Who Tennessee Volunteers Need to Win to Earn Top Seed in March Madness Bracket

Who the Tennessee Volunteers need to win on Saturday to earn a top seed in the March Madness Bracket.

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes chats with his team during a men’s college basketball game between Tennessee and Vanderbilt at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. / Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Who the Tennessee Volunteers need to win on Saturday to earn a top seed in the March Madness Bracket.

The college basketball regular season is wrapping up this weekend and the Tennessee Volunteers have a game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Volunteers fell to Ole Miss earlier in the week, which right now has them projected as a two-seed for March Madness. So who should Tennessee be rooting for today to earn the top seed back?

ESPN's Joe Lunardi released his latest March Madness predictions and he had Auburn, Florida, Duke and Houston projected as the one seeds. Tennessee is right behind those teams in the two-seed group, so if a few things fall their way this weekend, they could earn that top seed right back.

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— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 8, 2025

Obviously Tennessee needs to first win their matchup vs South Carolina. The Gamecocks have been playing spoiler as of late with wins against Arkansas and Texas, both of which are bubble teams right now.

Duke and Auburn are virtual locks to earn a top seed for the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils hold a 27-3 record right now and play their arch-rival North Carolina. A loss could potentially help the Volunteers, but it likely wouldn't be enough.

Auburn plays No. 7 Alabama but the Tigers are the No. 1 team in the country right now with a 27-3 record. A loss against another top-10 team likely wouldn't push them out of the top seed.

The two teams Tennessee needs to be paying attention to today are Florida and Houston. The Gators play Ole Miss, the same team the Volunteers lost to earlier this week. The Volunteers split the regular season series against the Gators, but if Florida also loses to the Rebels, perhaps their positioning gets swapped.

Houston is the likely team that would help Tennessee the most. They are ranked right ahead of Tennessee in Lunardi's rankings and they are matched up against Baylor on the road. Baylor is ranked 6th in the Big 12 which will make the Cougars' path to a win even more difficult on Saturday. A Tennessee win and a Houston loss could be the scenario that helps the Volunteers the most.

Conference tournaments will occur after the regular season and that will also provide teams with opportunities to help their positioning in the NCAA tournament. However, if Tennessee can slide back into being projected as a one-seed ahead of the SEC tournament, that would certainly be ideal.

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