Coach Rick Barnes' Vols maintain 4-seed projections

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes specks with forward Grant Williams (2) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Georgia in Athens, Ga., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. (Joshua L. Jones/Athens Banner-Herald via AP)
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes specks with forward Grant Williams (2) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Georgia in Athens, Ga., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. (Joshua L. Jones/Athens Banner-Herald via AP)

KNOXVILLE - NCAA tournament bracket prediction specialists around the country held steady on Tennessee in the latest wave of projections released Monday.

The Volunteers (19-7, 9-5 SEC) have lost two of their last three games but dropped just one spot from 18th to 19th in this week's Associated Press poll and were widely still viewed as a likely 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.

ESPN, NBC Sports and CBS Sports all projected Tennessee on Monday as a 4 opening in Boise, Idaho. The first weekend of the tournament is March 16-17. The Vols have at least five games remaining before that.

"You can talk about it all you want - you have to experience it," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Monday of his team, which has no players with NCAA tournament experience. "We're still one of the younger teams in the country, in a position no one thought they would be in."

Tennessee hosts Florida (17-10, 8-6) at Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday at 9 p.m. in a game with implications for seeding in another postseason event.

With four conference games remaining for SEC teams in the regular season's last two weeks, the Vols and Gators are among six teams fighting for four double-byes in the SEC tournament, which is March 7-11 in St. Louis.

Auburn is atop the league standings at 11-3 in SEC play, while Tennessee is alone in second at 9-5. Florida, Arkansas, Missouri and Alabama each is 8-6. A win over Tennessee on Wednesday would bring the Gators into a tie for second in the league standings and give them a tiebreaker over the Vols.

Florida coach Mike White has lamented his team's inconsistency this season. The Gators dropped two games by a combined six points to Georgia and Vanderbilt last week.

"It's the home stretch here," White said Monday on the SEC coaches' teleconference. "It's a grind in this league - a bunch of really good teams. I think all these for just about every team in our league are winnable, and they're all loseable at the same time."

The parity among SEC teams indicates Tennessee's path to a double-bye in the conference tournament will be a struggle.

Barnes talked Monday about the need for better play from leading scorer Grant Williams and the Vols need to rebound better. They built their identity this season as underdogs exceeding expectations. Now they find themselves projected as the highest seed in one of the NCAA tournament opening-round quadrants.

"They're in a position right now ... where they realize it's more difficult than you might think," said Barnes, who has been to 22 NCAA tournaments as a head coach. "You have great respect for those teams that year in and year out are at the top, because it's not easy. Again, this group is going through some things they've never, ever gone through."

Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.

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