We’re just days away from the 2026-27 college basketball season. To get things started at Tennessee, Lady Vols basketball is in action against Duquesne on Tuesday.

Prior to the actual games getting underway, ESPN’s Charlie Creme updated their bracketology for the final time this preseason. They have Tennessee up to an 8-seed, after previously being slotted as a 9-seed earlier this offseason.

Creme has the Lady Vols matching up with 9-seed Princeton in the first round. The winner of that game would then face 1-seed Duke, 16-seed Jacksonville or 16-seed Binghamton in the Round of 32. Those first two rounds would be played in Durham, North Carolina on the Blue Devils’ home floor. Duke is coached by LVFL Kara Lawson.

In the projection, the Lady Vols are in Region 4 – Las Vegas. This means if they can get back to the Sweet 16, it’d be a trip to Nevada for the next rounds. Other top seeds in the region are 2-seed Michigan, 3-seed Vanderbilt, 4-seed UCLA and 5-seed Illinois.

Tennessee is one of 10 SEC teams projected to make the tournament. This is tied with the second most of any conference, with the ACC and Big 12. The Big Ten is projected to have 13 teams in the field.

As an 8-seed, the Lady Vols are behind 1-seed South Carolina, 2-seed LSU, 3-seed Vanderbilt, 3-seed Texas, 4-seed Kentucky, 6-seed Oklahoma and 6-seed Ole Miss. 10-seed Mississippi State and 12-seed Florida are also in the projected field. Missouri, coached by LVFL Kellie Harper, and Georgia are in the first four out.