The Wright State men’s basketball team will face off against the University of Tennessee Volunteers on Thursday, Mar. 15. The game will be played in Dallas, Texas.
The Raiders found out their March Madness opponent in front of fans, alumni and current students in the student union atrium Sunday night, and even had a brief cameo on national television during the NCAA selection show on TBS. The camera showed the WSU players and fans cheering and roaring as they reacted to their name showing up on screen in front of millions of people watching.
Joe Lunardi of ESPN bracketology had various projections of who WSU would play throughout the week. Early on he predicted they would play Purdue University, then the University of Cincinnati, and his final prediction was the University of Michigan.
With the NCAA selection committee choosing Tennessee, the Raiders will have a tough assignment to deal with come next week. The Volunteers are ranked eighth in the country in overall Ranking Power Index (RPI) as of Mar. 11, according to NCAA.com. RPI is a ranking system that is based on a teams wins and losses, as well as their strength of schedule. Tennessee’s overall record this season was 25-8, which included two wins over the University of Kentucky and an impressive win over Purdue University, who received a two seed in this years NCAA tournament.
The Raiders will be looking for their first ever tournament win. In their division one history, they have only made the tournament two other times, in 1993 and 2007, both resulting in first round losses.
The 14 seed in the NCAA tournament hasn’t had much success, with an overall record of 21-111. However, at least one 14 seed has advanced to the second round in 18 out of 33 (55 percent) tournaments in division one history, according to NCAA.com. Also, from 2013-2016, at least one 14 seed advanced to the second round.
Tip off time for WSU vs. Tennessee has yet to be announced, but it will be on the same day and at the same location as the University of Miami (six seed) and Loyola-Chicago (11 seed) matchup on Mar. 15.
