Resume in brief
RECORD = 16-8, 7-3 Southeastern Conference.
POLLS = Unranked.
RPI = No. 18 (out of 343 teams).
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE = No. 3.
KEN POMEROY RANKING = No. 32.
Great wins (top 25 RPI)
No. 24 Marquette (neutral site)
Good wins (26-75 RPI)
No. 37 Georgetown (neutral site)
No. 31 Siena (neutral site)
No. 42 South Carolina
No. 45 Florida
OK losses (top 75 RPI)
No. 27 Gonzaga (neutral site)
at No. 34 Temple
at No. 12 Kansas
No. 27 Gonzaga
No. 59 Kentucky
No. 7 Memphis
No. 41 LSU
Bad losses (sub-75 RPI)
No. 93 Auburn
Terrible losses (sub-150 RPI)
(none)
Mediocre wins (sub-75 RPI)
No. 184 UTC
No. 125 UT-Martin
at No. 158 Middle Tennessee State
No. 203 UNC Asheville
No. 115 Belmont
No. 248 Louisiana-Lafayette
at No. 192 Georgia
at No. 100 Vanderbilt
at No. 120 Arkansas
No. 192 Georgia
No. 100 Vanderbilt
On the horizon
at No. 68 Ole Miss
at No. 59 Kentucky
No. 85 Mississippi State
at No. 45 Florida
at No. 42 South Carolina
No. 146 Alabama
SEC tournament
Bracket projections
Joe Lunardi, ESPN.com — No. 6 seed, Midwest Regional
Andy Glockner, SI.com — No. 8 seed, West Regional
Jeff Goodman, FoxSports.com — No. 9 seed, South Regional
Jerry Palm, CollegeRPI.com — No. 9 seed, East Regional (before last week’s two victories)
KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team has put itself in position to salvage a solid seed in this season’s NCAA tournament.
The Volunteers handled Southeastern Conference rivals Georgia and Vanderbilt last week, and those decisive victories helped bump their CollegeRPI.com Ratings Percentage Index spot to No. 18.
UT just completed its easiest stretch in conference play, and the Vols still stand No. 3 nationally in strength of schedule. That number shouldn’t dip much (if any) down the stretch, considering four of UT’s final six regular-season games come on the road against teams with RPIs of No. 68 or higher.
Statistically speaking, the Vols are being rewarded for playing tough opponents at home, on the road and at neutral sites this season. Their schedule strength is even more impressive, considering the SEC’s mediocre-at-best performance to this point.
UT is by no means an NCAA tournament lock, but I think a 3-3 finish would probably be enough. That would leave the Vols 19-11 (10-6 SEC), and that combined with a solid RPI and good nonconference wins would probably get it done. If they leave the SEC tournament with 20 or more wins, I’d be very surprised to see them on the bubble’s bad side.
Here’s this week’s “Bubble Breakdown” statistics. I’ll keep tweaking and adding to the figures on this list in the coming weeks, and I welcome readers’ suggestions.
All RPI rankings listed to the right come from realtimerpi.com.
Read Tuesday’s Times Free Press for more information.
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