Eight days after losing to the Cinderella Kentucky Wildcats in the women’s basketball SEC Tournament semifinals, the Tennessee Lady Vols are now set to find out where they’ll be going in the NCAA Tournament in the women’s basketball Selection Sunday show Sunday. Will they host or will they not?
Kellie Harper’s team finished the regular season 23-8 overall and 11-5 in the SEC regular season, good for third in the league. That comes despite a litany of injuries all year. Those injuries have significantly lowered the expectations for this team in the tourney.
At one point, UT was 18-1, undefeated in the SEC, in the top five and a unanimous projected No. 1 seed. Now they find out how much they slid from there after losing five of their last seven. Here’s all you need to know about the Selection Sunday show Sunday that will reveal the 68-team NCAA Tournament field.
NCAA Selection Sunday
When: Sunday, March 13 at 8 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Live stream: WatchESPN
On the women’s side, the top 16 seeds host. The Lady Vols are right on the bubble for that. They are No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 17 in the Coaches Poll, which would suggests that they’re actually looking at a No. 5 seed.
However, in the analytical rankings, they are No. 8 in the RealTime RPI thanks to the No. 7 ranked strength of schedule and No. 18 in the NCAA NET Rankings. That suggests a No. 2 seed in one ranking and a No. 5 seed in all the others, but could that two-seed be enough to move them to a host team?
Perhaps the Selection Committee will give them a break with how hurt they’ve been. They played most of the first half of the season without preseason All-American Rae Burrell. Then they played most of the second half of the season without Keyen Green.
As if that didn’t hurt enough, Jordan Horston, who emerged as their best player, went down towards the end of the season and may return for the tournament, but it’s not clear. Oh, and they’ve played the whole year without Marta Suárez.
Simply put, it’s been a brutal year of luck for Harper’s team. They’re still going to the tournament, though. The big suspense for Selection Sunday will be whether or not they get to play the first weekend of games on Rocky Top.