Tennessee basketball’s loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday, paired with Wisconsin’s win over Illinois in the Big Tournament quarterfinals, dropped the Vols to a No. 6 seed in the latest ESPN Bracketology update from Joe Lunardi Friday night.
Wisconsin replaced Tennessee as the final team on the No. 5-seed line in Lunardi’s update on social media.
ESPN’s bracket projection earlier Friday night had Tennessee as the No. 5 seed in the West Region (San Jose) playing against No. 12 Yale in the first round in San Diego, opposite of No. 4 Virginia and No. 13 Utah Valley.
Vanderbilt moved up to the final No. 4 seed with the win over Tennessee, dropping Texas Tech to a No. 5 seed.
The sites for the first and second rounds of this year’s NCAA Tournament are Greenville, S.C., Oklahoma City, Portland, Tampa, Philadelphia, San Diego and St. Louis. The regional sites are Houston (South Region), San Jose, Calif. (West Region), Chicago (Midwest Region) and Washington DC (East Region).
The Fina Four will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Vols ranked No. 15 in KenPom, No. 20 in NET
Tennessee dropped two spots to No. 14 overall in the KenPom.com ratings after the loss to Vanderbilt. The Vols are No. 15 in adjusted defensive efficiency (95.2) and No. 35 in adjusted offensive efficiency (121.2).
Tennessee is No. 15 in the BartTorvik.com ratings while ranked No. 14 on defense and No. 33 on offense. EvanMiya.com has the Vols at No. 13 overall, ranked No. 14 on defense and No. 30 on offense.
Entering Saturday, the NET had Tennessee at No. 19 after dropping the Vols as low as No. 36 earlier this season. The Vols started at No. 13 in the first NET rankings update of the season.
| Quad 1: 6-10 | Quad 2: 7-1 | Quad 3: 2-0 | Quad 4: 7-0 |
| Houston (W) | Texas (W) | Rutgers (W) | Northern Ky. (W) |
| Louisville (W) | Texas A&M (W) | Ole Miss (W) | North Fla. (W) |
| Alabama (W) | Auburn (W) | Rice (W) | |
| Georgia (W) | at Miss. State (W) | Tenn. St. (W) | |
| Vanderbilt (W) | LSU (W) | Gardner-Webb (W) | |
| Auburn (W) | Oklahoma (W) | South Car. St. (W) | |
| Illinois (L) | South Carolina (W) | Mercer (W) | |
| Arkansas (L) | at Syracuse (L) | ||
| Florida (L) | |||
| Kansas (L) | |||
| Kentucky (L) | |||
| at Kentucky (L) | |||
| Missouri (L) | |||
| Alabama (L) | |||
| Vanderbilt (L) | |||
| Vanderbilt (L) |
Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament history under Rick Barnes
Tennessee has never been seeded lower than No. 5 during the Rick Barnes era. The fifth-seeded Tennessee team was upset by No. 12 Oregon State in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
The Vols are coming off back-to-back Elite Eight appearances as No. 2 seeds and were a No. 4 seed that advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2023. Tennessee lost as a No. 3 seed in 2022 to No. 11-seed Michigan and lost as a No. 3 seed in 2018 to No. 11 Loyola Chicago.
The 2018-19 team was a No. 2 seed before losing to No. 3 Purdue in overtime in the Sweet 16.