Tennessee basketball picked to win the SEC in preseason media poll
Tennessee basketball has been picked by the media to win the Southeastern Conference championship this season. The league released the poll with the predicted order of finish and presses All-SEC teams Tuesday afternoon.
Fifth-year senior guard Santiago Vescovi was voted First Team All-SEC and junior guard Zakai Zeigler was voted Second Team All-SEC.
The Vols were picked to win the league ahead of second-place Texas A&M. Arkansas was picked third, ahead of No. 4 Kentucky, No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Auburn. Mississippi State was picked seventh, with Florida at No. 8 and Missouri at No. 9. The bottom five were No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 12 Georgia, No. 13 LSU and No. 14 South Carolina.
It’s the second time in four season Tennessee has been picked to win the league in the preseason media poll. Tennessee was voted first in 2020-21 and was the first time the program had been picked to win the league since 2008-09.
The Vols were picked third in the preseason poll last year and fourth before the 2021-22. They were voted fifth in 2019-20 and second in 2018-19. The first Barnes team in 2015-16 was picked 12th and his next two teams were picked 13th, in both 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Tennessee on Monday was ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 Preseason Poll and No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. It’s just the fifth time in program history that the Vols were ranked in the top ten of both preseason polls. It’s the fourth straight year Tennessee has been ranked in the top 20 to start the season.
The Vols are three weeks away from the start of the regular-season opener against Tennessee Tech on November 6 at Thompson-Boling Arena. They go on the road to face Wisconsin on November 10 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Top 10
- 1New
Gruden talks Tennessee
Ex-NFL coach addresses past rumors
- 2
DJ Lagway
Florida QB to return vs. LSU
- 3
Dylan Raiola injury
Nebraska QB will play vs. USC
- 4Trending
Jay Williams
Analyst calls out Kentucky fans
- 5
Elko pokes at Kiffin
A&M coach jokes over kick times
Tennessee is projected as a top-ten team in multiple preseason rankings. The Vols are No. 5 in Bart Torvik’s T-Rank projections, No. 6 in Chris Dortch’s Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, No. 8 in the KenPom.com ratings, No. 8 in ESPN’s Way Too Early Top 25 and No. 9 in The Field of 68’s “The Almanac.”
Joe Lunardi has Tennessee as a No. 2 seed in his latest Bracketology update and, according to recent numbers from FanDuel, the Vols have the seventh best odds to win a national championship.
Vescovi led Tennessee in minutes (32.3), points (12.5), three-point percentage (.370), threes made (91) and steals last season. He was second in assists with 102. Before suffering a season-ending ACL tear on February 28 last season, Zeigler was averaging 10.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.
Vescovi and Zeigler return alongside fifth-year wing Josiah-Jordan James, sophomore forward Tobe Awaka, junior forward Jonas Aidoo and junior wing Jahmai Mashack. The Vols added wing Dalton Knecht (Northern Colorado) and guard Jordan Gainey (USC Upstate) out of the NCAA Transfer Portal and signed freshman forward JP Estrella, freshman wing Cameron Carr and freshman forward Cade Phillips.
