Putting Purdue as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest and Tennessee as the No. 2 increases the odds that one of the Boilermakers and Tennessee advances to the Final Four. For the Boilermakers, a Final Four bid would be the program’s first since 1980 and help erase some of the bad vibes still lingering from last year’s loss. The Volunteers have never been. Barnes made his first tournament appearance as a head coach at Providence in 1989 but has made the national semifinals just once across stops with the Friars, Clemson, Texas and Tennessee That came with point guard T.J. Ford and the Longhorns in 2003. — Paul Myerberg
Comments are closed.