How far did Tennessee make it in March Madness 2023? Revisiting the Vols' last NCAA tournament run

The Tennessee Volunteers are once again making a case to return to this year's NCAA tournament. But perhaps they're far more motivated than ever. They surely have a lot of reasons, though one could argue that their main goal this season is redemption.

With a star player like Dalton Knecht making it happen and an extremely strong finish to their regular season, the Vols are currently atop the SEC and have reason not to make it to March Madness. But just how far did they get last year for them to come into this season with a vengeance?

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How far did Tennessee make it in March Madness 2023?

Last year, the Vols only made it as far as the Sweet Sixteen before getting knocked out of the tournament by the then ninth-seed FAU Owls in one of the most inspiring Cinderella runs that NCAA D1 men's hoops has ever seen.

Florida Atlantic beat Tennessee 62-55 behind a huge second half surge. They outscored the Vols 40-28 in the second, paving the way for them into the Elite Eight as a 9-seed.

Eventually, the Owls would go on to last year's Final Four--making their run one of the deepest ever for a lowly-seeded team in NCAA men's basketball history.

But the thing about Cinderella runs is that the clock will always strike midnight. FAU finally ended its tournament with a heartbreaking 72-71 loss to the San Diego Aztecs. The Owls were just two games away from potentially being the lowest-seeded team ever to win the national title (Villanova in 1985 is the current record-holder, winning it all as an 8-seed).

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Tennessee's chances in March Madness 2024

Making this year's NCAA tournament seems to be a foregone conclusion for the Vols. They'll either get an automatic qualifier, or at the very least, an at-large bid to be a respectably high seed in the postseason. Their respectable Quadrant records (specifically their 8-5 slate in Quad 1) is more than enough to make sure of that.

As for their odds of actually winning the national championship, they're currently sitting at +1200 at the time of this writing (via ActionNews5). But that's if they even go that deep this year, considering they haven't reached the Final Four in the last six seasons. Plus, their early exit at the hands of the FAU Owls last year will surely be held over their heads.