Who Were The Biggest Snubs In The NCAA Tournament?
After over a week off, Tennessee finally learned its NCAA Tournament path Sunday afternoon. The Lady Vols landed as a four-seed in the Midwest Region matched up with No. 13 seed Buffalo.
By earning a top-four seed, the Lady Vols will host games at Thompson-Boling Arena the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. That means Buffalo, No. 5 seed Oregon and No. 12 seed Belmont will all travel to Knoxville.
Buffalo went 25-8 (16-4 MAC) on its way to a MAC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament birth. The Bulls played three power five opponents this season — their first three games of the season. South Carolina and Oklahoma routed Buffalo while the Bulls upset Syracuse.
The Bulls are red-hot entering the NCAA Tournament, winning nine straight games and 14 of their last 15 games.
“I do know they’re a very good basketball team,” Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper said. “They’re experienced. They’re very well coached. They have a great scoring guard. We have a lot of work to do. I only know the basics at this point, but we’ll get together and have a good scouting report for our players this week.”
The first round matchup will take place on Saturday, March 19. The game time has not been announced.
If Tennessee gets past the first weekend of the tournament, they’ll head to Wichita, Kansas for the second round of the tournament — Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
The other top seeds in Tennessee’s region include No. 1 Louisville, No. 2 Baylor and No. 3 Michigan. The Wolverines knocked the Lady Vols out of the NCAA Tournament last season.
Lady Vols’ star point guard Jordan Horston is working back from an elbow injury she suffered in last month’s loss at Alabama.
Harper said its “a possibility” that Horston could return this season but that they wouldn’t rush it and it would depend on how far the Lady Vols advance.
It’s the 40th straight NCAA Tournament birth for the Lady Vols’ program.
