Bracketology 2023: USC, Seton Hall and Kentucky suffer big setbacks

Bracketology 2023: USC, Seton Hall and Kentucky suffer big setbacks this week

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 09: Kadary Richmond #0 of the Seton Hall Pirates is introduced before the first round of the Big East Basketball Tournament against the Georgetown Hoyas at Madison Square Garden on March 9, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

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Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi Bracketology Tennesseemissouri0211 1732 /

Tennessee Volunteers

The battle for the 1 seed is intense, with as many as 8 teams having a real case for it. One of them is Tennessee, which has wins over Kansas, Maryland, Texas, and Auburn. But losses to Colorado, Kentucky, and Florida do hurt a bit, though all three are Quad 2 games.

The problem was this past week, starting with a road battle at Vanderbilt. The Commodores are one of the worst teams in the league but have suddenly turned into a spoiler of sorts. They got a huge 66-65 win over the Vols, thanks to a buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Making matters worse, Tennessee ended up suffering the same kind of fate this weekend against Missouri. They trailed them early and often but were able to come back late to make it a game. Unfortunately, the Tigers ended up making a buzzer-beating 3 of its own as well, to get the 86-85 upset.

Those were both Quad 2 losses but in the battle of the 1 seeds, the loss to Vandy is considered a bad one for their resume and likely takes them out of the running. That being said, they have two chances to get back in the mix, taking on Alabama at home before facing Kentucky on the road this weekend.

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