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Tennessee Basketball picked to finish third in SEC, Zakai Zeigler named First Team All-SEC

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey10/14/24

GrantRamey

Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee Basketball | Tennessee Athletics
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee Basketball | Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee Basketball has ben picked to finish third in the Southeastern Conference preseason media poll, which was released on Monday. Senior point guard Zakai Zeigler was named preseason First Team All-SEC.

Alabama was picked to win the league while Auburn was picked second. The Vols at No. 3 were picked ahead of Arkansas, Texas A&M, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

South Carolina was picked at No. 11, with Georgia at No. 12, Missouri at No. 13, LSU at No. 14, Oklahoma at No. 15 and Vanderbilt at No. 16.

Tennessee last season was picked to win the SEC in the preseason poll, then went on to win the SEC’s regular-season championship with a 14-4 league record. The Vols finished 27-9 overall after making a run to the Elite Eight.

Zakai Zeigler was only Tennessee player voted All-SEC

Alabama’s Mark Sears was picked as the preseason SEC Player of the Year, with Zeigler, Auburn’s Johni Broome, Georgia’s Asa Newell and Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV also receiving player of the year votes.

Sears, Broome, Zeigler, Taylor and Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. were named First Team All-SEC. 

Second Team All-SEC was Grant Nelson (Alabama), Jonas Aidoo (Arkansas), Johnell Davis (Arkansas), Matthew Murrell (Ole Miss) and Josh Hubbard (Mississippi State). 

Third Team All-SEC was Chad Baker-Mazara (Auburn), Alex Condon (Florida), Jaxson Robinson (Kentucky), Collin Murray-Boyles (South Carolina) and Tramon Mark (Texas). 

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The Vols on Monday were ranked No. 12 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 on Monday. They’re ranked No. 13 in the preseason KenPom.com ratings, which were updated on Monday. 

The KenPom numbers have the Vols at No. 4 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 35 in adjusted offensive efficiency.

Up Next: Tennessee vs. Indiana, Charity Exhibition, Sunday, October 27

The first look at the 2024-25 Tennessee basketball team will be October 27, when the Vols host Indiana in a charity exhibition game at Food City Center. The game will start at 3 p.m. Eastern Time and can be streamed on SEC Network+.

The regular-season schedule opens at home on November 4 against Gardner Webb and Tennessee goes to Louisville on November 9 for the first road game.

Tennessee opens the Baha Mar tournament with Virginia on November 21. The Vols host Syracuse in the SEC-ACC Challenge on December 3, play Miami in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on December 10 and go to Illinois on December 14. The SEC schedule starts at home on January 4 against John Calipari and Arkansas.

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