Bracketology Buzz: Tennessee Holds Firm as Projected No. 2 Seed Despite Upset Loss

Bracketology Buzz: Tennessee Holds Firm as Projected No. 2 Seed Despite Upset Loss

This midweek, Tennessee and North Carolina both lost to teams who were not rated, extending the crazy start to the NCAA basketball season. While South Carolina shocked the Volunteers with a 13-point margin, North Carolina lost at Georgia Tech.

Tennessee lost its first home game of the season on Tuesday because they simply couldn’t muster any offensive momentum. Although Dalton Knecht scored an additional 31 points, Rick Barnes’ experienced core contributed almost little else. At the end of the day, Zakai Zeigler scored 0 points on 0–6 shooting. To put it plainly, the offense was nonexistent but the defense was strong enough to win.

Tennessee’s regular season standings are negatively impacted by the loss, allowing South Carolina, Auburn, and Alabama to temporarily pass the Volunteers. Those rankings will become a little clearer on Saturday when Tennessee plays its pivotal game at Kentucky.

All things considered, though, the loss wasn’t all that painful. The most recent prediction from ESPN, which was released this Friday morning, still has Tennessee as the 2-seed. The Vols advanced to the UConn East Region, where they were expected to play Quinnipiac, the No. 15 seed. A journey to the Sweet 16 would be thwarted by No. 10 Providence and No. 7 Northwestern.

Tennessee holds its overall fifth-place placement in the NCAA NET rankings. With Tuesday’s setback, they dropped to No. 6 overall in KenPom.

With eight teams included in the prediction, the SEC comes in second place (2-Tennessee, 3-Alabama, 4-Auburn, 5-Kentucky, 6-South Carolina, 8-Ole Miss, 9-Mississippi State, 10-Texas A&M).

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