NCAA Tournament 2021: Tennessee basketball’s five toughest matchups in Midwest Region
No. 1 seed
Not to be cliche, but the Illinois Fighting Illini would be the toughest team for Tennessee basketball to face in the NCAA Tournament. As the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region, it does come down to talent alone for these guys.
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Brad Underwood has truly built an elite program in his fourth year on the job. After a two-game losing streak in January, Illinois won 14 of its final 15 games en route to the Big Ten Tournament Championship. Ranked No. 2 in both polls, they could be playing the best basketball of anybody right now after that tournament run.
Illinois and UT would face each other in the Sweet 16 if they met. Although they don’t take or make many three-pointers, they are highly efficient at it, shooting 37.6 percent from beyond the arc, good for 30th in the nation.
That is one matchup problem for the Vols if they are struggling. Another, though, is that they neutralized UT’s advantage inside. Illinois is unstoppable with 7-footer Kofi Cockburn under the basket, and Ayo Dosounmu may be the best pure backcourt scorer in the tournament. Trent Frazier, meanwhile, is deadly from outside.
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Altogether, Illinois is a complete team that dominates inside, has a scoring guard for when everything breaks down and has enough shooters to stretch the floor. The best bet to beat them is to turn up the tempo, but the Vols haven’t been great at that this year. As a result, this is a team they want to avoid in the NCAA Tournament.