March is here and Tennessee basketball is back in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight time. The Vols now officially know there draw in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee lands as a six-seed in the Midwest Region. The Vols will face the winner of the play-in game between 11-seeds SMU and Miami (Ohio) in Philadelphia in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The tipoff time and broadcast details for the game are not yet set.
SMU earned an at large bid after posting a 20-13 (8-10 ACC) record but lost five of its final six games entering the tournament. Miami (Ohio) earned an outright bid out of the MAC after posting a 31-0 record in the regular season before losing to UMass in the opening game of the MAC Tournament.
If Tennessee gets past either the Mustangs or Red Hawks, they’ll face wither three-seed Virginia or 14-seed Wright State in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. Possible Sweet 16 opponents for Tennessee include two-seed Iowa State and seven-seed Kentucky.
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Other top teams in the Midwest Region include one-seed Michigan, four-seed Alabama and five-seed Texas Tech. 10-seed Santa Clara and 15-seed Tennessee State are also on the Vols’ side of the bracket.
Rick Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team enters the NCAA Tournament with a 22-11 (11-7 SEC) record, but has struggled as of late. The Vols enter the tournament having lost four of their last six games. Prior to that, Tennessee seemed to be turning the corner with eight wins in nine games.
Tennessee is 6-10 in Quad 1 games, 6-1 in Quad 2 games, 3-0 in Quad 3 games and 7-0 in Quad 4 games this season.
The Vols rank No. 19 in the NET Rankings but just No. 24 in Wins Above Bubble (WAB) a new popular metric for NCAA Tournament seeding. The Vols 4.46 WAB indicates that they have 4.46 more wins than a bubble team would have against their same schedule.
Tennessee is back in the NCAA Tournament for an eighth consecutive time under head coach Rick Barnes. The Vols made the Elite Eight each of the last two years and the second weekend of the tournament each of the last three seasons. But Tennessee is still searching for its first ever trip to the Final Four.
More to follow: Lady vols basketball
