ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has unveiled his latest bracket for February 23, and there are now two SEC teams hovering around the NCAA tournament bubble.
After Vanderbilt’s 67-56 win over Tennessee on Wednesday, the Commodores have jumped into the first team on Lunardi’s “Next Four Out” line. Meanwhile, the Vols fell to the last team in the “First Four Out” line.
Bryce Drew’s squad has now won three straight games after suffering a head-scratching blowout loss at Missouri, while Tennessee has lost three of four.
Vandy jumped up a few spots to No. 47 in today’s RPI, and the Vols took a big fall from No. 50 to No. 64.
Blake’s Analysis:
I’ve said all along that winning is the golden rule for success when you’re on the bubble. The Commodores took a step forward with the win at Tennessee, but there’s still plenty of work left to do.
Vandy’s numbers look great. It has a strong RPI and strength of schedule, and there’s also several quality wins on the tournament resume.
However, the Commodores’ overall record (15-13) and that loss to Missouri (by 20) will stick out like a sore thumb. That’s why winning as many as possible to finish the regular season and grabbing another win in the SEC tournament would certainly be the best bet in terms of Vandy making the NCAA tournament.
Should Drew’s team beat Mississippi State on Saturday, that would leave the Commodores in a situation of likely needing to find a win in the final two games.
The opponents? Kentucky and Florida.
Winning both seems unlikely, but winning just one (plus the Mississippi State win) would put Vandy in decent shape.
As for Tennessee, the Vols are far from out of the picture. The huge drop in the RPI wasn’t ideal, but Tennessee’s schedule is more lenient than Vandy’s.
Rick Barnes and his team will hit the road for games against South Carolina and LSU before returning home to play Alabama.
Again, you can dissect numbers and millions of possible scenarios. But always remember the golden rule:
Just win games.