Rick Barnes reacts to Tennessee being picked to win SEC basketball title

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes reacted to the Volunteers being picked to win the conference title this year during Wednesday’s SEC Basketball Tipoff.

“I don’t know if I had much of a reaction to be quite honest with you,” Barnes said. “I think it’s a compliment, obviously. Certainly as a compliment to our players, our program. It’s fun. It’s a fun time of year. Yesterday, I had three or four people around the office come up and congratulate me.”

The Volunteers last won the SEC regular season title in 2018. Tennessee did win the conference tournament in 2022.

Last season, the team finished tied for fourth in the conference with Missouri and Vanderbilt at 11-7. The Volunteers were the fifth seed in the SEC Tournament, losing in the quarterfinals. In the NCAA Tournament, they made it to the second weekend before losing to Florida Atlantic in the Sweet 16.

Tennessee will be led by its backcourt. Guard Santiago Vescovi was named to the All-SEC preseason first team while Zakai Zeigler earned a spot on the preseason second team.

Barnes said that even with the honor of being the preseason favorite to win the conference, it shouldn’t change how the team approaches the season. The Volunteers still have to go out every game and win it.

“You got to go win games,” Barnes said. “Again, you embrace it. I hope we’re that good. I really do. I really do hope we’re that good and better. But we’ll always be more concerned with what we do day-to-day in practice, getting ready for each game. And like I said, I tell our guys, once we walk on the floor, and once we start playing our first game, every game is an NCAA Tournament game…When you’re picked to win the league or you got a ranking, you got big bullseye on your back and you got to embrace that and know that if you really embrace it, you’re going to get better every night.”

SEC Preseason Rankings, with Tennessee on top

1. Tennessee
2. Texas A&M
3. Arkansas
4. Kentucky
5. Alabama
6. Auburn
7. Mississippi State
8. Florida
9. Missouri
10. Ole Miss
11. Vanderbilt
12. Georgia
13. LSU
14. South Carolina