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Selection Sunday bracket: Tennessee Vols a 2-seed in NCAA Tournament

By Caleb Calhoun

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 17: Bruce Pearl of the Auburn Tigers gives celebrates after 84-64 win over the Tennessee Volunteers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 17: Bruce Pearl of the Auburn Tigers gives celebrates after 84-64 win over the Tennessee Volunteers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Volunteers are a No. 2 seed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Selection Sunday revealed they would be in the South Region and face Colgate.

Hours after a blowout loss in the SEC Tournament championship to the Auburn Tigers, Selection Sunday revealed that it really did cost Tennessee basketball a No. 1 seed. They fell to a No. 2 seed, their third seeding that high in school history.

Rick Barnes’s team will face the No. 15 seed Colgate Raiders in Columbus, Ohio on Friday. The winner of that game will take on the winner between the No. 10 seed Iowa Hawkeyes and the No. 7 seed Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday.

The No. 1 seed in the South Region are the Virginia Cavaliers. Other notable teams in the bracket are the No. 3 seed Purdue Boilermakers, the No. 4 seed Kansas State Wildcats, the No. 5 seed Wisconsin Badgers, the No. 6 seed Villanova Wildcats, the No. 8 seed Ole Miss Rebels and the No. 9 seed Oklahoma Sooners. Meanwhile, the Oregon Ducks are a No. 12 seed.

Gardner Webb is the No. 16 seed, UC Irvine is a No. 13 seed, Old Dominion is a No. 14 seed and Saint Mary’s is a No. 11 seed. The Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games in the South Region will be played in Louisville, Ky., and the Final Four will be in Minneapolis, Minn.

Selection Sunday revealed that the other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament included the Duke Blue Devils, the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who lost to the Vols in December. Meanwhile, there were seven SEC teams, including Tennessee and Ole Miss. That also included the No. 7 seed Florida Gators, the No. 5 seed Auburn Tigers, the No. 5 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs, the No. 3 seed LSU Tigers and the No. 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats.

The only other two times the Tennessee Vols were a No. 2 seed, they made the second round in the 2006 NCAA Tournament before losing to the Wichita State Shockers, and they made the Sweet Sixteen in 2008 before losing to the Louisville Cardinals. That 2008 team was the last and only other team to reach a No. 1 ranking.

Last year, as a No. 3 seed, they lost to the eventual Final Four Cinderella team Loyola-Chicago off of a last-second shot. That came after Kyle Alexander had to sit out do to an injury, forcing John Fulkerson to play a bigger role than he was ready for.

This year, with a 28-5 record, the Vols will be looking to join that 2007-2008 team as the only other UT team to surpass the 30-win threshold. If they reach the Sweet Sixteen, they will do that, and reaching the Elite Eight will match their win total in 2008.

Next. 5 things a national title would mean for Vols. dark

Selection Sunday came on the heels of a very frustrating loss for the Vols, but it’s worth noting that the last time Rick Barnes had a team this hyped entering the NCAA Tournament was his 2002-2003 Texas Longhorns. They failed to win the Big 12 regular season or tournament title as well. But they then managed to make a Final Four appearance. So there’s some good news.

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