ESPN's Jay Williams is bullish on Tennessee basketball, has Vols in March Madness title game
Jay Williams is bullish on Tennessee basketball's chances of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. The ESPN analyst expects the Vols to make the national championship game, beating Kentucky along the way.
Williams predicted Tennessee will face Connecticut for the title game, April 8 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The former Duke star said UConn would capture its second straight national title.
Tennessee has never advanced to the national championship game and coach Rick Barnes has only one Final Four appearance, with Texas in 2003. Barnes is in his ninth season with the Vols and has a pair of Sweet 16 berths.
A potential Kentucky-Tennessee matchup in the Final Four, April 6, would be the third matchup between the SEC rivals this season. Tennessee won the first game, 103-92, Feb. 3. Kentucky returned the favor with an 85-81 win March 9. Both teams were upset in their first game of of the SEC Tournament last week.
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The Vols (24-8) enter the tournament as a No. 2 seed and will face 15th-seed Saint Peter's in the Midwest Region on Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kentucky is the No. 3 seed in the South Region and will face 14-seed Oakland on Thursday in Pittsburgh.
In 25 NCAA Tournament appearances for the Vols, they've never faced Kentucky.
Reach sports writer George Robinson at georgerobinson@theleafchronicle.com and on the X platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: ESPN Jay Williams says Tennessee will make NCAA Tournament championship
