Round 1 West Bracket Tournament Picks – Tennessee Volunteers vs Michigan Wolverines
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#9 Tennessee vs. #8 Michigan Matchup
NCAA Tournament Bracket- West Region
Date/Time: Friday, March 18, 12:40
Venue: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
Broadcast: truTV
Tennessee Volunteers vs. Michigan Wolverines Betting Lines from DSI
Money Line: Tennessee (-130) Michigan (+110)
Spread: Tennessee -2
Over/Under: 127.5
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Tennessee has been an enigma so far this year. This is a team that beat Pittsburgh, Villanova, and Vanderbilt twice this year. Shouldn’t they be higher than a #9 seed if they have beaten so many good teams? Let’s take a look at their losses. Tennessee lost to Oakland, Charlotte, College of Charleston, Arkansas, and Mississippi State among others. All year long Tennessee has been tough to figure out.
The question marks surrounding Bruce Pearl, and his suspension during SEC play definitely didn’t help the team this year. The Volunteers have typically been a high scoring team that likes to push the tempo, but they haven’t been able to do that this year. Pearl has often decided to have his team slow the game down and use up the shot clock. Scotty Hopson is easily the Volunteers most reliable scoring threat. Hopson is averaging 17.4 points per game this year.
Tobias Harris also averages 15.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Brian Williams is a terrific rebounder down low, but he often gets into foul trouble. The Volunteers will need Williams and the frontcourt to be effective in this game; because that is an area they should have an edge on the Wolverines. 
The Michigan Wolverines weren’t expected to be very good this year. Last year’s Michigan team had several star players, and they couldn’t make it to the postseason. This year it was the youngsters who stepped up and took the Wolverines to the NCAA Tournament. The young Wolverines bought into Coach Beilein’s system, and the results have been quite impressive. The team finished very strong, and played their way into the postseason with their performance over the last few weeks.
Darius Morris is the point guard of this team, and he is the conductor of this offense. Morris is just a sophomore, but he has matured nicely this year. Morris averaged 15.2 points and 6.7 assists per game during the regular season. Tim Hardaway, Jr. wasn’t highly recruited early on, but he had a fantastic freshman year. Hardaway got better as the year went along, and he finished the season with ten straight games in double figures. In four of Michigan’s last eight games, Hardaway scored 20 points or more.
The Wolverines have several solid three-point shooters, and they attempt quite a few three’s each game. If the Wolverines have a weakness, it is their lack of depth inside. Jordan Morgan is a strong post player, but he gets into foul trouble often. Morgan will have to stay out of foul trouble or Michigan will struggle with this strong Tennessee frontcourt.
NCAA Tournament Betting Trends:
Over is 8-0 in TENN last 8 neutral site games.
TENN are 5-2-1 ATS in their last 8 vs. Big Ten.
Over is 11-5 in TENN last 16 non-conference games.
MICH are 21-8 ATS in their last 29 games overall.
Over is 11-5-1 in MICH last 17 overall.
The Pick:
This is a tough one to pick because you never know which Tennessee team will show up. Michigan has been trending in the right direction, and they are 21-8 ATS in their last 29 games, so I’ll take Michigan and the two points.
Prediction: Michigan 63 Tennessee 62
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