Lady Vols basketball took care of business last week and is holding its place in the projected top 16 seeds of the NCAA Tournament.
No. 16 Tennessee (19-6, 6-6 SEC) logged two straight wins over Auburn and Ole Miss last week. The Lady Vols finish a three-game homestand with a matchup against No. 20 Alabama (21-5, 8-4) at Food City Center on Thursday (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).
Here’s where Tennessee stands in the latest March Madness projections.
Lady Vols projected as a No. 3, No. 4 seed
ESPN’s Charlie Creme still has the Lady Vols as a No. 4 seed, where he moved them after they upset UConn. Creme has Tennessee as the No. 4 seed in Spokane 1, where UCLA is the No. 1 overall seed. Tennessee would play No. 13 seed FGCU and also host No. 5 seed West Virginia vs. No. 12 seed James Madison.
The Athletic’s Mark Schindler has the Lady Vols as a No. 3 seed in Spokane 1, which he has Notre Dame as the No. 1 overall seed in. Tennessee would play No. 14 seed Purdue-Fort Wayne and also host No. 6 seed Illinois and the winner of a play-in game for the No. 11 seed between Virginia Tech and Iowa State.
Tennessee ranked No. 16 in first in-season reveal
Tennessee was ranked No. 16 overall the NCAA Tournament committee’s first in-season reveal of the top 16 seeds Sunday. That slots the Lady Vols as the final No. 4 seed with hosting privileges.
UCLA was the No. 1 overall seed followed by South Carolina, Texas and Notre Dame. The top 10 seeds are rounded out by USC, LSU, UConn, NC State, TCU and Duke. The Lady Vols were in Spokane 1 with UCLA as the top seed, LSU as the No. 2 seed and Duke as the No. 3 seed.
Oklahoma, Ohio State and Kentucky were the other No. 4 seeds ahead of Tennessee. TCU, Duke, North Carolina and Kansas State were the No. 3 seeds.
Lady Vols basketball’s NCAA Tournament resume
The Lady Vols have two ranked wins in nonconference play against Iowa and UConn. They also have six wins over teams in the top 40 of the NCAA NET rankings – UConn, Ole Miss, Florida State, Iowa, Richmond and Mississippi State. All six of Tennessee’s losses are to teams ranked in the top 25 of the NET.
Tennessee stayed at No. 11 in the NCAA NET rankings after beating Ole Miss. It is 4-6 in Quad 1 games, 5-0 in Quad 2 games, 1-0 in Quad 3 and 9-0 in Quad 4. Five of the Lady Vols losses were to teams ranked in the top 10 at the time – Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina and LSU twice – and all of their losses were by single digits.
Tennessee is now 4-3 on the road with wins over Texas A&M, Arkansas, Missouri and Memphis and is 3-0 in neutral-site matchups with wins over Iowa, Richmond and Tulsa.
SPEAR: Why Jewel Spear could be reason Kim Caldwell, Lady Vols remain March Madness top 16 seeds
Lady Vols basketball’s NCAA Tournament history
The Lady Vols are the only program never to miss an NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee was a No. 6 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, which was its lowest seeding since being a No. 11 seed in 2019. The Lady Vols were a top-16 seed for three straight seasons from 2021-23. They were a No. 3 seed in 2021 and a No. 4 seed in 2022 and 2023.
Tennessee made back-to-back trips to the Sweet 16 in 2022 and 2023 for the first time since since 2015 and 2016. The Lady Vols bowed out in the second round last year, losing 79-72 to No. 3 seed NC State.
Tennessee has won eight NCAA championships and made 18 trips to the Final Four. All of those happened under coach Pat Summitt, and the last time it did either was in 2008.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on X @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee women’s basketball updated March Madness predictions
