NCAA Basketball: Duke, Arizona, Texas rise in latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
19. Tennessee (23-10)
If you listen to the metrics, they’ll tell you that Tennessee has the nation’s best defense, and that’s probably true. There’s a deeper story here for the Volunteers and it’s an unfortunate epic told in parts. They recently lost star Zakai Zeigler for the season and will certainly not be performing at the level we expected. Tennessee has also had significant shortcomings on offense this season that seem to pop up at the worst times.
The Volunteers also fell to the 5-seed in the SEC, meaning they narrowly missed on the double-bye. Their opening game in the SEC Tournament was relatively drama-free, earning a 70-55 win over Ole Miss, a team that actually pushed them to the limit back in December. Josiah-Jordan James had 20 points and 7 rebounds in the win. The following afternoon was far less successful, with the Volunteers falling 79-71 against Missouri in the quarterfinals, with their run ending far sooner than they expected. Missouri shot the ball really well while Santiago Vescovi led the Volunteers with his 17-point effort.
Losing Zeigler isn’t something that Tennessee can just shrug off and it’s going to affect them in the Big Dance. The fact of the matter is that the offense is playing somewhat better this past month but the defense has not been as elite. These Volunteers have been upset multiples times in recent years in the NCAA Tournament and will hope to avoid that same fate from either a 3 or 4 seed this time.