March Madness 2022: Tennessee Vols robbed with No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament

They finished second in the SEC regular season standings and then won the SEC Tournament Championship. That wasn’t enough for Tennessee basketball to get a top two seed in March Madness for 2022, though, as it was revealed in the NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday show.

Rick Barnes’ team, which won the tournament title by beating the Texas A&M Aggies earlier in the day, received a No. 3 seed in the South Region and will open things up against the No. 14 seed Big South Champion Longwood Lancers. The two will face off Thursday in Indianapolis.

Whichever team wins between UT and Longwood will then face the winner between the No. 6 seed Colorado State Rams and No. 11 seed Michigan Wolverines in the second round. The Arizona Wildcats, a team Rocky Top beat, are the No. 1 seed in this region.

At 26-7, it’s an absolute travesty that Tennessee basketball is a No. 3 seed. You could really call it March Madness. Kentucky has the same record as the Vols, finished behind them in the SEC regular season standings, lost to them in the SEC Tournament and lost the season series to them in a rubber match. Somehow, though, they got a No. 2 seed.

Auburn, who finished just one spot ahead of the Vols but lost to them in the regular season and also didn’t win the tournament, got a No. 2 seed as well with a 27-5 record. Meanwhile, the Duke Blue Devils, who finished 28-6, also got a No. 2 seed despite being below the Vols in every analytical ranking out there.

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Speaking of analytical rankings, UT is ranked No. 6 in the RealTime RPI and came into the day ranked No. 5 in the ESPN BPI and No. 8 in the NCAA NET Rankings. They are tied for second nationally in Quadrant 1 wins and lost no non-Quadrant 1 games.

UT beat Auburn and Arizona and went 2-1 against Kentucky, but all three teams are higher seeds than them. The disrespect is insane. In no universe does that resume warrant anything below a No. 2 seed. However, this can be motivation for Rick Barnes’ team.

Ironically, Rocky Top’s region has the Villanova Wildcats, a team that beat them, as the No. 2 seed. The Illinois Fighting Illini are the No. 4 seed. Joining Arizona as the No. 1 seed are the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Baylor Bears and Kansas Jayhawks.

Three of those four teams won their conference tournament, showing how the committee does place value on those. However, they gave the Vols absolutely no love, and it’s unfair for everybody involved. There’s no way Duke, Kentucky and Auburn all should have been ahead of them.

The only explanation is that the Selection Committee didn’t put too much emphasis on Sunday’s game. However, that’s another quality win, and the Vols’ win over Kentucky on Saturday should have been more than enough to warrant a No. 2 seed.

Again, a No. 1 seed should have been in the discussion. The SEC is loaded this year, and Tennessee basketball has been playing better than anybody in the league the past two months. Now they have the chance to embarrass the committee. Buckle up. March Madness is underway.