Tennessee

Bracketology: Tracking Tennessee Basketball's Offseason Movement | Rocky Top Insider

Published

2 years ago

June 4, 2024

Bracketology: Tracking Tennessee Basketball's Offseason Movement | Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee signee Chaz Lanier. Photo via Chaz Lanier.

The college basketball world has made plenty of noise this offseason with prominent coaching changes, transfer portal activity, and final preparations for conference realignment heading into the 2024 season.

Coming off a run to the Elite Elite last season, Rick Barnes’ Tennessee Volunteers dealt with a significant amount of outgoing activity with the portal and graduation but hit a grand slam with four solid transfer players coming into the program.

Tennessee will now work to combine their returning and incoming pieces throughout the summer for another run to the second weekend of the postseason and potentially beyond.

ESPN expert Joe Lunardi released his latest Bracketology report on the final day of May without too many changes to his overall Tennessee projection throughout the offseason.

Lunardi has Tennessee projected as the four-seed in the East Region (Newark) with a first-round matchup against 13-seed Louisiana Tech. Tennessee then has a fascinating potential second-round matchup against SEC foe five-seed Texas if the Longhorns were to take down 12-seed Bradley in the first round.

The four-team pod is projected to be slated in Cleveland, Ohio.

Other notable projections for the East Region include back-to-back National Champion UConn as the one-seed, Iowa State as the two-seed, and North Carolina as the three-seed. SEC foe Mississippi State comes in as the seven-seed in the region while friend of Tennessee’s program Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans are projected as the eight-seed. Missouri is projected for a play-in game as the 11-seed in the East Region as well.

The SEC gained a team from the previous projections, too. The conference previously had 10 selections in the May 3 and May 15 projections but is up to 11 with the addition of Missouri as one of the last four teams in:

Midwest (Indianapolis): 2. Auburn, 5. Arkansas

West (San Francisco): 6. Texas A&M, 7. Kentucky, 9. Florida

South (Atlanta): 2. Alabama, 8. Ole Miss

East (Newark): 4. Tennessee, 5. Texas, 7. Mississippi State, 11. Missouri (play-in)

More from RTI: VFL John Fulkerson Celebrates Tennessee Long Ball in Knoxville

The May 31 edition of Lunardi’s March Madness projections is the fourth iteration that the ESPN expert has done so far this season.

Tennessee started out as a five-seed in Lunardi’s projection on April 16, just one day after the Vols’ first transfer portal pickup with Hofstra wing Darlinstone “DStone” Dubar.

By the time the next projection came out on May 3, Tennessee had picked up two more portal pieces with Ohio State center Felix Okpara and Charlotte forward Igor Milicic Jr. The Vols moved up to the four-seed line after their second and third portal pickups.

Tennessee remained as a four-seed with no additional added players before the May 15 bracketology report was released. The Vols did pick up an elite guard on May 24, though, adding the No. 11 prospect in the portal with North Florida guard Chaz Lanier.

Tennessee Bracketology Tracker

April 16: 5-seed West Region vs 12-seed Bradley

May 3: 4-seed West Region vs 13-seed Vermont

May 15: 4-seed South Region vs 13-seed High Point

May 31: 4-seed East Region vs 13-seed Louisiana Tech

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Tennessee

Memphis voters file federal lawsuit against new congressional map, claiming discrimination: ‘White control over Tennessee politics’

Published

3 hours ago

May 12, 2026

Press Room

Memphis voters file federal lawsuit against new congressional map, claiming discrimination: ‘White control over Tennessee politics’

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WSMV) – Three Memphis voters, through the American Civil Liberties Union, have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee leaders, claiming the state’s new congressional maps are discriminating against Black voters.

The ACLU announced the lawsuit on Monday, saying that three organizations — the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Equity Alliance, are also part of the lawsuit that was filed against Sec. of State Tre Hargett, Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins and several others.

“In May 2026, over the course of mere days, a White-dominated supermajority of the Tennessee General Assembly redrew Tennessee’s congressional map to crack the predominantly Black city of Memphis into three pieces and destroy the only district in which Black voters are able to elect representatives of their choice, shutting Black voters completely out of power in federal elections in Tennessee,” the filing states.

