Tennessee basketball falling out of top four seed in first bracketology predictions of January 2022
Last week’s loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide was forgivable given the fact that Tennessee basketball didn’t have its best player in Kennedy Chandler and its most experienced player in John Fulkerson. However, it did a number on the Vols in terms of where they are looking right now when it comes to NCAA Tournament projections.
UT is No. 18 in both polls, which represents a four-spot drop in the AP Poll and a three-spot drop in the Coaches Poll. At 9-3 and 0-1 in SEC play, they are behind the Auburn Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats in both polls and behind Alabama in the Coaches Poll.
When it comes to the most important metric used for March Madness, the NCAA NET Rankings, Tennessee basketball is looking much better, coming in at No. 9. However, they’re down at No. 40 in the RealTime RPI thanks to the No. 38 ranked strength of schedule.
This wide of a range in the key rankings did not make for a wide range in their bracketology standings. The first set of predictions made with conference play underway has them hovering right where they don’t want to be, mostly at a five-seed.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has UT as a No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region, where the Iowa State Cyclones are the No. 1 seed. In this scenario, UT would face the winner of a play-in game between the San Diego State Aztecs and the Murray State Racers in the first round.
Mike DeCourcy of Fox Sports also has Rocky Top as a No. 5 seed. His bracket has them facing the Chattanooga Mocs in the first round in the East Region, where the Duke Blue Devils would be the No. 1 seed, which would be interesting.
On College Sports Madness, the Vols are once again a No. 5 seed in a region where they would face an in-state a opponent in the first round and Duke is the No. 1 seed. In this scenario, they are facing the Belmont Bruins in the first round.
In spite of all of these outlets having UT as a No. 5 seed, Joe Lunardi of ESPN is giving them a bit more respect. He has them as a No. 4 seed, not dropping at all from last week, and playing the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in the first round. They are in the Midwest Region in his bracket with the Kansas Jayhawks as the No. 1 seed.
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It’s hard to know exactly where Tennessee basketball is trending right now, but everybody should feel safe throwing out what happened last week. Rick Barnes’ kids will likely get back on track soon enough, and this is obviously a long SEC season, so watch out.