Tennessee Vols will have to avoid a trend involving their seed in order to make a run in the NCAA Tournament

The Vols are in a spot where upsets have happened regularly over the last decade and a half.

Craig Smith — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer
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The Tennessee Vols are in a spot they’re not typically in as they head towards the start of the NCAA Tournament – below the 5 seed line. For the first time under Rick Barnes, the Vols head into the tourney as a 6 seed.

That means they’re matchup up for the first time under Barnes with the winner of a First Four game. In this case it will be either SMU or Miami (OH), who do battle on Wednesday night for the right to play Tennessee on Friday afternoon in the second round.

Texas already got by as the first 11 seed to win their play-in game to the tournament, defeating NC State 68-66 on a last second jumper by Tramon Mark. The Longhorns will face BYU on Thursday.

The Vols and Cougars will look to stop a trend that’s been notable over the last 14 years. Over that stretch, a First Four winner has gone on to win their next game in 12 of the last 14 tournaments.

Tennessee will have to avoid becoming victim to a First Four team springing a second-round upset

The First four also features two games involving 16 seeds, but naturally the real threat for a First Four team to pull off the upset is in the 6/11 game.

In the Vols’ case, neither SMU nor Miami (OH) is coming in exactly red hot, which is an odd thing to say about the RedHawks in particular at 31-1.

Despite finishing the regular season 31-0, Miami (OH) had some very close calls against iffy competition down the stretch. They won their last three conference games by two points each before losing their first MAC Tournament game to UMass. SMU is also limping into the tournament, having lost four of their last five contests.

But if Tennessee has a slow start or another low-scoring first half like we’ve seen from them lately against Vanderbilt and Auburn, they’ve more than capable of becoming the latest victim in the NCAA’s trend of First Four teams getting over on their second-round opponent.

Tennessee with face either the Mustangs or RedHawks on Friday afternoon at 4:25 pm ET in Philadelphia.

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