday’s game against Missouri, leading the Vols to a 57-point second-half performance and a win over the Tigers by combining for 42 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.”

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