Tennessee basketball: Kentucky win puts Vols back on NCAA Tournament track

With their upset win over the Kentucky Wildcats, Tennessee basketball is back on track for the NCAA Tournament. Here is how the Volunteers can reach it.

By no means are they in. But Tennessee basketball is now back on track to do what they needed to do to get into the NCAA Tournament conversation down the stretch of this season. And it came with the most unlikely upset in years.

Ahead of their first matchup at the Auburn Tigers, it was clear the Vols would need to win three of their final five games to be on the NCAA Tournament bubble entering the SEC Tournament. Winning two of five wouldn’t eliminate them, but it would mean they needed an impressive run in the SEC Tournament. If they won one or less, they would have to win that tournament.

The path for them was to beat the Florida Gators at home and Auburn at home at the end of the year. Then they would need to steal one at Auburn, at the Arkansas Razorbacks or at the Kentucky Wildcats. Of those, winning at Kentucky seemed most unlikely. But after blowing a 15-point lead at Auburn and getting blown out at Arkansas, it was their only option.

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Well, after holding off Florida, they did just that Tuesday. With the Wildcats ranked No. 6 in the nation, Tennessee basketball went to Rupp Arena and pulled off the shocker. They won by eight despite trailing by 17 in the second half. It’s hard to overstate just how shocking of an upset this was, but Rick Barnes once again found away to get the best of John Calipari.

Now, after losing the first two of these key five games, the Vols have won the next two. And with Auburn heading to town this weekend, they are ranked No. 54 in the RealTime RPI and actually projected to win that game. Auburn, by the way, is No. 3 in the RPI.

We should also point out that the Vols jumped 12 spots to No. 57 in the NET rankings, where Auburn is No. 28, and they are No. 51 in the ESPN BPI, where Auburn is No. 27. Simply put, they have worked their way onto the bubble with that Kentucky win, and they have their final game, a chance to get that key third win, at home this weekend.

Should that happen, the only thing the Vols will need to do is make sure they run the table against all lesser opponents in the SEC Tournament to stay on the bubble. Again, this doesn’t guarantee them an actual spot in the NCAA Tournament. It just means they have a clear path to being in the conversation when Selection Sunday arrives.

Now, at this point, they actually have some leverage to guarantee a spot in the tournament without winning the SEC Tournament. Beating Auburn this weekend and making it to Saturday of the next weekend, with a win over one of the top four teams in the league, should do that. It gives them two more quality wins and, at 17-13 right now, gets them to 20 on the year.