The Tennessee Volunteers picked up a massive road win on Saturday, topping the Texas A&M Aggies 77-69 in College Station. The win moved the Vols to 22-5 overall and 9-5 in the SEC.
That latter record is key, because it puts the Vols in a nice spot with just four games to play: fourth place in the SEC. Tennessee currently sits in control of its own destiny for a double bye in the SEC tournament, which is reserved only for the top four seeds.
Here’s how the top of the standings look:
1) Auburn: 13-1
2) Florida: 11-3
3) Alabama: 11-3
4) Tennessee: 9-5
5) Texas A&M: 9-5
6) Missouri: 9-5
7) Ole Miss: 8-6
8) Kentucky: 7-7
9) Mississippi State: 7-7
Tennessee has the same conference record as the Aggies and Tigers, but the Vols get the nod by virtue of head-to-head wins over both teams. Tennessee knocked off Missouri 85-81 on February 5.
Naturally, that begs the question of whether Tennessee can hold onto that spot. The road ahead has some challenges but is manageable. Tennessee pays at LSU on Tuesday, then hosts Alabama in a massive game on Saturday that has seeding consequences both in the SEC and NCAA tournaments. After Bama, Tennessee travels to Ole Miss midweek before finishing at home against last place South Carolina.
Texas A&M’s schedule is flat-out gross the next two weeks. The Aggies face Vandy at home on Wednesday before back-to-back games against the top two teams in the polls in Florida and Auburn. They finish at LSU.
Missouri hosts South Carolina before having back-to-back road games against Vandy and Oklahoma. They finish at home against Kentucky on March 8.
In short, Tennessee controls its destiny to that coveted double bye. And if both A&M and Missouri lose one more game, that would give the Vols a game to play with as well – provided that loss isn’t to Ole Miss who wins out from here (not likely with Florida and Auburn on their schedule as well).
Got all that? In short, just win, and the Vols won’t have to play until the quarterfinals on Friday, March 14. That wouldn’t be a bad spot to be in.