Tennessee Bubble Watch - February 4

The Vols are in Starkville today (3:30 ET, SEC Network) where Mississippi State has lost four of five and the one win was Missouri. Three of those losses were on the road and the home loss was Kentucky, so maybe they should panic less, but the margins are getting wider: the Vols scored 44 points in the first 13 minutes of the second half en route to a 91-74 win in Knoxville, Alabama beat them by nine in Tuscaloosa, and Ole Miss showed no mercy in an 88-61 victory in Oxford. That’s dropped Mississippi State from a promising 12-4 (3-1) start to 13-8 (4-5), driving them outside the Top 100 in both KenPom and RPI.

As such, this wouldn’t be a good loss for Tennessee. The Vols enter February play 36th in RPI and 35th in KenPom. As I type early Saturday morning the most recent Bracket Matrix update was late Thursday night, where the Vols appeared in 38 of 96 brackets (roughly 40%) and were the third team out.

Life on the bubble in February means you watch your games but also keep an eye on your friends and neighbors. Just being in the conversation makes all of college basketball so much more interesting. Here’s what to watch today from the SEC and the bubble; all seed information is pulled from the Bracket Matrix:

• Seton Hall (first four out) at Georgetown (next four out) - 12:00 PM - Fox Sports 1
• Texas at TCU (11) - 1:00 PM - ESPN News
• Georgia at South Carolina - 2:00 PM - ESPN2
• Iowa State (9) at Kansas - 2:00 PM - ESPN
• Ole Miss at Vanderbilt - 3:00 PM - ESPNU
• Miami (11) at NC State - 3:00 PM - ACC Network/Watch ESPN
• Georgia Tech (10) at Wake Forest (first four out) - 3:00 PM - ACC Network/Watch ESPN
• Kansas State (10) at Baylor - 3:00 PM - ESPN News
• Tennessee (first four out) at Mississippi State - 3:30 PM - SEC Network
• VCU (9) at St. Bonaventure - 4:00 PM - CBS Sports Network
• Utah (next four out) at Stanford - 4:30 PM - Fox Sports 1
• Oklahoma State (11) at West Virginia - 5:00 PM - ESPNU
• Oklahoma at Texas Tech (next four out) - 7:00 PM - ESPNU
• Kentucky at Florida - 8:15 PM - ESPN
• Auburn at Alabama - 8:30 PM - SEC Network