Students are back on campus across the country and the 2021 college football season has kicked off. That means college basketball players are back on campus and teams are starting to form their identities. Let’s see where a Tennessee team full of newcomers ranks in fall preseason polls.
While most of the college basketball roster turnover was finished before August, the sport and its recruiting never stops. Instate rival Memphis skyrocketed up rankings with the additions of five-stars Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren.
Even Rick Barnes’ Vols got in on the August roster movement, adding New York guard Zakai Zeigler to their 2021 signing class.
The Athletic’s Seth Davis ranked Tennessee as the nation’s 11th best team, just two slots behind the SEC’s highest ranked team, Kentucky. The Vols are the highest ranked team in the state of Tennessee, coming in eight spots ahead of Memphis.
CBS Sports Gary Parrish dropped Tennessee since our most recent update. Parrish ranks the Vols as the nation’s 20th best team and the SEC’s fourth best team.
Stadium’s Jeff Goodman ranks the Vols 17th nationally and fourth in a crowded top of the SEC. The Vols are just one slot behind Alabama, six behind Arkansas and seven behind Kentucky.
ESPN is high on Memphis, bumping the Tigers from unranked to No. 7 in their preseason rankings. The WorldWide Leader in sports ranks Tennessee as the nation’s 18th best team and the fourth best team in the SEC.
Stadium’s Andy Katz was lower than anyone on the Vols in our last update ranking them No. 35 in his power 36. Since then, Katz took Tennessee out of his ranking completely.
Fox Sports Aaron Torres and CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein haven’t released a new top 25 since our last update.
Torres ranks Tennessee as the 14th best team nationally and third in the SEC while Rothstein ranks the Vols 21st nationally and fifth in the SEC.
The next two months are as critical for Tennessee as any team in the nation. With its whole roster on campus, Barnes and his staff we’ll have to work to build chemistry on and off the court on a team with eight new scholarship players.
