Tennessee has made the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season under Rick Barnes. The Vols, in the Midwest Region, will take on the winner of the First Four matchup between the Miami (OH) Redhawks and SMU Mustangs. The game will take place on Friday in Philadelphia in what will likely prove to be a very tough draw for the Vols. Miami (OH) was one of the biggest stories in all of college basketball this year, and SMU has knocked off solid teams, including Louisville and North Carolina.
Let's take a look at each team the Vols could play.
Tennessee vs. Miami (OH) matchup
I wrote about this earlier this week, but Miami is a nightmare matchup for the Vols. Despite being a mid-major, Miami rebounds hard and crashes the glass on defense. They run a free-flowing offense under Kevin Steele that doesn't run set plays, but rather a continuous motion offense. They are No. 6 in the country in effective field goal percentage on offense. They also are one of the best teams in the country in winning close matchups, as the Redhawks went 31-1 and won many games while facing adversity.
Tennessee vs. SMU matchup
SMU is the better match for Tennessee, in my opinion. They are a really good scoring team led by star Boopier Miller, who averages nearly 20 points a contest. The Mustangs are shooting 38.1% of their three-pointers (16th in the nation), and 45.1% of their mid-range chances (17th). They are No. 230 in the nation in defensive rebounding.
Potential Round of 32 matchup
Digging deeper, if the Vols were to win, they would take on the winner of Virginia and Wright State. Virginia would likely be the winner, barring a March Cinderella story. The Cavaliers are one of the best teams in the nation defensively. Virginia is allowing 47.7% shooting from near-proximity locations vs. an average opponent, the fourth-best in the nation.