Tennessee basketball is the No. 4 seed in the 2025 SEC Tournament after beating South Carolina in the season finale. The win secured a double bye as a top-four seed in this year's tournament with a chance to play No. 1 Auburn with a quarterfinal win.
Since the revamped tournament format, the No. 4 seed has only won the conference tournament twice, but those two wins have come in the past six SEC Tournaments.
If Tennessee can stay on trend with 33% of No. 4 seeds since 2018 winning the tournament. Although two No. 4 seeds have won the past six SEC Tournaments, no other No. 4 seed has even made the championship since the 2012 format was introduced.
Since the tournament format changed, the Vols have been the No. 4 seed twice. They went 1-1 in the 2014 and 2021 SEC Tournament, losing in the semifinals to No. 1 Florida in 2014 and No. 1 Alabama in 2021.
Tennessee will also face another tough challenge of getting through the No. 1 seed in this year's tournament. If the Vols handle business in the quarterfinals against the winner of Texas A&M and Texas/Vanderbilt, they will likely have a date with No. 1 Auburn.
The Vols have a favorable path to winning the SEC Championship among the top four seeds. Tennessee will likely face a team they have already beaten in the quarterfinals, and despite Auburn's dominance, the Vols took them to their limit on the road.
The SEC Tournament begins on Wednesday with the first-round matchups before Tennessee begins its conference tournament run on Friday in the quarterfinals, with the tournament culminating on Sunday with the championship game.