The Tennessee Vols and Auburn Tigers put on an incredible show on Wednesday night for the country. In what was largely a back-and-forth game until the final minutes, #4 Tennessee prevailed 92-84 over #11 Auburn.
With a little over 12 minutes left, it appeared that Auburn was beginning to exert its will, pulling ahead 63-55. However, that was when Dalton Knecht stepped up and turned in an otherworldly performance, outscoring the Tigers 25-21 the rest of the way.
It was a massive win for the Vols’ resume, as the Tigers are in contention for a four seed or better in the NCAA tournament.
However, the win apparently didn’t move the needle much for ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. The ESPN “bracketologist” posted his bracket update after Tennessee’s win, and he still had the Vols outside of a 1 seed.
For those wondering who Arizona faced, they defeated a 14-15 Arizona State team on Wednesday night 85-67.
The NCAA shifted from RPI to NET ranking in determining seeds several years ago, and a look at those rankings on Thursday shows Arizona – who appears to be Tennessee’s biggest obstacle to a top seed – at #3 with an 8-3 record in Quad 1 games. Tennessee is #5 with a 5-5 Quad 1 record. It’s also worth noting that Arizona has a Quad 3 loss, of which Tennessee has none.
