The brackets are set and it’s time for one of the best sports weekends of the year — the NCAA Tournament is here. Tennessee was disrespected on Selection Sunday, just hours removed from winning the SEC Tournament. The Volunteers were given a No. 3 seed, despite a stout resume and a white hot finish.
All things considered though, it was a pretty good draw for Tennessee. They land in a region with No. 1 seed Arizona, who they’ve already beaten once this season. They’re on a collision course with No. 2 seed Villanova in the Sweet 16, who beat Tennessee back in November.
First things first though, Tennessee has to get through No. 14 seed Longwood. Tennessee and Longwood will play on Thursday afternoon in Indianapolis, set for a 2:45 p.m. ET tip. CBS will have the coverage.
Our own Matt Seese gave us a preview of Longwood, projection the matchup early Sunday morning.
“What makes Longwood such an intriguing matchup against the Vols is that they, too, run a three guard lineup,” Seese wrote on Sunday morning. “Sophomore Justin Hill leads the team in scoring, senior Isaiah Wilkins shoots over 40 percent from three and is a good on-ball defender ranking in the top 100 in the nation in steal percentage, and senior DeShaun Wade is an absolute sniper from beyond the arc, shooting 46.6 percent from three, a top 20 mark in all of college basketball.”
Those Longwood shooters will have to deal with Tennessee’s third-ranked defense on Thursday. The Volunteers are favored in the matchup, opening as 17 point favorites, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
The winner will advance to face the winner of Colorado State-Michigan on Saturday. The Wolverines are a small 2.5 point favorite in that matchup as the No. 11 seed.
Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See DraftKings.com/sportsbook for details.