The No. 3 seed Tennessee Volunteers take on the No. 14 seed Wright State Raiders on Thursday in an opening-round NCAA tournament game between two teams that weren't expected to be dancing in March.
The Volunteers and Raiders meet in Dallas, with the winner advancing to face the winner of No. 6 Miami, Fla., and No. 11 Loyola-Chicago.
Tennessee (25-8) won a share of the SEC regular-season title and reached the conference tournament championship game in coach Rick Barnes' third season running Rocky Top.
Tennessee has nonconference wins over Purdue and North Carolina State and also beat Kentucky in two out of three meetings this season.