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Tennessee Lady Vols an 8-seed in early 2020-21 bracketology

By Caleb Calhoun

Dec 1, 2020; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Lady Vols forward Jaiden McCoy (15) and guard Jessie Rennie (10) and forward Keyen Green (13) and guard Destiny Salary (2) and guard Rennia Davis (0) huddle during the second half against the East Tennessee State Lady Buccaneers at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 1, 2020; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Lady Vols forward Jaiden McCoy (15) and guard Jessie Rennie (10) and forward Keyen Green (13) and guard Destiny Salary (2) and guard Rennia Davis (0) huddle during the second half against the East Tennessee State Lady Buccaneers at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols are safely in Charlie Creme’s NCAA Tournament bracket.

Last year, the Tennessee Lady Vols were squarely on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament before the pandemic shut down postseason play. UT fans will never know if the women’s basketball Volunteers would have missed their first NCAA Tournament ever in 2021.

Early into this season, though, they appear comfortably in the tournament after beating the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers 87-47 and the ETSU Bucs 67-50 en route to a 2-0 start. However, it also depends on circumstances.

Charlie Creme of ESPN had the Tennessee Lady Vols as a No. 8 seed in his early March Madness bracketology. Given how the pandemic could potentially shorten this year’s tournament, he is doing a 48-team bracket and a 16-team bracket in addition to his 64-team bracket.

UT is in Region 2 of the 64-team bracket, facing the Florida State Seminoles in the opening round with the Stanford Cardinal as the No. 1 seed. In the 48-team bracket, they remain a No. 8 seed in the bracket with Stanford as the No. 1 seed but would face the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in the first round of the tournament.

Of course, what’s concerning for Rocky Top is if there is a 16-team tournament. At that point, they would indeed be left out. However, that’s a very unlikely scenario and will only happen if there truly are extreme circumstances next March.

What’s clear is that Kellie Harper’s second team is projected as a middle of the pack NCAA Tournament team at this point. College Sports Madness’ preseason bracketology had them as a No. 10 seed set to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in a bracket with the UConn Huskies as the No. 1 seed.

Early on this year, the Tennessee Lady Vols’ defense suggests they’ll be able to compete with some of the best this year. They’ll be able to move up these rankings soon enough, with two road games against the West Virginia Mountaineers and Texas Longhorns coming up.