Mr. CFB Projects the NCAA South Regional: Tennessee goes to its first Final Four

Tennessee has the talent and the toughness to beat Virginia for the South Regional championship.

MR. CFB PROJECTS THE NCAA SOUTH REGIONAL

FIRST ROUND

At Columbia, S.C. (Friday)

No. 1 Virginia (29-3) vs. No. 16 Gardner-Webb (23-11): A year ago Virginia became the first No. 1 seed to lose in the first round. But unless a young John Drew shows up for Gardner-Webb, the ACC regular season champ will easily advance. Winner: Virginia

No. 8 Ole Miss (20-12) vs. No. 9 Oklahoma (19-13): There is a reason that Kermit Davis of Ole Miss was the SEC Coach of the Year. The Rebels were picked to finish 14th (dead last) in the conference but instead finished 10-8 in a tough league. Oklahoma is coached by Lon Kruger, who led Florida to the 1994 Final Four. Winner: Ole Miss

At San Jose, Calif. (Friday)

No. 5 Wisconsin (23-10) vs. No. 12 Oregon (23-12): The Ducks needed to win the Pac-12 championship to get in and they did, winning four games in four days. Now the winning streak for Dana Altman’s team is eight. We’ve had a 12 vs. 5 upset for 29 of the past 34 tournaments. This is not going to be it. Winner: Wisconsin.

No. 4 Kansas State (25-8) vs. No. 13 UC-Irvine (30-5): UC-Irvine comes into the NCAA Tournament on a 16-game winning streak. The Anteaters can flat play defense but so can the Wildcats, who hold teams to 59 points per game. Winner: UC-Irvine.

At Hartford, Ct. (Thursday)

No. 6 Villanova (25-9) vs. No. 11 St. Mary’s (22-11): St. Mary’s knocked off No. 1 seed Gonzaga in the finals of the West Coast Tournament. The Gaels are known for a withering defense. But Villanova, which has won two of the past three national championships, won the Big East regular season and tournament titles. Winner: Villanova.

No. 3 Purdue (23-9) vs. No. 14 Old Dominion (26-8): Purdue’s Matt Painter did one of the best coaching jobs in the country this season as the Boilermakers bounced back from a 6-5 start to share the Big Ten regular-season championship. If Carsen Edwards (23 ppg) can make a decent amount of threes Purdue is a hard team to beat. Winner: Purdue.

At Columbus, Ohio (Friday)

No. 7 Cincinnati (28-6) vs. No. 10 Iowa (22-11): The Bearcats were pretty impressive in knocking off Houston to win the American championship. Cincinnati will lean heavily on Jarron Cumberland (33 vs. Houston) in order to get past Iowa (which lost four straight to close out the regular season)

No. 2 Tennessee (29-5) vs. No. 15 Colgate (24-10): Tennessee is an old team in the very best sense of the word. The Volunteers got hammered by Auburn in the championship game of the SEC Tournament and they’ve got to take it out on somebody. Winner: Tennessee

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SECOND ROUND

At Columbia, S.C. (Sunday)

Virginia vs. Ole Miss: The closest thing to Virginia that Ole Miss has seen this season is Tennessee, which beat the Rebels 73-71 in Oxford on Feb. 27. Two of Virginia’s three losses were to Duke, the No. 1 overall team in the tournament. Ole Miss will have to shoot light outs to have chance. Winner: Virginia.

At San Jose (Sunday)

Wisconsin vs. UC-Irvine: This one is not going to be pretty. UC-Irvine is No. 4 in the nation in field goal percentage defense (37.9) while Wisconsin is ninth (39.2). Winner: Wisconsin

At Hartford, CT (Saturday)

Villanova vs. Purdue: Villanova lost four players to the NBA off the 2018 national championship team and on paper Purdue has a little more firepower. But something tells me that Jay Wright has a defensive scheme to keep Carsen Edwards in check. Winner: Villanova

At Columbus (Sunday)

Tennessee vs. Cincinnati: The story line will be that the selection committee really screwed the Volunteers by making them play the AAC champions just 100 miles from the Cincinnati campus. It’s not going to matter. Winner: Tennessee

SWEET 16

At Louisville, Ky.

Virginia vs. Wisconsin: With the shooting of Kyle Guy (45.1 percent from three-point range) this team is much better offensively than any of Tony Bennett's previous teams. The Virginia defense is withering. Winner: Virginia

Tennessee vs. Villanova: As a former head coach at Providence, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes has some Big East roots and would love nothing more than to beat a Big East team to set the stage for Tennessee’s first appearance in a regional final. Winner: Tennessee.

ELITE EIGHT

Virginia vs. Tennessee: This game will be extremely intense as Virginia will be playing for its first trip to the Final Four since 1984 (the year after Ralph Sampson left) and Tennessee’s first trip ever to the national semifinals.

Winner: Tennessee

FINAL FOUR

Duke defeats Michigan

North Carolina defeats Tennessee

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Duke defeats North Carolina