The Tennessee Volunteers turned some heads on Saturday night with their decisive 103-92 win over the Kentucky Wildcats in Rupp Arena.
However, they managed to turn one more very well-known head on Wednesday night during their 88-68 win over the LSU Tigers inside Thompson-Boling Arena. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi bumped the Vols up from a 2 seed to a 1 seed in his latest projected NCAA tournament bracket.
The Vols moved up as the fourth and final 1 seed, displacing the Arizona Wildcats, who fell to the top 2 seed. Lunardi notes in his comments that the Vols move up after their 20-point win over LSU. Interestingly, Arizona hasn’t lost since January 25, when they fell to unranked Oregon State 83-80.
The metrics absolutely support Tennessee’s inclusion as a top seed. According to WarrenNolan.com , Tennesse has an RPI of 5 and a strength of schedule of 3.
One area where the Vols could stand to get stronger to maintain that seed is picking up more quad 1 victories, which are defined as wins over teams ranked 1-30 in the RPI at home, ranked 1-50 at a neutral site, or ranked 1-75 on the road. Tennessee has a 4-4 mark in Quad 1 games, with a better 5-1 record in Quad 2 games.