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A busy Saturday in college basketball went pretty much according to plan: The evidence is that 16 of 17 games with a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll were won by the favorite.
The one exception was Tennessee against Kentucky.
The Vols trailed by as many as 20 points before losing 66-54 to the unranked Wildcats, who completed a regular season sweep of UT in front of a large crowd at Rupp Arena. Again, Tennessee struggled to generate offense. The Vols shot just 37.3% from the field, 22.2% from 3-point range, and 28.6% from the free throw line. It was the last lackluster performance that serves as a reminder that Tennessee is great enough defensively to beat Alabama, Kansas and Texas, but shaky enough offensively to lose to Colorado, Vanderbilt and Florida.
All of those things have happened this season.
It’s why Tennessee has one of the most comprehensive resumes in the sport. The Vols own wins over schools ranked second (Alabama), third (Kansas), and sixth (Texas) in the updated CBS Sports Top 25 and 1 Sunday morning college basketball daily, but are only 3-4 in quadrant-2 opportunities . They are literally the only top 40 team on the NET that is under .500 in Quadrant 2 games.
So what does all this mean?
Meaning, it’s not hard to imagine Tennessee advancing to the Final Four of the 2023 NCAA Tournament or losing in the first round to a lower-seeded team. Anything and everything looks on the table for the Vols, who drop to 16th in the Top 25 and 1 with a game at Texas A&M scheduled for Tuesday.
Top 25 and 1 ranking
In: CU | Out: Pitt
