Three Tennessee players — the most of any school — landed on the two preseason All-SEC teams Wednesday morning.
Senior shooting guard Santiago Vescovi landed on the preseason First Team while senior forward Josiah-Jordan James and sophomore point guard Zakai Zeigler landed on the preseason Second Team.
Tennessee is the only team with three total players on the two five-player teams while Alabama and Kentucky have two a piece.
Arkansas’ Nick Smith Jr., Florida’s Colin Castleton as well as Kentucky’s Oscar Tschiebwe and Sahvir Wheeler joined Vescovi on the First Team.
LSU’s KJ Williams as well as Alabama’s Jahvon Quinerly and Brandon Miller joined James and Zeigler on the Second Team.
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Vescovi was a First Team All-SEC selection a season ago after averaging 13.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. The left-handed shooting guard was the conference’s best three point shooter, making 40% of his attempts on the season while being fantastic moving without the ball.
James was a snub from the All-SEC Defensive Team a season ago. The 6-foot-6 wing was the Vols’ phenomenal defense’s glue, showing the ability to defend guards and power forwards. James’ offense struggled for much of his junior season before turning the corner in SEC play.
James averaged 14.7 points per game from February on as he became a reliable scorer for the Vols.
Zeigler’s out of nowhere breakout season earned him a spot on the All-SEC Freshman team and the All-SEC Defensive Team a year ago. The New York native averaged 8.8 points, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game as a freshman.
Expectations are high for this season’s Tennessee team. The Vols are No. 11 in the preseason AP Poll and the conference’s media picked them to finish third behind Kentucky and Arkansas.
