Teams are battling it out in the midst of their respective conferences, and the smaller conferences are bidding for that automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
It's been somewhat of a down year for school from Tennessee, but there are some mid-majors that people should be keeping an eye on.
Here's a look at the current standing of the schools fighting for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee (14-7, 4-2 SEC): Meet your jekyll and hyde of the college basketball season. The same team that knocked out Villanova and Pittsburgh also has losses to the likes of Charlotte, Oakland, and College of Charleston. Take out those mysterious losses and you've got yourself a top ten ranking right now. Bruce Pearl is almost through his suspension and it looks like the Vols will make the NCAA Tournament with a respectable seed.
Big Wins: Villanova, Pitt. Big Losses: Charlotte, Charleston, Oakland
Projected Seed: 7
Vanderbilt (15-5, 3-3 SEC): The Achilles heel for the Commodores has been protecting leads, blowing late leads to the likes of South Carolina and Tennessee. What really helps Vandy right now is the fact that they really don't have an ugly loss outside of Arkansas this past weekend. They also are 3-1 against the AP Top 25 this season. Vandy really needs to get Andre Walker back to finish this season out strong, but they should be in the mix come March.
Big Wins: Marquette, St. Mary's. Big Losses: Arkansas, South Carolina
Projected Seed: 6
Memphis (16-5, 5-2 CUSA): The Tigers might have been the biggest frauds to start the season ranked. Their overall record might look solid, but they lack a quality win on their schedule. They've also struggled to beat the likes of Tennessee State, Austin Peay, and Arkansas State. This team is flirting with the possibility of missing the tournament all together if they don't start winning games in an impressive fashion. A big date with Gonzaga looms in the near future.
Big Wins: UAB. Big Losses: SMU, Marshall
Projected Seed: 12
Belmont (20-4, 12-1 A-Sun): If there's going to be a 2010 Butler team in this year's tournament, Belmont has to at least be mentioned in the conversation. To put it into perspective, Belmost beat Arkansas State by 33 points, the same Arkansas State team that had single-digit losses to Ole Miss and Memphis. There's no reason that Belmont couldn't run the table the rest of the way. They're four losses are to Tennessee twice, Vanderbilt, and arch-rival Lipscomb in a tough environment on the road. This team is dangerous.
Big Wins: None. Big Losses: Lipscomb
Projected seed: 14
Middle Tennessee (10-12, 5-4 Sun Belt): The Blue Raiders have to pretty much win their conference tournament to have any chance. Their overall record is abysmal, and they have too many bad losses to count on one hand. This team has potential, but they're still a few steps away from making the NCAA Tournament for the first team in 22 years.
Big Wins: North Texas. Big Losses: Evansville, Campbell, South Alabama
Projected Seed: None
Austin Peay (14-9, 8-3 OVC): Winning the OVC tournament is the only way the Governors will make the NCAA Tourney, but the probability of that happening is very high. The Governors don't really have any quality wins, but they took Memphis and Oakland to overtime. Remember, Oakland took down Tennessee in the early part of the season. I see the Governors winning their conference tournament only to get the honor of playing a team like Ohio State or Pittsburgh in the first round.
Big Wins: None. Big Losses: Tenn. State, Tenn. Tech
Projected Seed: 16
Take a minute to digest my take on the state of the Tennessee schools. There's still a lot of basketball to be played, and all of this could obviously change.
Out of all of these schools I see Vanderbilt having the potential to go the farthest. The reason I say this is because they've played everyone tough, and only have one ugly loss all season. I'm not counting out Tennessee from making some noise. They're pesky and have the ability to beat anyone in the country, but at the same time lose to almost anyone in the country.
