Tennessee basketball bracketology: Vols inch closer to bubble

Despite Tennessee basketball losing to the Kansas Jayhawks, the Volunteers took a slight step forward in this week’s bracketology projections.

Could their be a win with a loss? That seems to be the case for Tennessee basketball, which is slowly moving up in different rankings and getting more love after falling on the road to the No. 3 ranked Kansas Jayhawks this past weekend.

At 12-7, Rocky Top has jumped to No. 55 in NET rankings, a seven-spot improvement over where it was this time last week. Meanwhile, the Vols moved up 10 spots to No. 42 in the BPI. They only jumped one spot to No. 59 in the RPI.

However, with the No. 45 ranked strength of schedule, the improvement is real. And their schedule strength resume is about to get better, as after they host the Texas A&M Aggies, they will visit the Alabama Crimson Tide and Mississippi State Bulldogs before hosting the Kentucky Wildcats and Arkansas Razorbacks. All four are top 60 RPI teams.

So where does this leave Tennessee basketball in bracketology projections? Well, after only being mentioned in one bracket last week, the Vols are mentioned in three this week. That’s a major jump just by playing Kansas.

Joe Lunardi of ESPN now has UT in his Next Four Out along with the Xavier Muskateers, Georgetown Hoyas and Virginia Cavaliers. Last week, he didn’t have them anywhere. To get in, they have to jump those teams along with his First Four Out, which include Alabama and Mississippi State along with the Rhode Island Rams and Virginia Tech Hokies.

Then they have to jump one of his Last Four In, which are the Michigan Wolverines, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Purdue Boilermakers and Oklahoma Sooners. This makes those upcoming games with Mississippi State and Alabama extremely crucial.

College Sports Madness, meanwhile, is still ignoring the Vols along with Mississippi State. Alabama is a First Eight Out team on that site, and there are only five teams from the SEC currently in the tournament.

Jerry Palm of CBS was the one guy last week showing the Vols some respect. He had them as a First Four out team. Unfortunately for Rick Barnes’ program, nothing changed this week, as they remain in that same spot, joining Xavier, Rhode Island and Michigan while Georgetown, the N.C. State Wolfpack, the Richmond Spiders and the Saint Louis Billikens are the Last Four In.

Finally, there’s fellow FanSided site Busting Brackets. There, UT is a Next Five Out team with Mississippi State, Xavier, Richmond and Virginia. Georgetown, N.C. State, the Memphis Tigers and Syracuse Orange are the First Four Out. The Vols would have to surpass all eight teams to get into the tournament.

Simply put, Tennessee basketball is not in the NCAA Tournament yet. But the Vols are rising, and the RPI final projections for them say they will finish with the No. 5 ranked strength of schedule. So there’s plenty of time to build their resume, and that’s about to come immediately.