Tennessee destroyed short-handed Iowa State on the glass 43-22 and shot 51 percent en route to a 14-point win Friday. It will be much tougher to duplicate those feats, or even come close to them, against Michigan. I expect the Vols to struggle with their post-up offense vs. Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara and Morez Johnson. Right now, Michigan and Arizona are a cut above everyone else. Look for the Wolverines to pull away in the second half.
Michigan is a 7.5-point favorite over Tennessee in the Elite 8 matchup at the United Center in Chicago, with the winner going to the Final Four. Michigan has turned it up a notch since losing the Big Ten championship game to Purdue, and they’ve scored 90 points or more in all three games since. They look like their former selves from November and December when they were destroying teams nightly. Michigan has won and covered the last three meetings with Tennessee. Tennessee has a great story in the tournament, but the fact remains that they lost four out of their last six games before the tournament started. Michigan has the No. 1 defense in the nation, allowing 38.6 shooting. Michigan covers.
