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Tennessee Lady Vols earn No. 3 seed in NCAA Women’s Tournament

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Tennessee Volunteers fans get ready before a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Tennessee Volunteers fans get ready before a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Lady Volunteers earned a three-seed in the basketball NCAA Women’s Tournament. They will face the Liberty Flames in the first round.

After earning a No. 5 seed last year and suffering from a second round exit, the Tennessee Lady Vols are at least back to hosting the first weekend of the NCAA Women’s Tournament. Holly Warlick’s team earned a No. 3 seed in the Lexington region.

Tennessee is in the same region as the No. 1 seed Louisville Cardinals, the same team who eliminated them last year. However, to get to Louisville, they have a bit of a difficult road in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

It starts Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. E.T. when they face Liberty. Assuming they get past them, Tennessee will have to face the winner between the Oregon State Beavers and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. That game will come on Sunday. That’s a fairly easy road to the Sweet Sixteen.

Should they get past both games, their most likely opponent would be the No. 2 seed Baylor Bears in Lexington, Ky. in the Sweet Sixteen. Other potential opponents include the No. 15 seed Grambling Tigers, the No. 10 seed Northern Colorado Bears and the No. 7 seed Michigan Wolverines.

Of those teams, only Baylor is a legitimate threat. And by playing in Lexington, Tennessee will likely have a lot of fans following. That gives them a great shot at the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

And the Elite Eight is where they have their most difficult challenge. With this team, we’re not even thinking about a national title. They have no shot against the UConn Huskies, Mississippi State Bulldogs or even South Carolina Gamecocks.

However, they would like to end their Final Four drought. And Jaime Nared and Mercedes Russell would like to make one before they leave Knoxville. With the Elite Eight so attainable, it would then come down to Louisville.

After losing to them last year and the fact that they will face them in Kentucky this year, there’s no reason to believe Tennessee has a chance. However, after facing two of the four No. 1 seeds this year and losing to both, the Cardinals are the only No. 1 seed to believe they have a chance of beating.

UConn is the other No. 1 seed, and no reasonable person should think Tennessee has a chance in that one. So it comes down to Baylor and Louisville in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. If anybody else beats the Lady Vols, Warlick should lose her job on the spot.