Joe Lunardi has the Vols on the one line.
The Tennessee Volunteers are the newest projected No. 1 seed in the land. Following Jahmai Mashack’s dramatic buzzer-beater to beat Alabama on Saturday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has moved the Vols to the one line.
Tennessee is joined by Auburn, Duke and Houston. Alabama and Florida have fallen to No. 2 seeds after their losses last week.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 2, 2025
It’s been well documented — Tennessee has never landed a No. 1 seed in program history. They have games at Ole Miss and against South Carolina standing in their way, along with a loaded SEC Tournament to follow.
But Alabama was the biggest task left on the schedule, and Tennessee found a way.
“I think today says a lot about our guys,” Rick Barnes said of Tennessee’s win on Saturday. “We weren’t perfect by any stretch of imagination. I thought we played hard. And again, I don’t ever want to take away anything from Alabama because they are incredible.
“But we fought. Again, without Zakai in the first half, it puts us in a little bit of, I think D-Stone coming in the game, his threes. Everybody made plays.”
Tennessee now has a full game lead for a No. 4 seed and a double-bye in the SEC Tournament. That development looms large with how deep that field will be. The movement might not be done there either, with Alabama hosting Florida and going to Auburn to close the season.
Tennessee somehow managed to drop a spot to Florida in the NCAA’s NET rankings, despite having four more Quad 1 wins than the Gators. Tennessee is 10-5 in that category, while Florida is just 6-4. Florida does have a chance to make a big statement at Alabama this week, but it will be hard to overcome that Georgia loss last week.
Selection Sunday is quickly approaching. Just 13 days from now we’ll have a bracket, with the official reveal coming on Sunday (March 16) evening at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.