Joe Lunardi has no answer for why Tennessee was passed over for No. 2 seed

Something was up all weekend long — it all seemed predetermined. Despite winning the SEC Tournament on Sunday afternoon and picking up a win over potential No. 1 seed Kentucky on Saturday, Tennessee stuck to the three-seed line when the bracket was announced.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his projection early on Sunday morning, placing Tennessee as a No. 3 seed while already assuming that the Volunteers would beat Texas A&M for the SEC title.

The writing was on the wall, and it all came true. Duke’s inferior resume got the No. 2 seed that Tennessee deserved, and we all know why. This coming after Duke lost to Virginia Tech in the ACC title game.

When pressed by Rece Davis on why, ESPN’s Lunardi didn’t really have an answer.

Kudos to Davis there for that questioning.

Let’s be real, it’s because Duke is Duke. Look at this resume and explain it — you can’t.

The ESPN broadcast was touting Tennessee as a potential No. 1 seed, yet we all knew deep down Tennessee would only be a three. Lunardi isn’t responsible for the end result here, but he clearly had some inside information as to why. His response was ridiculous too, claiming that the Sunday championship games don’t matter. Maybe that’s true, but as Davis noted, the Kentucky win on Saturday means nothing?

In the end, Tennessee got a pretty good draw. Big picture it shouldn’t matter, but it’s more about the principle.

Tennessee opens on Thursday with 14-seed Longwood. The winner will face the winner of (6) Colorado State vs. (11) Michigan.