The Tennessee Volunteers basketball squad received a strong message from former head coach Bruce Pearl. The Auburn Tigers had just been defeated by the Vols, and Pearl revealed his immediate reaction to Tennessee securing a spot in the SEC title game. 

Pearl coached the Vols for six seasons from 2005 to 2011. Tennessee made six straight NCAA Tournaments during Pearl's tenure. Pearl labeled Tennessee as a "great team" heading into March Madness. 

Well, I want to start off by congratulating Tennessee and their team and their coaching staff, their program for advancing to the championship game of our tournament," Pearl told reporters on Saturday. "Tennessee is a great team. They play the right way and they're worthy of defeating us."

Pearl went on to make the case for Auburn still being one of the four No. 1 seeds despite not winning the SEC Tournament. It remains to be seen if winning the SEC tourney would be enough to catapult the Vols up from being a No 2 seed to the No. 1 slot. 

ESPN's Joe Lunardi projects Auburn will still be the No. 1 seed in the South Region despite the loss to the Vols. The bracketologist still has Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region. 

Heading into Selection Sunday, Tennessee is hoping that a win over the Florida Gators for the SEC title belt could be enough for the Vols to grab one of the No. 1 seeds.