Where Tennessee Basketball is ranked in the preseason Associated Press Top 25

Tennessee Basketball is ranked No. 18 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25, which was released on Monday. The Vols start the new season on November 3 against Mercer at Food City Center, after hosting Duke in a sold-out preseason exhibition game on October 26 (7 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN2).

Purdue is the preseason No. 1, ahead of No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 UConn and No. 5 St. John’s. Duke is No. 6, ahead of No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 BYU, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 10 Texas Tech.

Louisville is No. 11, Arkansas is No. 14 and Alabama is No. 15. Illinois is No. 17 and Auburn is No. 20.

The Vols face Houston in November in Las Vegas and host Louisville and face Illinois in Nashville in December.

Tennessee has been ranked for 81 straight weeks, the second-longest active streak in college basketball and more than doubling the previous program record of 37 straight weeks ranked.

The Vols have been ranked every week since the start of the 2021-22 season and have been ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 for six straight seasons. They’re also riding a streak of seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances, never seeded lower than No. 5.

Last season Tennessee started at No. 12 in both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll in the preseason and finished at No. 5 in both polls, after a second straight run to the Elite Eight. The Vols also finished at No. 5 in both polls at the end of the 2023-24 season. 

Last season Tennessee lost to No. 1-seed Houston in the Elite Eight while two years ago it was a loss to No. 1-seed Purdue. The Vols won a combined 57 games over the last two seasons. 

Tennessee was ranked in the top 10 in the Coaches Poll for 20 straight weeks last season and was ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 for 18 straight weeks. The Vols were also ranked No. 1 for five straight weeks last season while tying a program record with its 14-0 start to the season.

Tennessee picked to finish third in SEC preseason media poll

On Monday Tennessee was picked to finish third in the SEC in the preseason media poll. Florida was picked to win the league and Kentucky was picked to finish second. 

The Vols have been picked to finish in the top three in the SEC for four straight seasons, while no other program has done so more than twice in that time. They’ve been picked to finish in the top five for eight straight seasons. 

Behind Tennessee was No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 6 Auburn, No. 7 Missouri, No. 8 Ole Miss, No. 9 Texas and No. 10 Mississippi State. Vanderbilt was picked to finish 11th, ahead of No. 12 Oklahoma, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 14 Georgia, No. 15 LSU and No. 16 South Carolina. 

Tennessee freshman Nate Ament and transfer point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie were both voted second-team All-SEC.

Tennessee ranked No. 9 in new KenPom.com ratings

On Sunday KenPom.com had Tennessee at No. 9 in its first ratings update for the 2025-26 season. The Vols are ranked No. 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 28 in adjusted offensive efficiency. 

The Vols finished at No. 6 in the KenPom ratings in 2022-23 and No. 9 in the 2021-22. Their last KenPom finish outside the top 10 was No. 28 in 2020-21.

Tennessee last season finished No. 17 in adjusted offensive efficiency in the KenPom ratings and No. 3 on defense. The Vols were No. 28 on offense in 2023-24 and No. 3 on defense. They haven’t finished outside the top five on defense since 2019-20, including a No. 1 ranking defensively in 2022-23.