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Tennessee Lady Vols open Women’s SEC Tournament Thursday vs. Auburn

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Tennessee Volunteers fans get ready before a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Tennessee Volunteers fans get ready before a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols are a No. 7 seed in the women’s basketball SEC Tournament. The Volunteers will face the Auburn Tigers Thursday.

Sweeping the South Carolina Gamecocks and going 23-6 overall and 11-5 in the SEC was not enough for the Tennessee Lady Vols to clinch a double-bye in the conference tournament. In fact, it wasn’t even enough for them to not already have their Thursday opponent scheduled.

That should give you an idea of just how great the top half of the conference was this year. Tennessee is No. 9 in the RPI and looking at a two-seed with the No. 8 ranked strength of schedule. But they only got a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Holly Warlick’s team will tip off play against the Auburn Tigers in Nashville at 7 p.m. E.T. on Thursday. The winner of that game will face the South Carolina Gamecocks again, which will be a third time for the Tennessee Lady Vols. Maybe this time South Carolina will have A’ja Wilson.

Of course, Tennessee has only itself to blame for not clinching a double-bye. Losing a home game to the Alabama Crimson Tide was the difference. If they won that, they would have been a No. 2 seed in the tournament.

You can see all the important info on the tournament by clicking here on SEC Sports.

As you can see from the bracket, the good news for Tennessee is that they can avoid the Mississippi State Bulldogs until the final round. That gives them a great chance in this tournament to make a deep run.

Looking at it, South Carolina is the toughest match-up until then. Playing in Nashville should make this like a home tournament for them. And they should smoke Auburn in the opener.

If they get past South Carolina, they’d face the Missouri Tigers or Georgia Bulldogs in all likelihood. Playing that game in Nashville favors them significantly. So the only real question of this tournament is what can Tennessee do to South Carolina with A’ja Wilson actually on the court.

Before that, though, they can’t look ahead. The Tennessee Lady Vols did lose to Alabama at home this year, after all. As a result, they should be locked in on Auburn.