Tennessee Will Sweep Season Series Against Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee, 2:00 ET

We've made it to the finish line, my friends. We've gone through roughly 30 games per team for College Basketball and we are now at the end of the line. It is a little bittersweet. I'm sad that it is coming to an end, because I love basketball and I love College Basketball. However, I'm excited because we still have Conference Tournaments to look forward to, and we have the NCAA Tournament to look forward to. Those are two of the best weeks of sports that you can get. Before we get there, we have to get past today, and I don't want to get past today without at least getting a play on this game between Vanderbilt and Tennessee.

Vanderbilt enters the game ranked as the 24th-best team in the nation. They have been solid with a 23-7 record, but all of their losses have come against SEC opponents. That bothers me a little bit because I have the SEC ranked as my third-best conference this year, potentially fourth. Let's take a look at their full schedule and see the significant wins and losses for the year. The Commodores started with 16 straight wins, and there were only three wins that stand out to me from that group. They beat Saint Mary's, which is not a team that I'm overly impressed with. They took down Wake Forest on the road, and they beat Alabama at home. Then the losses came. They dropped three straight to Texas, Florida, and Arkansas. Texas is the only one that was a bit of a head scratcher. They beat Kentucky, but then lost to Oklahoma by one at home. Their other losses were against Missouri, Tennessee, and on the road to Kentucky. 

(Wesley Hale/Imagn Images)

Tennessee hasn't been exactly elite this season, but they have been pretty strong. They come in as the 23rd ranked team and are just ahead of Vanderbilt in the SEC standings. They have a worse overall record at 21-9, but they are slightly better in the SEC with an 11-6 mark. They have some impressive wins on their resume with a victory over Houston early in the year. Unfortunately for them, they followed that up with three straight losses to Kansas, Syracuse, and Illinois. When SEC play started, they lost on the road to Arkansas and Florida. They have lost both games to Kentucky this season, even if both were very close. Their other losses were against Missouri and Alabama. Overall, they have just the two home losses this year, and they were by a total of four points. In their home wins against SEC teams, they have won by 14, 5, 8, 18, 10, and 23. That shows they are winning by fairly comfortable margins.

I don't feel like either team "needs" this win to get into the NCAA Tournament or even really for the seeding in the SEC Tournament. They are pretty much locked where they are. Vanderbilt has been good this year, and they will be looking for revenge after losing to Tennessee at home just a few games ago. The Volunteers were able to get 40 of their 69 points in the paint, and I'm not sure that Vanderbilt will be able to just stop that. This is also a Senior Day for the Volunteers so they have a bit of extra juice. Give me Tennessee to cover the spread. 

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