As the New Year and conference play quickly approaches, the picture for who's good and who's bad in college basketball is becoming much clearer.
Luckily for Tennessee, both it's men's and women's basketball programs are seemingly on the 'good' side of the aisle with neither losing a game to this point.
Here's where ESPN has both teams in their updated bracketology released on Christmas Eve.
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Vols: 1-seed (Midwest)
As the No. 1 team in the AP and Coaches Polls, the Vols are not the No. 1 overall seed in Joe Lunardi's projected bracket. Instead, that honor went to SEC-foe Auburn whose lone loss was at Duke — another projected 1-seed.
However, Lunardi does have Tennessee on the 1-seed line despite not being the top-ranked seed. He has the Vols traveling to Lexington, Kentucky for the first round where they'd host 16-seed Lamar. Then, the winner would get the winner between 8-seed Dayton and 9-seed San Diego State.
If Tennessee can reach a third-straight Sweet 16, it would travel to Indianapolis. This would be the first time the Vols played there since losing to Michigan in the Round of 32 in 2022. Likely opponents would be a rematch with 5-seed Purdue or an SEC contest with 4-seed Mississippi State who had Tennessee's number a year ago.
Other top seeds in the Vols' region are 2-seed Marquette and 3-seed Kansas.
Tennessee is one of 13 SEC teams in the field and tied for the highest seed of that bunch. This is the most of any conference represented.
Lady Vols: 4-seed (Region 4 Spokane)
In Kim Caldwell's first season, she has the Lady Vols on track to potentially host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Charlie Creme has Tennessee as a 4-seed in the Christmas Eve version of their bracketology.
This puts Tennessee in Knoxville to face 13-seed Florida Gulf Coast in the first round. The winner of that game would then get the winner between 5-seed NC State and 12-seed UTSA.
The Lady Vols would then travel to Spokane, Washington for the Sweet 16. The most likely opponent would be 1-seed USC.
Other top seeds in Tennessee's region are 2-seed Texas and 3-seed TCU.
The Lady Vols are one of 10 SEC schools in the field. This is tied for the second most with the ACC behind the Big Ten's 12.
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