Tennessee basketball started the season 14-0 and claimed the No. 1 ranking in college basketball going into SEC play. Success has not been nearly as consistent since conference play started in January, but the Vols are still proving to be an elite team this year.
The Vols are 20-5 with a 7-5 conference record coming into college basketball's top-16 rankings release. This is college basketball's version of the College Football Playoff announcement and begins to set the stage for what the NCAA Tournament could look like in March.
Tennessee's consistent losses in conference play make it less likely that it will be able to secure a No. 1 seed in the tournament. While the losses are coming from top-25 teams, they are losses nonetheless.
As a result, Tennessee is likely looking at being a strong No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which is exactly where the NCAA Committee has the Vols in its first rankings release.
Tennessee is No. 5 in the NCAA Committee's first edition of the top 16 rankings. This moves Tennessee off the one-line, as the Vols were hoping to secure their first No. 1 seed in program history.
The ranking currently puts Tennessee as the second two seed in the conference, matching up with No. 1 seed Florida in the West Region.
This ranking follows similar bracketology predictions from ESPN's Joe Lunardi, who has Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the East Region. The Vols would match up with No. 1 seed Duke in that region.
Tennessee will look to bounce back from its loss to Kentucky earlier in the week with a win over in-state rival Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Vols are 12.5-point favorites at home, but we have learned that anything is possible in the SEC this season.