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Jay Bilas has Tennessee in Elite Eight with 'high' potential to upset No. 1 Houston

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•03/17/25•

GrantRamey

Jay Bilas declares Florida 'Final Four, national championship good'
Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ESPN’s Jay Bilas has Tennessee Basketball going back to the Elite Eight for a second straight year and believes the Vols have “high” potential for an upset of No. 1 Houston in the Midwest Regional final.

Bilas on Monday picked every game in the NCAA Tournament for ESPN, picking Tennessee to go back to the Elite Eight with wins over No. 15 Wofford, No. 10 Utah State and No. 3 Kentucky, before picking Houston to advance to the Final Four. 

Tennessee (27-7) is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and will play No. 15 Wofford (19-15) on Thursday (6:50 p.m. Eastern Time, TNT) at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The Vols and Terriers are opposite of No. 7 UCLA and No. 10 Utah State. 

Vols opened as 19.5-point favorite against Wofford

Bilas picked Houston to beat No. 8 Gonzaga in the second round and for No. 3 Kentucky to beat No. 11 Texas, with the Longhorns advancing out of the First Four and the first round. Kentucky faces No. 14 Troy in Milwaukee, while No. 6 Illinois awaits the winner between No. 11 Texas and No. 11 Xavier in the First Four.

Tennessee on Sunday night opened as a 19.5-point favorite over Wofford, which punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southern Conference Tournament championship. 

Bilas had the potential for upset as “low” for Tennessee in the first three rounds, against Wofford, Utah State and Kentucky.

“Wofford is good — and on a three-game win streak — but Tennessee is too powerful,” Bilas wrote.

He picked No. 10 Utah State to upset No. 7 UCLA in the first round in Lexington on Thursday.

“Whether it is UCLA or Utah State,” Bilas wrote of the second-round matchup with the Vols, “Tennessee is too physical and experienced.”

Kentucky swept Tennessee in the regular season, winning 78-73 in Knoxville on January 28 and 75-64 at Rupp Arena on February 11. Still, Bilas likes the Vols in Round 3.

“Kentucky can score,” he wrote, “but not against Tennessee on a neutral court. When healthy, Kentucky would be very tough to beat, but I like Tennessee here.”

Jay Bilas on Tennessee-Houston: ‘A physical battle that should be officiated by three Navy Seals’

Bilas picked the NCAA Tournament’s four No. 1 seeds to advance to the Final Four, with Florida beating Auburn and Houston beating Duke in the national semifinals. He picked Florida over Houston in the national championship game. 

“This will be a battle on the backboards,” Bilas wrote, “and Florida is the one team that can match Houston on the glass.”

Tennessee went through No. 15 St. Peter’s, No. 7 Texas and No. 3 Creighton in the Midwest Region last year, before falling to No. 1 Purdue in the Elite Eight.

Houston had a 4-3 record through its first seven games, but has gone 25-1 since then. The only loss in regulation for the Cougars this season was against Auburn on November 9. Alabama, San Diego State and Texas Tech all needed overtime to beat Houston.

But Bilas still gave Tennessee a “high” chance for a potential upset with a spot in the Final Four on the line. 

“This game will be a physical battle that should be officiated by three Navy Seals,” Bilas wrote. “I am taking Houston.”

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