The Tennessee Volunteers are heating up at just the right time. With February winding down and March Madness creeping closer, the Vols have found a groove-winning six of their last seven games and shaking off a tough road loss to Kentucky along the way. Since that home loss to the Wildcats back on January 17, Tennessee has responded with a level of consistency that’s helped solidify their standing as a tournament team.
Now sitting at 18-7 overall and 8-4 in SEC play, Tennessee is comfortably in the projected NCAA Tournament field. And if the current bracketology forecasts are any indication, the Vols are holding steady as a 6-seed across the board.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, one of the most recognized voices in the bracket prediction game, has Tennessee slotted as a 6-seed in the Midwest Region. That projection would pit the Vols against Miami (OH) in the first round, with Michigan State looming as the potential 3-seed matchup down the line.
CBS Sports echoes that sentiment. They also have Tennessee on the 6-line, matched up against the winner of a play-in game. In that scenario, Kansas is the projected 3-seed in the same region-a team that already owns a win over Tennessee this season, having edged them out 81-76 earlier in the year.
On3 Sports joins the consensus, placing Tennessee as a 6-seed facing Miami (OH), with Nebraska as the potential second-round opponent as the 3-seed.
So, across the major projections, there’s a clear picture forming: the Vols are living in six-seed territory for now. That’s not a bad place to be with a few weeks left before Selection Sunday, but it also means there’s still plenty of room for movement-up or down.
The schedule ahead offers both opportunity and risk. Tennessee will host in-state rival Vanderbilt and a high-powered Alabama squad, and they’ll also make a return trip to face Vandy on the road. Those are the kind of games that can add polish to a tournament résumé-or deliver a costly blemish if things go sideways.
And then there’s Oklahoma on Wednesday night, a non-conference matchup that could go a long way in boosting Tennessee’s national perception. Later, they’ll close out the regular season with a visit to South Carolina, another game that could carry weight depending on how the Gamecocks finish out their own campaign.
Bottom line: the Vols are trending in the right direction. They've weathered some early-season inconsistency and are now stringing together wins at a critical juncture. If they can keep stacking victories and avoid any late-season slip-ups, there’s a real chance they could climb out of that 6-seed range and into even more favorable territory come March.
For now, they’re in a solid spot. But in college basketball, especially this time of year, nothing is set in stone.