ESPN reseeds NCAA Tournament based on results so far; where do the Vols fall?
When the NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed last Sunday, it left a lot of Tennessee Vols fans unhappy. It wasn't that the Vols' path to the Final Four was terrible — there were certainly worse scenarios that could've played out for Tennessee — it was that UT was a No. 3 seed instead of a […]
When the NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed last Sunday, it left a lot of Tennessee Vols fans unhappy.
It wasn't that the Vols' path to the Final Four was terrible — there were certainly worse scenarios that could've played out for Tennessee — it was that UT was a No. 3 seed instead of a No. 2 seed.
The Vols had a significantly better resumé than the No. 2 seeded Duke Blue Devils. Tennessee also beat No. 2 seeded Kentucky (twice) and Auburn this season. And the Vols beat No. 1 seeded Arizona back in December.
There was really no explanation for why the Vols weren't a No. 2 seed, other than they're not a blue blood college basketball program.
After the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which included a Kentucky loss to Saint Peter's, ESPN "reseeded" the brackets.
And they have Tennessee as a No. 2 seed moving forward.
By halftime on Thursday, Tennessee had a 54-29 lead. The Vols magnified the notion, and the metrics, that have identified them as one of America's best teams over the last six weeks. They were aggressive on the perimeter against a Longwood squad that shot 38.3% from 3 this season — a top-10 mark — but only 32% on Thursday.
When Santiago Vescovi (18 points, seven assists), Kennedy Chandler (13 points, four steals) and Josiah-Jordan James (17 points, nine rebounds) all play in sync the way they did in this first-round game, Tennessee is a tough matchup for any team. Since Feb. 1, it ranks 18th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, per Barttorvik.com, and hasn't allowed a team to score at a rate of 100 points per 100 possessions since beating Texas A&M (113 points per 100 possessions). This is a balanced squad that goes into Saturday having won eight games in a row.
The Vols didn't do anything surprising against Longwood — they easily handled an inferior opponent as we all expected them to do.
There's absolutely no doubt that Tennessee was mis-seeded by the committee. But the good news is that it doesn't really matter that much. Sure, it was disrespectful to the Vols, but it doesn't change their odds of reaching the Final Four. As long as they play like they have been the last month, Tennessee has as good of a shot as any team to reach the Final Four and possibly play for a national championship.
Featured image via Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
