As soon as Tennessee received its draw in the first round of the NCAA Tournament coming up this weekend, social media began buzzing with reactions. The Vols, as the four-seed in the east region, will take on 13-seed and Sun Belt Champion Louisiana in the first round coming up on Thursday.
What certainly added gas to the fire, though, was Tennessee’s potential second-round draw against five-seed Duke if both teams were to win their first game. The Blue Devils have won 12 of their last 14 games with nine straight wins, and just recently won the ACC Championship on a three-game winning streak against Pittsburgh, No. 14 Miami, and No. 13 Virginia.
Tennessee, meanwhile, has been trending in the opposite direction over that same 14-game stretch. The Vols have lost seven of their last 12 games but do have two recent wins against tournament teams in overall one-seed Alabama and Arkansas.
“They’ll lose the second game,” one user on Instagram commented to RTI regarding a potential Tennessee and Duke second-round matchup.
Four-seed Tennessee and 13-seed Louisiana will tip off at 9:40 p.m. ET on Thursday night from the Amway Center in Orlando, FL. The winner will face either five-seed Duke or 12-seed Oral Roberts on Saturday. CBS will have the television broadcast with Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, Dan Bonner, and Tracy Wolfson on the call.
Here’s a good look around the social media world on Sunday evening and Monday morning capturing some of the early and immediate reactions to the Tennessee-Louisiana draw in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
More from RTI: Tennessee Basketball Opens As Doubles Digits Favorites Against Louisiana
BREAKING: Tennessee is the 4-seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament. Vols will play in Orlando, FL. pic.twitter.com/oVyY6QA3v0
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) March 12, 2023
Man, tough draw for Tennessee.
Sun Belt Champion Louisiana and a potential Duke matchup in the 2nd round.
— Lucas Panzica (@lucaspanzica) March 12, 2023
Upsets I can see:
Furman over Virginia
Kennesaw over Xavier
Montana State over Kansas State
Kent over IndianaUpsets I can't see:
Louisiana over Tennessee
Oral Roberts over Duke
Colgate over Texas
Iona over Uconn(Interested to see which one of these happens)
— Chris Hatfield (@_ChrisHatfield) March 13, 2023
More from RTI: Tennessee NCAA Tournament Preview – A Quick Look At Louisiana
Hammering Louisiana +12.5 vs. Tennessee, and I’d suggest you do the same before it drops.
— Cooper Watson (@coopertwatson) March 12, 2023
Tennessee shipped to Orlando. Louisiana to start. A 4 seed and Duke would be the possible 5 in the round of 32. End of season hurt the Vols quite a bit.
— Joe Rexrode (@joerexrode) March 12, 2023
East Region quick thoughts
-BRUTAL draw for Purdue. Tough 2nd round, Duke waiting in Sweet Sixteen. Oof
-Duke-ORU gonna be FUN
-Marquette to Final 4. Calling it
-Bryce Hopkins revenge game!!!!
-I'm picking Louisiana over Tennessee— The Box and One (@TheBoxAndOne_) March 12, 2023
Me looking at my TV screen watching Tennessee lose to Louisiana at 12:10 in the morning pic.twitter.com/HFH7A2MH9f
— Julian Philips/ Gabriel Magalhaes Enthusiast (@carsonsniper) March 13, 2023
It’s a decent matchup for TN, I believe we will get some open looks from 3, and I don’t believe they have played a team that defends like we do. Confidence level is about 8.5/10 on 1st round matchup
— Cam_615 (@Cam_615Preps) March 13, 2023
Louisiana is 0-2 against the top 100 including a loss to Drake and a 28 point loss to Texas. We should be fine.
— The Vol Bros (@thevolbros) March 13, 2023
Hate that Kentucky is the 6 and elite 8 is in NC. Every ref , TV network , and others want a Kentucky/ Duke match up. Tennessee will need to hit 15 threes to have a shot. If they are not all fouled out that is.
— – (@MonteJr5) March 13, 2023
I wish I could get mad at Seth Davis for picking Tennessee to get upset but he’s probably right
— Shaq (@_YoungShaq20) March 12, 2023
Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis have called it.
CAJUNS UPSET TENNESSEE#GeauxCajuns https://t.co/G3N1HEs6Rt
— Chris Yandle, Ph.D. (@ChrisYandle) March 12, 2023
List of NCAA schools who earned a New Year’s Six bowl berth and top-four seeds in women’s AND men’s #MarchMadness during 2022-23 athletic year ⤵️
Tennessee 🍊 pic.twitter.com/LEib4DNIUa
— Bill Martin (@Bill_Martin) March 13, 2023
Some perspective for cranky Vol fans …
Tennessee is a top-4 seed for the fourth time in the past five years.
Before Rick Barnes arrived, UT was a top-4 seed just five times in the history of the program.
— Brett Edgerton (@EditorEdge) March 13, 2023
Tennessee is one of 26 schools to have both men's and women's basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament.
— Ryan Sylvia (@RyanTSylvia) March 13, 2023
The flip side is that I won’t miss much of the game while trying to watch at work. Also, 8:40 for those of us on the west side of the state (which it is certainly odd to play in the eastern time zone that late).
— Bobby Lee (@VolDVM) March 13, 2023
Tennessee vs a red hot Duke potentially in round 2 huh… pic.twitter.com/mNTKHFcM3S
— Mark Nagi (@MarkNagi) March 12, 2023
Duke, Virginia AND Tennessee are all heading to Orlando.
The folks in Greensboro can’t be happy — at all.
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamRadio) March 12, 2023
I think Memphis, FAU, Duke and Oral Roberts deserved better seeding/opening opponents. Tennessee vulnerable 4 seed.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 12, 2023
Brutal draw for Tennessee to get Duke in the second round.
— Jared Stillman (@JaredStillman) March 12, 2023
Not thrilled about Tennessee potentially facing the red-hot ACC Champs, Duke.
Also doesn’t help they play an excellent shooting team in the round of 64.
— Evan Crowell (@evanvcrowell) March 12, 2023
More from RTI: Lady Vols NCAA Tournament Seeding Announced
Comments from Rocky Top Insider’s Instagram post:
“Going to have to step it up and finish down the stretch – start playing with a sense of urgency and determination.”
“That’s a loaded bracket.”
“They’ll lose the second game.”
“Experts already picking LA.”
“Go Vols!”
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