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Tennessee Lady Vols Have Very Easy Path to Elite Eight in Women’s NCAA Tournament

By Caleb Calhoun

Mar 4, 2016; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers forward Bashaara Graves (12) and Tennessee Lady Volunteers guard/forward Jaime Nared (31) box out Texas A&M Aggies forward Anriel Howard (5) for the ball in the third quarter during the women
Mar 4, 2016; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers forward Bashaara Graves (12) and Tennessee Lady Volunteers guard/forward Jaime Nared (31) box out Texas A&M Aggies forward Anriel Howard (5) for the ball in the third quarter during the women /
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Despite a No. 7 seed in the women’s basketball NCAA Tournament, Holly Warlick and the Tennessee Lady Vols have a very easy path to the Elite Eight.

This may be a conspiracy by the NCAA Selection Committee. After all, they know that for the sake of television ratings and attendance, they need the Tennessee Lady Vols to remain in the NCAA Tournament as long as possible.

Related Story: 5 Things for Vols Men's Basketball to Address this Offseason

And at 19-13, it might have been hard to make a case for the Lady Vols as a No. 7 seed in the tournament and giving them the easiest road of any No. 7 seed.

But to be fair, they have also always rewarded teams for schedule strength, and that appears to be exactly what they did here. So, by hook or crook, the Lady Vols have an easy path to the Elite Eight all of a sudden.

Their first game is against the Green Bay Phoenix. This is a very solid and underrated team, but the Lady Vols should be good enough to pull off the win if they do not have one of their massive blunders that they have laid every now and then.

Following Green Bay, the No. 2 seed the Lady Vols would likely face are the Arizona State Sun Devils. This is a No. 2 seed that lost three of its last four games and lost by more than 20 to Oregon State, a team Tennessee beat on the road earlier in the year. There is no reason Tennessee cannot win this game, even if it is in Tempe.

Or Arizona State could lose and the Vols could face No. 15 seed New Mexico State. That would be a huge bonus.

If Tennessee can get past the first two rounds, as they easily should they would face one of four teams in the Sweet Sixteen: West Virginia, Ohio State, Buffalo, or Princeton. Struggling to beat No. 14 seed Buffalo or No. 11 seed Princeton would be embarrassing on its own. But they would likely face Ohio State or West Virginia.

Ohio State is the favorite as the No. 3 seed, and like Arizona State, they are reeling right now after losing three out of four. It is plausible that the Lady Vols could knock them off. West Virginia might just be the toughest match-up.

But they lost to Texas by 20 twice. Sure, Texas beat the Lady Vols by 11. But they were in that game, and West Virginia never challenged the Longhorns.

So the path is laid out for the Lady Vols to get to the Elite Eight. But that is likely where it falls apart.

Tennessee is stuck in the same bracket as South Carolina and A’ja Wilson. They would obviously have an almost impossible time beating that team.

But given the ups and downs and the embarrassments of the year, an Elite Eight finish would be something to celebrate for the Lady Vols. And with lots of talent coming back next year, maybe the program is in better shape than we thought.

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