Tennessee's route to the Final Four — and potentially an NCAA Tournament victory — became substantially easier after Purdue fell in the First Round.
Now, Tennessee only need to beat Florida Atlantic or Fairleigh Dickinson to reach the Elite Eight.
It's why Tennessee's national championship odds have jumped all the way to tied-for-fifth at BetMGM.
Those odds at +1300 imply the Volunteers' odds of winning March Madness are about 7%.
That's tied with Gonzaga and Connecticut for the fifth-best odds in college basketball.
The Volunteers' odds to make the Final Four are +160 — the favorites in their region. That implies odds of about 38.5% that Tennessee makes the Final Four.
Tennessee is also a -5.5 favorite over FAU, a Sweet 16 matchup that's scheduled for Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
The 'Vols locked down a statement victory over Duke on Saturday night in dominant fashion. The sixth-best team in the nation — according to KenPom — ran it almost wire-to-wire, utilizing their No. 1 defense in the country to do so.
Now, they're likely to be the favorite in their region to reach the Final Four. Marquette are their biggest competition, but the advanced metrics consider the Volunteers to be the better team.
In addition, Marquette has a tougher road ahead of a potential tilt with Tennessee. They're -170 favorites over Michigan State on Sunday night, then the Golden Eagles have to defeat either Kentucky or Kansas State.
For more Action Network coverage of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, check out the latest college basketball odds, as well as the public betting percentage breakdowns for all of the 2023 NCAA Tournament games.
