23. Tennessee (22-11)
When the Volunteers put everything together, this team can accomplish quite a lot. They completed a regular season that included impressive wins over Houston, Alabama, Louisville, Vanderbilt and several other teams of note. However, those losses stockpiled at times for Tennessee and that was especially evident in the end, losing three of their final four games in the regular season.
Fortunately, they avoided upset in their first SEC Tournament game, using a strong second half to win 72-62 over a desperate Auburn team. Nate Ament was the star of the show with 27 points and 8 rebounds to guide the Volunteers forward. Tennessee then fell again to their bitter rivals, falling 75-68 to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals. Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 21 points and Ament added a double-double but the Commodores got the best of them again.
Some recent shooting struggles haven’t helped matters. When the offense is on, Tennessee can hang with virtually any team and we’ve seen what a Rick Barnes-coached defense can accomplish just the same. We’ve also unfortunately seen this program susceptible to upset and the Volunteers know they’ll have a target on their back and some recent struggles to overcome. Can their offense get back over the hump?