Sometimes the NCAA tournament selection committee serves you lemons. Sometimes it serves you big, fat, juicy oranges.
At least that would seem to be the case with the University of Tennessee Volunteers, who won neither their Southeastern Conference regular-season championship nor the league tournament yet still wound up with a No. 2 seed and a very winnable path to the Final Four.
Or would you rather face overall No. 1 seed Duke, North Carolina or Gonzaga than South Region No. 1 Virginia to reach college basketball’s final weekend for the first time in school history?
Yes, the Volunteers have already beaten Gonzaga once this season on a neutral court and none of the four No. 1 seeds has recently suffered as embarrassing a defeat as the Zags did in falling by 13 points to St. Mary’s in the West Coast Conference final.
But the Zags are healthier than when they played UT the first time, they might be fueled by revenge and UT arguably delivered no worse than its third best effort of the season – the first two being its two victories over Kentucky – in that mid-December victory.
In Virginia, however, the Vols will be going against a program that owns the dubious distinction of becoming the first No. 1 seed in history to lose to a No. 16 seed, having suffered that fate a year ago against Maryland-Baltimore County.
Beyond that, should each program advance to the regional final in Louisville’s Yum! Center, there is little doubt that the Big Orange Nation would dominate the crowd. The Cavaliers’ defensive philosophy is also to dare you to beat them from outside. Though not always consistent long-range gunners, the Vols certainly have the players to wreck that philosophy with outside shooters such as Jordan Bone, Jordan Bowden, Admiral Schofield and Lamonte Turner.
And while Virginia’s Friday night Atlantic Coast Conference tourney loss to Florida State allows the Wahoos more prep and recovery time than UT, at least the committee had enough pity on the Vols playing a Sunday afternoon SEC final to give them a Friday-Sunday first-second round site in Columbus, Ohio, starting Friday afternoon with Colgate.
Does that mean Tennessee can’t lose before it would face Virginia in a regional final? Not exactly. Either Cincinnati or Iowa could upset the Vols in the second round if they play like they did in Sunday’s 84-64 loss to Auburn. Then again, you’d need to combine the best skills of Cincy (defense) and Iowa (3-point shooting) to produce a team as talented as Auburn. Playing in Columbus also negates much of a crowd advantage for the Vols should they meet the Bearcats on Sunday.
As for the Sweet 16 round, UT’s fans may also not have much of a crowd advantage over third-seeded Purdue if the seeds hold, but they should own a noticeable edge in talent and depth. So pencil them in for a regional final against Virginia, which they can definitely win.
Who’ll be meeting them there, should they reach their first-ever Final Four? Try the ACC trio of Duke, North Carolina and Florida State. Then look for a North Carolina-Duke final with the Dookies winning it all.
But before then, enjoy at least a couple of marvelous pairings involving schools that won’t reach the Final Four.
First, Murray State point guard Ja Morant versus Marquette scoring marvel Markus Howard in a West Regional first rounder might be one of the most entertaining one-on-one matchups the tournament has seen in years.
Second, in one of those pairings that lets you know that either the committee, the television execs or both haven’t lost their sense of humor, Louisville – which fired Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino prior to last season for alleged NCAA violations – meets Minnesota, which is coached by Rick’s son, Richard, in the opening round of the East Regional.
Said ESPN analyst Seth Greenburg of that matchup: “If Minnesota wins, the Pitino family will throw a party.”
Excepting the treatment received by Michigan State, whose 12 Quad 1 wins tied Virginia for the most in the college game, but which finds itself as the No. 2 seed in the East to Duke, a lot of parties should have been thrown on Sunday.
Belmont justifiably got in as an at-large. Indiana, with a losing Big Ten record, got left out, though it did beat Michigan State twice. The SEC got seven in the Big Dance, though Dick Vitale may have had a point when he singled out Auburn’s eight straight victories as being deserving of a No. 4 seed instead of a No. 5 in the loaded Midwest, which includes Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina, which are not only the three winningest programs all-time, but also own a total of 18 NCAA titles.
As he was discussing his Tigers’ rout of UT on Sunday afternoon, former Vols coach Bruce Pearl said of his return to the league after being banished from Big Orange Country for lying to the NCAA, “I hope the SEC is better with me in it.”
The Big Orange Nation must now hope that Sunday’s unexpected one-sided loss to Auburn makes UT enough better to deliver a long NCAA tourney run in a somewhat favorable bracket. No draw may be perfect, but when you won neither the SEC regular-season nor tourney titles, a chance to play someone other than Duke some 250 miles from home for a shot at the Final Four is about as good as it gets.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com