Michigan vs Tennessee | Prediction & Pick

Classic power conference showdown between Vols and Wolverines

Two at-large selections from two of the six major conferences will square off in an 8-9 game in the West Region as the Michigan Wolverines face the Tennessee Volunteers on Friday afternoon in Charlotte.

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#8 Michigan (20-13, 9-9 Big Ten) vs. #9 Tennessee (19-14, 8-8 SEC)

Date/Time: Friday, March 18, 12:40 PM ET
Venue: Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, NC.
Broadcast: TruTV

Money Line: Michigan +110, Tennessee -130
Spread: Michigan -2
Over/Under: 127

Both of these teams spent the majority of the last two months ‘on the bubble’, needing to wait until selection Sunday to find out if their resumes were good enough to be part of the selection process.

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Michigan finished fourth in the Big Ten Conference during the regular season. They posted victories over several teams in the tournament including Oakland, Illinois, and two wins against rival Michigan State. The Wolverines went 8-3 in their last eleven regular season games, and defeated Illinois again in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

Tennessee was fifth in the SEC East but showed themselves with solid wins against Villanova, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Belmont, and two wins against in-state rival Vanderbilt. The Vols overcame the loss of Bruce Pearl for most of the SEC portion of their schedule due to NCAA violations. The Volunteers struggled down the stretch of the season, going just 4-6 in their last ten regular season games.

This is the second appearance in the last three years for the Wolverines, and the 22nd overall appearance for the Maze-and-Blue. As for the Volunteers, they are playing in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season, and are hoping to move one step further than one season ago when they reached the Elite Eight.

Michigan is led by Darius Morris, who scored a season-best 15.2 points per game and also led the team in assists at 6.7 per game. Tim Hardaway Jr. was second on the club at 13.9 points per game.

Tennessee also has the son of a former NBA player on their roster in Scotty Hopson, who led the Vols at 17.4 points per contest. Tobias Harris was second on the team at 15.2 points per outing, while also grabbing a team bets 7.3 rebounds per contest.

The odds makers have the Michigan Wolverines as a -2 point favorite with an over/under of 127.

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Prediction: This is the first ever meeting in the tournament between these schools. This will be a close game, but Michigan has been playing better basketball the last month, so we’ll take the Wolverines in a close victory over the Volunteers.

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Michigan Wolverines Betting Trends:

• Michigan is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games