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Tennessee Volunteers

ESPN predicts which team will take home the SEC Tournament crown

Derek Peterson

By Derek Peterson

Published:

ESPN will have the call when South Carolina hosts Tennessee on Wednesday in a game that looms enormously large over the SEC’s regular-season championship. The Worldwide Leader will also broadcast both of Alabama’s final two games on its flagship. The SEC title race, with two games to go, is coming down to the wire.

Tennessee (13-3 in league play) will face South Carolina (12-4) for the top spot before closing out with Kentucky at home. South Carolina has a road game at Mississippi State to close. Alabama (12-4) faces Florida on Tuesday before hosting Arkansas. The Tide are still in the picture, but after an 81-74 loss to UT last Saturday, they need a considerable amount of help.

As intriguing as the final week of the regular season promises to be, the SEC Tournament should be just as entertaining.

In a roundtable piece predicting the winner of every Division I conference tournament on Monday, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway, and Myron Medcalf all picked Tennessee to win the conference tournament. Medcalf wrote the following as justification for the pick:

“While the conversation about the “great” teams in college basketball this season has centered on Houston, UConn and Purdue, Tennessee has done enough in recent weeks to enter the chat. The Vols begin the final week of the regular season with an 8-1 record in nine games, a stretch that includes wins over Kentucky, Auburn and Alabama. And Dalton Knecht (20.6 PPG, 40.2% from the 3-point line) might be a lottery pick.”

The lone dissenter was Joe Lunardi, who tabbed the surging Kentucky Wildcats to win the tournament. He wrote the following on Big Blue:

“Color me captivated by Kentucky’s recent offensive explosion. Keep this up and the Wildcats might not lose another game. It also strikes me as the perfect “Why not us?” formula for postseason play. The SEC tourney would be my first choice as a ticket buyer, so I’m going with the best show in town.”

Saturday’s 111-102 victory over Arkansas was Kentucky’s third consecutive win and its second consecutive home game with at least 100 points. The offense has been impressive of late and, just as John Calipari predicted earlier this year, Kentucky is rounding into form as the postseason draws near.

With 6:56 to play on Saturday, Arkansas led by seven. Kentucky closed with five freshmen on the floor. And over those last seven minutes, Kentucky scored 30 points and hit 10 of its final 12 shots. The youngsters are growing.

“Good group,” Calipari said after the game. “I’m liking them.”

Related: College basketball is heating up and Kentucky is looking to make some noise in the postseason. Fans who want to get in on the action can do so with one of Saturday Down South’s top recommended Kentucky sports betting apps!

But Tennessee is exceptional. The Vols, winners of six straight, took the first meeting with Kentucky by double-digits. Against the rest of the SEC’s top six teams, Tennessee is 5-1. The only loss came by four points to South Carolina on Jan. 30. Knecht had 31 points in that game, but his teammates combined to shoot 10-of-34 (29%) from the field in the loss.

In the nine games since, Tennessee has been held under 80 points just twice. The usual brand of brawler defense deployed by Rick Barnes has been paired this year with a much stronger offense, and the Vols look like a legitimate Final Four contender as a result.

Winning the SEC Tournament title would almost assuredly secure UT a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Related: Tennessee fans, make sure you’re signed up with one of our top Tennessee sportsbooks so you don’t miss out on any of the action!

Derek Peterson

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.

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