No. 5 Tennessee secured a very important win over No. 10 Kentucky inside of Rupp Arena on Saturday night.
The 103-92 win over the Cats allowed the Vols to avoid a winless week and maintain their status as a frontrunner to win the SEC Regular Season Championship. It also allowed them to continue to build their case for a No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
“The Vols’ wire-to-wire victory certainly passed any possible “eye test,” giving us five teams with legitimate top line profiles,” ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi wrote. “Tennessee firmly made its case for a No. 1 seed by racing past Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
“The knee-jerk reaction after Saturday would be to drop Houston and move Tennessee up, but that would be the wrong impulse and unlikely what the committee would do in similar circumstances. The Cougars still have the metrics and wins to sit behind only Purdue and UConn, leaving UNC and UT for the final spot. The Tar Heels’ slight edge is reinforced by a pre-conference win over the Vols. Kentucky, meanwhile, lost a chance to regain a top four seed while losing for the third time in four starts.”
Lunardi listed Tennessee as a two-seed in the tournament entering Saturday’s slate of games, and had them opening the Big Dance in Charlotte, N.C. against 15-seed Quinnipiac. The Vols would then face No. 7-seed Northwestern or No. 10-seed Providence if they advanced.
The long-time bracketologist moved Tennessee up to his projected No. 5 overall seed following its win over Kentucky. He lists Purdue, Connecticut, Houston and North Carolina as the No. 1 seeds.
The SEC currently projects to have eight teams make the field, which is the second-most of any conference. Lunardi has Alabama (3-seed), Auburn (4-seed), Kentucky (5-seed), South Carolina (6-seed), Ole Miss (8-seed), Mississippi State (9-seed) and Texas A&M (10-seed) making the tournament in addition to the Vols.
“The story for Tennessee the last few weeks has been Dalton Knecht, Dalton Knecht, Dalton Knecht,” ESPN College Basketball Insider Jeff Borzello added about the Vols. “The Northern Colorado transfer has been one of the best players in college basketball all season, but he’s taken his game to a new level in the past five games, averaging just under 32 points per game over that span. On Saturday in Lexington, though, Knecht cooled off, finishing with 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting. But the Volunteers showed they can win without him having a monster performance.
“Zakai Zeigler showed elite playmaking ability with 26 points and 13 assists, while Josiah-Jordan James went for 26 points. The team shot 12-for-30 from 3-point range and also scored 42 points in the paint. Knecht is the reason Tennessee has a dramatically improved offense this season — and he’ll likely be the catalyst if the Vols make a deep run in March — but putting up 103 points on the road at Kentucky without Knecht going off is a great sign for Rick Barnes’ side.”
Tennessee has never been a No. 1 seed. It was a No. 2 seed in 2006 and 2008 under Bruce Pearl, and in 2019 under Rick Barnes. UT is 5-3 all-time as a two-seed.
Under Barnes, the Vols have been a No. 2 seed once, a No. 3 seed twice, a No. 4 seed once and a No. 5 seed once. Barnes is 6-5 in the NCAA Tournament at Tennessee. This season will be the fourth straight March Madness that UT has participated in under Barnes.
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