Tennessee basketball knows its path to a potential first appearance in the Final Four. The Vols are slotted as a 6-seed and will open up with the winner between 11-seed Miami (OH)/SMU, which plays in a play-in game on Wednesday night.
“I know what this time of year is, and I say it all the time: Everybody that’s in it should be congratulated because they’ve set out against, what, 350-some teams to try to be part of this tournament,” UT head coach Rick Barnes said. “And so when you get there, it’s something you don’t ever, ever take for granted. Because it’s hard to get to the NCAA Tournament.
“And I can tell you, I’ve said it before, there’s only gonna be one team left standing on Monday night. And that’s what tournament play is about. But I’m excited for this group. We set out and our goal has always been to try to play for a national championship. And we’re just one of the teams in this tournament that, with the rest of them, have a chance to do that.”
Ahead of Tennessee’s March Madness run with the goal of raising a banner, I went to EvanMiya.com to simulate the bracket. The site uses analytics to rank teams and has the option to run the numbers on the bracket.
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Here are the results of five simulations:
Simulation 1
- Result: Final Four
- (Round of 64) Win over 11-seed Miami (OH)/SMU
- (Round of 32) Win over 3-seed Virginia
- (Sweet 16) Win over 7-seed Kentucky
- (Elite Eight) Win over 1-seed Michigan
- (Final Four) Loss to 1-seed Arizona
Simulation 2
- Result: Elite Eight
- (Round of 64) Win over 11-seed Miami (OH)/SMU
- (Round of 32) Win over 3-seed Virginia
- (Sweet 16) Win over 7-seed Kentucky
- (Elite Eight) Loss to 1-seed Michigan
Simulation 3
- Result: Sweet 16
- (Round of 64) Win over 11-seed Miami (OH)/SMU
- (Round of 32) Win over 3-seed Virginia
- (Sweet 16) Loss to 2-seed Iowa State
Simulation 4
- Result: Round of 64
- (Round of 64) Loss to 11-seed SMU
Simulation 5
- Result: Round 64
- (Round of 64) Loss to 11-seed SMU
