Where Tennessee is ranked in ESPN's Basketball Power Index
Tennessee is in the middle of its third straight week ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll, but the Vols are the fourth best team in the country according to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index.
The BPI has Tennessee (12-0) ranked No. 4 behind Auburn, Houston and Duke, respectively. Auburn (11-1) has narrowed the gap on the Vols in first-place votes as the No. 2-ranked team the last two weeks.
The No. 4 ranking from the BPI is no insult, though.
The ESPN metric gives Tennessee an 11.4% chance to win the national championship, a 20.1% chance to make the national title game and a 33.4% chance to reach the Final Four.
The Final Four percentage is fourth highest behind Auburn at 44.1%, Houston at 43.0% and Duke at 40.9%. Fifth in line is Kansas at 19.1%. Auburn is the favorite to win the national title at 18.7%.
ESPN BPI: Tennessee has 52.4% chance to return to Elite Eight
The BPI gives Tennessee an 87.8% chance to make the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a 74.8% chance to make the Sweet Sixteen and a 52.4% chance to make a return trip to the Elite Eight.
The Vols lost to No. 1-seed Purdue in the Elite Eight in the Midwest Region last March and have been to back-to-back Sweet Sixteens.
This season Tennessee is off to its best start since the 1915-16 Vols went 12-0. The program record is held by the 1922-23 team, which started 14-0.
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Tennessee hosts Norfolk State on Tuesday (3 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network+) at Food City Center in the final non-conference game of the season, with SEC play set to start at home on January 4 against Arkansas.
ESPN Bracketology has Vols as No. 1 seed, No. 2 overall
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently has the Vols as a No. 1 seed in his latest Bracketology update, coming in as the No. 2 overall seed behind Auburn.
Lunardi on Tuesday had 13 SEC teams making the NCAA Tournament, including eight teams seeded fifth or higher. Not only did the league have two No. 1 seeds in Tennessee and Auburn, there were three No. 2 seeds from the SEC in Alabama, Florida and Kentucky.
KenPom has Tennessee at No. 3 overall, behind No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Duke.
The Vols are No. 2 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 14 in adjusted offensive efficiency, while Auburn is No. 1 on offense and No. 10 on defense.
Tennessee is No. 2 in the NET rankings, trailing only Auburn. The Vols are 3-0 in Quad 1 games and a combined 9-0 in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games. They don’t currently have any Quad 2 games to their credit.
