Selection Sunday has come and gone, and we now know when and where each team is playing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
At first glance, it seems like the Tennessee Volunteers got a fine draw. The Vols are the No. 6 seed in the Midwest and would have a winnable game against the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers in the Round of 32. As a six seed, the Vols are playing the winner of a play-in game between Miami (OH) and SMU for the 11 seed.
This, right here, is where the worries start to creep in. If
you’ve been watching Tennessee basketball over the last decade, you know the Vols have stumbled against low-ranked teams in the tournament multiple times.
Since 2018, the Vols have lost to: No. 11 Loyola-Chicago, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 11 Michigan, and No. 9 Florida Atlantic. All of those games were major upsets, too, as the Vols were at least a No. 5 seed for every matchup.
As a result, nobody would blame you if you’re hesitant to play an 11 seed in the first round. That’s especially true when that 11 seed just did something that’s only been done a handful of times in NCAA history.
Miami became just the third team to ever enter the conference tournament with a 31-0 record, joining 2013-14 Wichita State and 2014-15 Kentucky. The Redhawks didn’t suffer their first loss until the MAC Tournament against the UMass Minutemen.
As a result of that loss, the Redhawks find themselves in a play-in game and likely feel more motivated than ever. If the Redhawks get by SMU, they will want nothing more than to knock off a power conference team like Tennessee.
Of course, this is a different roster than those Tennessee teams that lost to those lower-seeded teams. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel eerily similar to years past, where we’ve been subjected to seeing miracle runs from Loyola-Chicago, Florida Atlantic, and Oregon State.
