Tennessee has a long week-plus ahead as Selection Monday nears. Following Friday's decisive 86-65 loss to Kentucky in the SEC tournament quarterfinals, the Lady Vols can do nothing but wait and see if they will continue to be the only program to have played in every women's NCAA tournament.
A win on Friday likely would have been enough to ease any anxiety. Instead, Tennessee never led in a game the Wildcats dominated from start to finish. That puts the Lady Vols' rather thin résumé in the hands of the NCAA women's basketball selection committee. An RPI of 63 and just one top-50 win often is not enough to secure an at-large bid, but a number of teams have similar or worse credentials this year.
Tennessee is the last team before the "Last Four In" in Saturday morning's Bracketology projection, meaning the Lady Vols are five teams removed from being out of the field. With so many non-Power 5 conference tournaments coming next week, their position in the field might not be safe.
The Atlantic Sun (Florida Gulf Coast), Summit (South Dakota), Mid-American (Central Michigan), West Coast (Gonzaga) and Ivy League (Princeton) are all conferences in which these league leaders will make the NCAA field regardless of whether they win the conference tournament. Bubble teams want these league leaders to prevail. If the league leaders fall short in Championship Week, then their conference goes from having one team make the NCAA tournament to two. That creates a shrinking bubble and would move the Lady Vols closer to the cut line.
Tennessee needs to hope the Eagles, Coyotes, Chippewas, Zags and Tigers all add conference tournament titles to their regular-season championships.
Some other notable takeaways from Friday's conference tournament games:
Upsets have already begun: If Friday was any kind of foreshadowing, Tennessee should be concerned. Northwestern (No. 3 seed in Portland Regional) and Iowa (No. 4 seed in Dallas Regional) were both taken down in the Big Ten tournament. While neither loses its spot in the top 16, the Wildcats' hopes for a No. 2 seed are gone, and the Hawkeyes could now be in danger of losing the right to host first- and second-round NCAA tournament games.
Texas A&M: The Aggies suffered a mild upset to Arkansas in the SEC tournament. And now, their chances of catching the likes of Oregon State, DePaul or Iowa for one of those last spots in the top 16 have disappeared.
The day's biggest movers: The Razorbacks -- with their 17-point comeback against Texas A&M -- jumped to a No. 7 seed. Ohio State, which took down Iowa convincingly in the Big Ten quarterfinals, also moved up a seed line, to a No. 6.
But Boston College was the biggest mover of all. The Eagles upset Duke in the ACC quarterfinals and went from the "Next Four Out" to the second team in the "First Four Out," just behind Bradley and two spots from the NCAA tournament field. Boston College still has work to do, but the Eagles have taken advantage of that same weak group of bubble teams to give their Saturday game against NC State great meaning.
Georgia Tech could not do that against the Wolfpack in the quarterfinals. As a result, the Yellow Jackets were the one team to fall out of the field after Friday's games.