Tennessee basketball: Vols could have unanimous No. 1 ranking by Monday

Tennessee basketball has been stuck at No. 3 for a month. But there’s a strong possibility that the Volunteers are unanimously No. 1 in both polls soon.

Ever since their win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Tennessee basketball has been unable to move out of that No. 3 spot. The Duke Blue Devils have stayed at No. 1, and in recent weeks, the Virginia Cavaliers and Michigan Wolverines have been ahead of the Vols in separate polls by virtue of being undefeated.

With the Duke Blue Devils losing to the Syracuse Orange on Monday and UT beating the Arkansas Razorbacks, a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide at home on Saturday should move them up to No. 2 in both polls. However, there is the off-chance that the voters move UVA ahead of them in the AP Poll and Michigan ahead of them in the Coaches Poll if they stay undefeated.

In fact, difficult road games for both teams over the weekend could do just that. But at the same time, it could make Tennessee basketball the clear-cut No. 1 ranked team in the nation by Monday if things break their way.

Again, this is all assuming they beat Alabama. But the night before, Michigan has a tough road game against the Wisconsin Badgers. Don’t sleep on that game. Even at 11-6 and 3-3, Wisconsin has come within two possessions of beating numerous Top 25 RPI teams, including the Marquette Golden Eagles, the Purdue Boilermakers and most recently the Maryland Terrapins on the road.

These guys are very dangerous. Getting Michigan at home on a Friday night after constantly knocking on the door in close games could be just what they need to break through and finally get that big win. Remember that these guys have already beaten the Oklahoma Sooners and the Iowa Hawkeyes on the road. And they also played the Virginia Cavaliers close.

On Saturday, though, a much more plausible outcome could happen. Virginia has to travel to Duke for their toughest test of the season. In fact, most people would say it’s likely that the Blue Devils win that game, even after Monday’s loss.

Should that alone happen, Tennessee basketball will jump Virginia in both polls provided they win their game. That’ll make them at least No. 2 easily on Monday and, if the AP Poll stays consistent, No. 1 in that poll. And if all chalk happens, they’ll win, Virginia will lose and Michigan will win, making this the most likely scenario.

However, if Virginia and Michigan both lose, that’s where things favor the Vols. Should they win their game, nobody can justify any team being ranked ahead of them. The only team to beat them is the Kansas Jayhawks, and that was in overtime. KU has lost two games since then.

Duke will have two losses to UT’s one, and they lost to the Gonzaga Bulldogs, whom the Vols beat. Virginia and Michigan will have the same number of losses as the Vols with a much lower ranked strength of schedule.

As a result, this outcome, which is very possible, would give Rick Barnes’s team a unanimous No. 1 ranking. It would be his first No. 1 ranking as head coach of a team in history, and it would be the first unanimous No. 1 ranking for Tennessee basketball. How amazing would that be to see on Monday afternoon?

Of course, there’s another possibility. Virginia and Michigan could both win. Should that happen, I’ll be the first to admit that they should both move ahead of the Vols, even if the Vols win. They’ll both have quality wins at that point and a decent enough of schedule to be ahead of Rocky Top with their undefeated records. But that possibility seems more unlikely than them both losing.

Simply put, this is about to be a huge weekend for Tennessee basketball. They could witness something historic happen, and achieving their first No. 1 ranking in 11 years would be amazing, especially when they could maintain it for a little while with their upcoming schedule against the Vanderbilt Commodores and West Virginia Mountaineers.