Tennessee Lady Vols bracketology: Losing streak has seed falling

The Tennessee Lady Vols’ three-game losing streak is hurting their bracketology. Seeding is as low as No. 6 for the women’s basketball Volunteers.

Losing at home to the Missouri Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats is bad enough. But by losing on the road to the Georgia Bulldogs, the Tennessee Lady Vols are beginning to take a hit in many Women’s NCAA Tournament bracket projections for 2019, and they should.

As of now, Holly Warlick’s team is outside of the Top 30 of the Women’s RPI, and they have the No. 40 ranked strength of schedule. The Georgia Bulldogs are technically a bad loss since they’re No. 87 in the RPI, which kills them even with the other three losses coming to Top 40 RPI teams. However, only the Stanford Cardinal, who are No. 2, are above No. 30.

Now, they do have some good RPI wins as well. The Texas Longhorns on the road are their best win, as they are No. 23 overall. Then there are solid wins over the Auburn Tigers on the road, who are No. 48, and the Clemson Tigers at home, who are No. 43. Even though they are No. 68, the Oklahoma State Cowgirls are a good win since it was on the road.

The resume looks better when you use the AP and Coaches Polls, as Stanford and Kentucky are both Top 15 teams, making those losses look better. Meanwhile,. Texas is No. 11 in both polls, making that look like a much more quality win. Perhaps this is why the Tennessee Lady Vols are No. 20 in the AP Poll and No. 17 in the Coaches Poll, as opposed to their No. 31 ranking in the RPI.

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So how is this all affecting their seeding for the NCAA Tournament? Well, with a lot of basketball left to play, it’s taken a hit this week, but not as drastically as you might think. In fact, one didn’t move them at all. But two don’t have them playing at home anymore on the first weekend.

Charlie Creme of ESPN had Tennessee as a No. 6 seed facing the Purdue Boilermakers in the first round. They would play in Milwaukee in the first round in a bracket hosted by the No. 3 seed Marquette Golden Eagles, who would face No. 14 seed Lamar. The UCONN Huskies would be the No. 1 seed in this bracket.

Fellow FanSided site High-Post Hoops is more generous, giving the Tennessee Lady Vols a No. 5 seed. They would still be on the road the first weekend and face Maine in the first round. That bracket would be hosted by the No. 4 seed Maryland Terrapins and also involve Penn as a No. 13 seed. The Louisville Cardinals would be the No. 1 seed in that bracket.

Despite the falling seeding for Rocky Top in those brackets, College Sports Madness provides more of a shocker. They have the Tennessee Lady Vols listed as a No. 3 seed still and hosting a first-round game. Last week, they had them hosting UC Irvine, and this week, they have them hosting UC Davis. The other teams in that first weekend in Knoxville would be the Purdue and the Oregon State Beavers as No. 11 and No. 6 seeds respectively, and the Oregon Ducks and Louisville Cardinals would remain the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in that bracket respectively.

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Whatever happens, it’s clear the Tennessee Lady Vols need to start winning. Going on the road in the first round with a team that returned a ton of freshman talent would be embarrassing for Holly Warlick. At 12-4 overall and 1-3 in the SEC, they need to get back on track quickly. It starts on the road against the Alabama Crimson Tide and then follows with a four-game home stand, which includes three mediocre or bad teams and one huge opportunity against the top-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.