One ESPN college basketball analyst picks Tennessee to win national championship
ESPN updated its preseason college basketball predictions with new midseason picks on Monday. And it included one big jump in expectations for No. 1 Tennessee.
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf not only picked Tennessee to make it to what would be the first Final Four appearance in program history, but he also picked the Vols to win the national title.
Medcalf’s updated Final Four had Tennessee winning it all while Auburn, Duke and Kentucky also made the Final Four. In the preseason he picked Alabama to win the national title with Duke, Kansas and Houston making the Final Four.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello on Monday had Auburn winning the national championship, with Duke, Iowa State and Illinois also in his Final Four. Joe Lunardi also had Auburn winning the title with Duke, Kansas and Florida in the Final Four.
Up Next: No. 1 Tennessee at No. 8 Florida, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET
Lunardi has Tennessee as a No. 1 seed and the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament in his latest Bracketology update.
No. 1 Tennessee (14-0, 1-0 SEC) goes to No. 8 Florida (13-1, 0-1) on Tuesday (7 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN2), looking to start a season with a 15-0 record for the first time in program history.
Tennessee was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll on Monday for a fifth straight week, setting a new program record. The 2018-19 team was ranked No. 1 for four straight weeks during it’s program-record 19-game win streak.
The Vols gained four additional first-place votes in the AP Top 25 and one additional vote in the Coaches Poll this week.
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Vols are last remaining unbeaten team in college basketball
Tennessee is the last undefeated team left in college basketball and is off to the second best start to a season in Tennessee Basketball history, with their 14-0 record matching the 1922-23 team’s start in a 17-game season.
This is the first time Tennessee has been the last unbeaten team left in Division I college basketball since 1915-16, when the Vols finished the season 12-0.
No. 8 Florida and No. 17 Oklahoma also had 13-0 records entering the start of SEC play on Saturday, but the Gators lost 106-100 at No. 6 Kentucky and Oklahoma lost 107-79 at No. 5 Alabama.
Tennessee’s 14-game win streak is just the fourth in program history, but the second during the Rick Barnes era. The 2018-19 team won 19 straight games and a 15-game win streak bridged the 1914-15 and 1915-16 seasons, to go with the 14-game win streak to start the 1922-23 season.
