Tonight, Tennessee will learn its round one matchup as SMU and Miami (OH) will take the court in the First Four in Dayton to decide who gets to travel to Philadelphia to play the Vols. Both teams had completely different regular seasons. Miami went undefeated in the MAC, going 31-0, but lost to UMass in the MAC tournament, finishing 31-1. SMU, on the other hand, went 20-13 and has lost five of its last six games, in a difficult ACC heading into March Madness.
3 reasons why Tennessee basketball could make a Final Four run
Both teams are completely different, and if I'm Rick Barnes and the Tennessee basketball team, I want to play SMU, and here's why.
Why Tennessee should want to play agasint SMU
SMU’s best player, Boopie Miller, scores just under 20 points a night. He is a bonfied star and an electric player, so the Vols will have their hands full trying to make life hard for him all 40 minutes. The Mustangs are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the nation, but that's something that Tennessee should be able to use to its advantage. Tennessee defends the three-point line very well, and it will be a game where they force a lot of SMU mid-range shots. Defense typically travels in March, but jump shooting doesn't always. SMU also struggles against good offensive rebounding teams, which is Tennessee's bread and butter.
On the other hand, the matchup between Tennessee and Miami (OH) RedHawks men's basketball is less appealing. The RedHawks play a high-variance style of basketball. They rarely run set plays, which makes them difficult to prepare for. Coach Kevin Steele has his players running a free-flowing offense that converts at 65% at the rim, and they take a lot of threes, adding even more variability. As I said above, jump shooting doesn't always travel, but Miami can back it up with their ability to score at the basket. The Redhawks also crash the defensive boards hard, playing against the Vols' strengths.
Not to mention, the game is in Philadelphia, which isn’t a huge travel burden for Miami (OH) fans. If the game is close in the final 10 minutes, the crowd could easily turn against Tennessee. SMU might be the better team than Miami, but I just don't like the extra variance that Miami brings compared to SMU.