All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee basketball: LSU’s remaining schedule doesn’t help the Vols in SEC title hunt

By Billy Williford

LEXINGTON, KY - FEBRUARY 12: Members of the LSU Tigers celebrate with Kavell Bigby-Williams #11 of the LSU Tigers after making the game winning tip-in against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on February 12, 2019 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KY - FEBRUARY 12: Members of the LSU Tigers celebrate with Kavell Bigby-Williams #11 of the LSU Tigers after making the game winning tip-in against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on February 12, 2019 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Tennessee basketball team is in a great position to win the SEC regular season title. However, LSU is looming, and ready to pounce.

Before you freak out, technically Tennessee basketball controls their own destiny.

All they need to do is keep winning, and for the first time in program history, they will be back-to-back regular season SEC champs. However, with LSU threatening, a loss or two may be enough for the Tigers to tout the trophy.

Both the win streak and conference record are current and can be improved

What a waste that would be for a Tennessee team that hasn’t lost since Thanksgiving weekend. A Tennessee team that set a program record 19 game win streak. And, a Tennessee team that was the first in program history to start SEC play 11-0.

In the end, all that matters is who is number one in April, yet being so great all season long and have it ripped away at the last moment would be such a Tennessee thing to do.

I should point out the final seven games of the season are absolutely brutal for the Vols. Six games are against current NCAA Tournament teams. Two of the matchups are on the road against Kentucky and LSU, who are second and third in the SEC standings.

If that wasn’t enough, LSU’s remaining schedule is a joke. In fact, they’ve lucked into good fortune when it comes to their SEC slate this season. They drew Arkansas, Texas A&M, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia twice.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the remaining seven games for the Vols and Tigers.

As you can see, LSU has a cakewalk to an SEC regular season championship. While the Vols play five tournament teams, including Kentucky twice.

With LSU only a game back and Kentucky just two behind the Vols, there are a couple of scenarios at play here.

Scenario A: Tennessee wins out, and LSU drops one game

In this case, Tennessee wins SEC championship. LSU would finish second in the standings with only two conference losses.

Scenario B: LSU wins out, Vols lose to LSU

In this scenario, we would have Co-regular season champs like last season. I for one think head-to-head matchups are important in a tie situation. But, Auburn beat Tennessee last season, and the Vols benefited from the tie.

Scenario C: LSU losses to Tennessee, Vols lose to Kentucky twice, Kentucky wins out

I honestly have no clue how this tie-breaker would work out, but all three teams would have two losses in league play.

LSU > Kentucky

Kentucky > Tennessee

Tennessee > LSU

I’m assuming again there would be some sort of a tie. I would imagine it would be between Kentucky and LSU, but that’s probably wrong.

Scenario D: Complete mayhem

South Carolina wins the SEC regular season championship.

Next. Vols top 30 players since 1998 national championship. dark

In all seriousness, it will be interesting to see how LSU and Tennessee navigate through their remaining schedules. Fellow site-expert, Caleb Calhoun wrote, all pressure is off of the Vols after the South Carolina win. And while that might be true to a degree, I believe the pressure just started.

Home/Vols Basketball