The ACLU and the other plaintiffs echo arguments made by Democrats while the maps were being debated during last week’s special session: “The cracking of Memphis unlawfully targeted Black voters.”

“The new plan carves through the center of Tennessee’s second largest city, dividing neighborhoods that have voted together for decades, splitting numerous counties and precincts, and cutting the Black population into thirds with suspect precision,” the lawsuit says. “The districts then run hundreds of miles east towards the Nashville suburbs, snaking through predominantly White and rural counties to dilute the voting power of now-divided Black Memphians.”

Gov. Bill Lee signed the new congressional map into law last week. The new map splits Shelby County, home of Memphis, into three districts.

Republicans have said the map modernizes the districting process and removes “racial data from the mapmaking process entirely.” Democrats, on the other hand, say that the move is meant to dismantle the Black-majority district.

Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R) told WSMV that Republicans “have been very clear” on their intention to secure a ninth Republican seat in the state. He has said the map would help “ensure the state’s representation in Washington reflects its conservative values.”

The lawsuit draws significant attention to the racial makeup of Tennessee lawmakers, describing, “White control over Tennessee politics.” Plaintiffs allege that a white majority “faction” of state leaders “gave bizarre, robotic answers to the most basic questions about the map they were sponsoring.”

“None of the sponsors of the plan would admit who actually drew it, and the lead Senate sponsor—a White legislator with over a decade of service in the Tennessee General Assembly who had attended law school in Memphis — would not say whether Memphis was predominantly Black and claimed not to know that Congressional District 9 was a majority- Black district,” the filing says.

They seem to be referencing Sen. John Stevens (R-Huntingdon), who was asked during the special session if he was aware that the majority of the residents in the ninth district are Black.

“I’m not aware,” he responded. “I know how the map is divided, but I don’t know the racial makeup of the map.”

Stevens got his juris doctorate from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

The three Memphis residents who took part in the lawsuit are Amber Sherman, a lifelong resident of Memphis and the lead Tennessee regional organizer for Black Voters Matter Fund, Rachael Spriggs, a Memphis resident for more than 20 years who is the director of Power Building for the Equity Alliance, and Kermit Moore, a nearly lifelong resident of Memphis who is the president of the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute.

The lawsuit claims intentional discrimination in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments, as well as retaliation for protected expression and association in violation of the First Amendment.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the newly drawn map is unconstitutional and restore district lines before primary elections proceed.

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Tennessee

New Tennessee law allows K9 officers to be transported by helicopter, ambulance to vet

Published

15 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

New Tennessee law allows K9 officers to be transported by helicopter, ambulance to vet

Tennessee State Senators Michele Reneau of Signal Mountain and Bo Watson of Hixson spoke today about the new law supporting police K-9’s.

The act allows injured dogs to get stabilization services on-site and then be transported via ambulance or helicopter to a vet hospital.

“In the past, officers were basically putting the k9 in their car and transporting them in their in their own vehicle, they didn’t have an ambulance or an air ambulance,” said Senator Watson. “This allows for an air ambulance. It also allows for a educational program for those in EMS, who will be taught how to manage canines emergency medical condition, which is different than a human’s.”

In April, Erlanger flew a K9 officer from Clay County, to North Carolina.

It was the first time the program was used for a live transport after several training runs.

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What You Need to Know About Tennessee Softball’s Path to Another WCWS | Rocky Top Insider

Published

1 day ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

What You Need to Know About Tennessee Softball’s Path to Another WCWS | Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee softball’s path back to the Women’s College World Series is set. On Sunday night, the Lady Vols were named the No. 7 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament and will host the regional stage in Knoxville as it looks to return to the WCWS in back-to-back seasons.

The Lady Vols are matched up with Virginia, Indiana and Northern Kentucky in the regionals. It would play Georgia, Clemson, UNC Greensboro or Charleston in the super regionals.

Ahead of the tournament, here’s a look at each team in the Knoxville Regional and potential matchups for the ensuing best-of-three super regional if Tennessee advances.