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Tennessee basketball bracketology: Vols pushing a No. 3 seed?

By Caleb Calhoun

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 10: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team during the 67-65 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second round of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 10, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 10: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team during the 67-65 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second round of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 10, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee basketball continues to move up in NCAA Tournament bracket projections. See where the Volunteers are for Jan. 29, 2018.

Related Story: Jan. 29 Men's SEC Power Rankings

Last week, Tennessee basketball scored two wins everybody expected the Vols to get. But a dominant road win over the Iowa State Cyclones was enough to command some respect. And the Vanderbilt Commodores beating the TCU Horned Frogs helped them even more.

As a result, at 15-5 and 5-3 in the SEC, the Vols are now No. 13 in the RPI. That’s a bit of a drop because their strength of schedule dropped to No. 7. And the same thing could happen this week as they have two easy home games.

However, while the strength of schedule drops, the bracketology projections go up for the Vols if they keep winning. That happened to them in the slightest of ways this week.

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Tennessee basketball is now averaging a No. 4 seed on BracketMatrix, which compiles bracket projections across the country. Their overall score of 4.10 is a significant jump from their 5.20 average last week.

As that jump happened, their projected spots improved as well. They moved up to a No. 4 seed in Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology projection with South Dakota State as their first-round opponent. They would be in the West division with the Kansas Jayhawks as the No. 1 seed in that one.

This team also jumped to a No. 4 seed in the Delphi Bracketology projections, which has been the most accurate the last three years. In that one they would also face South Dakota State in the first round, and the Villanova Wildcats would be the No. 1 seed in the division.

For some reason, they aren’t moving in the projections by Dave Ommen of Yahoo Sports. Tennessee basketball was a No. 5 seed in that bracket two weeks ago, and they remain a No. 5 seed this week. And they are still facing Middle Tennessee in the first round. However, this time, they’d be in the division with the Virginia Cavaliers as the No. 1 seed.

Their largest amount of respect, though, comes from Jerry Palm of CBS Sports. That bracket now has the Vols talking of a potential No. 3 seed, which is where he has them. In those projections, Tennessee basketball would face Belmont in the first round and be in a division where the Duke Blue Devils are the No. 1 seed.

Finally, CollegeSportsMadness.com has Tennessee basketball as a No. 4 seed with William & Mary in the first round. In that one, they would also be in the division with Virginia as the No. 1 seed.

Right now, the Vols have five losses, all of which are to Top 50 RPI teams and four of which are to Top 25 RPI teams. So they have no bad losses.

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Meanwhile, they have two major quality wins and two more solid wins, and a few more are likely to come. Provided they don’t slip up this week, they could be facing the Kentucky Wildcats on the road next week with a major seeding opportunity. So watch out for where this team can move up to.

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