The Tennessee Volunteers have never reached the NCAA tournament's Final Four in men's basketball, nor have they earned a No. 1 seed in what has grown into a 68-team extravaganza.
Obviously the Vols can't address the Final Four issue until tourney play begins in mid March, but they are definitely in the hunt for a regional top seed following Saturday night's 103-92 triumph at Kentucky. Purdue, Connecticut, Houston and North Carolina currently comprise the coveted top spots, according to longtime ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi, with Tennessee apparently first in line when it comes to knocking at the door.
"Tennessee firmly made its case for a No. 1 seed by racing past Kentucky at Rupp Arena," Lunardi said Sunday on ESPN.com. "The Vols' wire-to-wire victory certainly passed any possible 'eye test,' giving us five teams with legitimate top-line profiles. 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."
Tennessee lost 100-92 at North Carolina in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Nov. 29, with the Vols also having lost 71-67 to Purdue eight days earlier at the Maui Invitational. The Vols improved to 16-5 overall and to 6-2 in Southeastern Conference play with their third win in Lexington in the past five seasons, and up next is a home date with LSU (12-9, 4-4 SEC) on Wednesday night at 7 on the SEC Network.
The Vols are No. 6 in the latest Associated Press poll released Monday afternoon, which matches their standing in the KenPom and NET rankings.
Lunardi projected Tennessee as a No. 1 seed last season in late January, when the Vols bolted to an 18-3 record and had double-digit nonconference wins over Kansas and Texas, but they proceeded to lose five of their first seven games in February and eventually reached the Sweet 16 as the East Region's 4 seed.
The Vols were NCAA tournament 2 seeds in 2006 and 2008 under Bruce Pearl and again in 2019 under current coach Rick Barnes.
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Tony Vitello's Vols will have 12 of their 30 SEC baseball games televised this spring by either ESPN2, ESPNU or the SEC Network.
Tennessee begins league play March 15-17 at Alabama, with the Saturday game (noon) and the Sunday contest (2) shown on the SEC Network. The most anticipated series for the Vols inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium will be defending national champion LSU's visit April 12-14, and all three of those matchups will be televised.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.