Tennessee Vols' win over Auburn didn't move the needle much with ESPN's Joe Lunardi
The Tennessee Vols and Auburn Tigers put on an incredible show on Wednesday night for the country. In what was largely a back-and-forth game until the final minutes, #4 Tennessee prevailed 92-84 over #11 Auburn. With a little over 12 minutes left, it appeared that Auburn was beginning to exert its will, pulling ahead 63-55. […]
The Tennessee Vols and Auburn Tigers put on an incredible show on Wednesday night for the country. In what was largely a back-and-forth game until the final minutes, #4 Tennessee prevailed 92-84 over #11 Auburn.
With a little over 12 minutes left, it appeared that Auburn was beginning to exert its will, pulling ahead 63-55. However, that was when Dalton Knecht stepped up and turned in an otherworldly performance, outscoring the Tigers 25-21 the rest of the way.
It was a massive win for the Vols' resume, as the Tigers are in contention for a four seed or better in the NCAA tournament.
However, the win apparently didn't move the needle much for ESPN's Joe Lunardi. The ESPN "bracketologist" posted his bracket update after Tennessee's win, and he still had the Vols outside of a 1 seed.
For those wondering who Arizona faced, they defeated a 14-15 Arizona State team on Wednesday night 85-67.
The NCAA shifted from RPI to NET ranking in determining seeds several years ago, and a look at those rankings on Thursday shows Arizona – who appears to be Tennessee's biggest obstacle to a top seed – at #3 with an 8-3 record in Quad 1 games. Tennessee is #5 with a 5-5 Quad 1 record. It's also worth noting that Arizona has a Quad 3 loss, of which Tennessee has none.
It's also worth noting that Auburn is #7, which makes Tennessee's win all the more impressive. It's even further worth mentioning that Tennessee has a 12-3 record in the SEC, which is a far better conference this season than the PAC-12. The SEC could have as many as seven or eight teams in the tournament this year, while the PAC-12 could end up with two.
Yes, it's early. And yes, there are some very tough games to focus on ahead for Tennessee. However, it goes to show that some folks plugged into the bracket still are in need of convincing.
As such, Tennessee needs to keep on racking up resume-building wins as the regular season comes to a close. They'll apparently need every one to persuade some folks, it appears.
Dalton Knecht just had a performance for the ages in Tennessee’s 92-84 win over Auburn
An incredible run from the Vols’ star sealed the win for Tennessee
