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Tennessee basketball: Vols 5 toughest potential matchups in NCAA Tournament’s South Region

By Caleb Calhoun

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 09: Jordan Bone #0 (second from left) 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 Bone #0 (second from left) 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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Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images
Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images /

We already have empirical data that this is a tough matchup. The Ole Miss Rebels took Tennessee basketball to the wire in Oxford down the stretch of the season, and it took a heads up play by Admiral Schofield to draw a late charge in order for the Vols to hold on.

Should the Vols meet the Rebels in the NCAA Tournament, it won’t be until the Elite Eight. But if they do, it could be a very tough match-up once again. Kermit Davis’s defensive philosophy is one fans on Rocky Top are very familiar with due to what Donnie Tyndall ran.

Davis runs a complex 1-3-1 zone inspired by the half-court defense Rick Pitino ran for years. It’s an aggressive, attacking defense and involves a full-court press often times whenever there is a made basket. If you know anything about the Vols this year, they have struggled with full-court attacking defense.

That’s what Bruce Pearl and Will Wade both run, and three of the Vols’ losses came to those to coaches. A fourth came to the Kansas Jayhawks, who run a high-low motion offense. That’s the inspiration behind Davis’s zone motion offense as well.

So Davis has the perfect schemes to give a Rick Barnes-led team trouble. And that, shockingly, is what makes Ole Miss one of the tougher opponents in the South Region for the Vols to face. Luckily for them, Ole Miss isn’t likely to get far enough for the two to meet.

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