After making a run to the Final Four last season and returning a number of its top players, most view Alabama as the favorite to win the SEC next season and as one of the top teams in the entire country.
Analytical based college basketball website BartTorvik.com updated its preseason projections this week with most roster movement this offseason now in the rearview mirror and they have a different SEC team as its favorite to win the conference.
Bart Torvik ranks Tennessee basketball as the No. 5 team in the country and the No. 1 team in the SEC entering the 2024-25 season. Auburn is the second highest ranked SEC team at No. 7 nationally while Alabama is the third highest ranked SEC team at No. 8 nationally.
The preseason projections predict Tennessee to win the SEC Regular-Season Championship outright with a 12-6 conference record while Auburn, Alabama and Texas are all predicted to finish with an 11-7 conference record.
Tennessee finished seventh nationally according to Bart Torvik’s system last season, ranking with the 31st most efficient offense and third most efficient defense in the entire country last season. Torvik projects Tennessee to have the 43rd most efficient offense and the third most efficient defense in the upcoming season.
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Torvik’s preseason predictions are extremely high on the entire SEC entering next season. He projects six different teams to finish in the top 25 next season including Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, Texas (11), Texas A&M (21), Mississippi State (22) and Kentucky (23).
The entire 16-team SEC is projected to finish in the top 70 of the country. That means every team is in striking distance of being on the bubble this season. Oklahoma (67), Vanderbilt (66) and Missouri (61) are projected to be the three worst teams in the season according to Torvik.
Tennessee loses four starters from last season’s team that made it to the Elite Eight a season ago but returns key players like Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack and added key players in the transfer portal including North Florida’s Chaz Lanier and Ohio State’s Felix Okpara.
With the returning key players, up-and-coming contributor and a talented transfer class, there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic about Tennessee basketball entering next season.
