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Tennessee basketball: 5 reasons Vols are a lock for the Final Four

By Billy Williford

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 09: Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the game at Talking Stick Resort Arena on December 9, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Volunteers defeated the Bulldogs 76-73. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 09: Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the game at Talking Stick Resort Arena on December 9, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Volunteers defeated the Bulldogs 76-73. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – MARCH 17: Jordan Bone #0 of the Tennessee Volunteers shoots the ball against the Auburn Tigers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – MARCH 17: Jordan Bone #0 of the Tennessee Volunteers shoots the ball against the Auburn Tigers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

No.2 – High EFG percentage

Sorry, if you’re bored. You may value eye test more, and well, I can’t disagree with you. However, I like the numbers. You can draw trends with numbers and numbers are usually always right. In fairness, the numbers did get Virginia wrong last season.

Staying with the metrics the next reason the Vols are a lock for the Final Four is a high effective field goal (EFG) percentage. Again, we are looking at the past 16 Final Four teams in our research, ten of those teams had an EFG% inside the top-50 in the country.

Michigan made it to the Championship game last season ranked 57th in EFG%, but the other three Final Four teams ranked inside the top-10.

How does that correlate with Tennessee?

The Vols rank 20th in the country with an EFG% of 55.3. If you dive into the numbers a little further, Grant Williams ranks 137th in the nation at 58.4 percent. Admiral Schofield isn’t too far behind Williams with a percentage of 54.7.

While neither player is eligible for a national ranking because of the lack of shots, Kyle Alexander and Jalen Johnson lead the Vols in EFG% with both players hovering around 64 percent.

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