There’s not many better feelings than putting together a strong bracket and winning your March Madness pool among your friends, family and coworkers. This pursuit of victory has led to a deep dive into the trends among recent tournaments to make the most informed picks.
One popular trend involves the use of KenPom analytics. According to BetMGM, every national champion has had a top 40 offense and top 25 defense heading into the tournament.
Currently, just 11 teams fit that criteria, including the Vols. Tennessee joins Virginia, Arizona, UConn, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Houston, Iowa State, Michigan State and Michigan. This notably doesn’t include Nebraska, Texas Tech, Illinois, Gonzaga, Kansas and Purdue, who are all ranked in the top-15 of the AP Poll.
According to KenPom, only 11 teams are contending for a National Championship 👀 pic.twitter.com/q5ThdxDNjM
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) March 6, 2026
More From RTI: When Tennessee Basketball is Holding its 2026 Senior Day Ceremony
Tennessee currently ranks as the No. 13 team on KenPom. The Vols’ offense sits at No. 36, while the defense is all the way up at No. 13.
However, UT is currently without Nate Ament. He exited in Tennessee’s loss to Alabama, and missed the ensuing game at South Carolina. He is listed as doubtful on the availability report heading into the regular-season finale vs. Vanderbilt, as well.
“I don’t know if he’s going play,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “I know he’s doing everything he possibly can through rehab, working with Chad (Newman) and G (Garrett Medenwald) and obviously through our doctors. And he’s a model patient, if that’s what you want to call him. But other than that, we don’t know. I’ve said it before, if it were up to him, he’d play every game. But we’ve obviously got to make sure that we’re doing the right thing for Nate.”
Tip-off against the Commodores on Saturday is set for 2 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN. Tennessee will host Senior Day festivities beforehand, beginning at 1:40.
