Tennessee Basketball returns to No. 1 in the rankings for third time in program history
Tennessee Basketball is the No. 1 team in the country for the third time in program history and the second time under head coach Rick Barnes. The Vols moved up two spots to the top of the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll on Monday after a slew of upsets last week.
Tennessee received 58 of 62 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 and 26 first-place votes out of 32 in the Coaches Poll.
Tennessee was ranked No. 3 in both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll last week, before Kansas, the AP No. 1, lost at Creighton. No. 2 Auburn lost at Duke, No. 4 Kentucky lost at Clemson and No. 5 Marquette lost at Iowa State.
The Vols (8-0) will take their No. 1 ranking to New York City to face Miami (3-6) on Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. The Hurricanes limp into the event on a six-game losing streak, coming off home losses to Charleston Southern, Arkansas and Clemson.
Tennessee goes to Illinois (6-2) on Saturday in the second game of a two-year home-and-home that started with a win in Knoxville last December.
The 8-0 start is the best under Barnes in his 10 years at Tennessee. It’s the best start for the Vols since going 9-0 in 2000-01.
Rick Barnes has Tennessee at No. 1 for second time
The Vols are back at No. 1 for the second time in five years. They spent four weeks as the top-ranked team in 2019 during a program-record 19-game win streak and a 23-1 start to the season.
Tennessee was ranked No. 1 for the first time during the 31-win season in 2007-08. The Vols won at Memphis when the Tigers were ranked No. 1, took over the top spot for one day, then lost the following night at Vanderbilt.
Tennessee climbed to No. 1 in late January 2019, again went on the road to Vanderbilt and this time survived in overtime. The Vols then beat West Virginia, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Missouri, Florida and South Carolina before a loss at Kentucky snapped the 19-game winning streak.
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The Vols have been ranked for 65 straight times, nearly doubling the previous program record of 37. They have been ranked in the top ten 35 times during the current run and in the top five 15 times.
Last season Tennessee was ranked No. 5 or higher 13 times, climbing as high as No. 4 for the final month of the regular season, and were ranked in the top 10 for all but two weeks.
Where the Vols have been ranked this season
Tennessee has spent the last week ranked No. 1 in the NET, debuting at the top in the first update of the season last Monday.
The Vols are No. 2 in the KenPom.com ratings, trailing only Auburn. Tennessee is No. 2 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 8 in adjusted offensive efficiency.
Tennessee was ranked No. 12 in both the preseason AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll.
The Vols moved up to No. 11 in the AP Poll in Week 2, stayed there in Week 3 and went to No. 7 in Week 4, before jumping up to No. 3 last week.
They moved up to No. 9 in the second Coaches Poll, stayed there for two weeks, then went to No. 6 before the jump to No. 3.
