Tennessee basketball ascended to the top spot in both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll on Monday. It’s the third time that Tennessee has ever been the No. 1 team in the country and the second time under head coach Rick Barnes.
The Vols are off to an 8-0 start to the season with power five victories over Louisville, Virginia, Baylor and Syracuse. It’s the best start to the season for Tennessee basketball since 2000-01 as the Vols have used their usual great defense and improved offense to beat their first eight opponents by 15-plus points.
Slightly before Tennessee ascended as the top team in the country, head coach Rick Barnes and starting point guard Zakai Zeigler met with the media. Here’s what Barnes and Zeigler said about being the new No. 1 team in the country.
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Rick Barnes
On likely being the No. 1 team in the country, addressing that with his team
“Really, we’ve already talked about it. And you’re right. It doesn’t mean a whole lot other than the fact it’s a compliment to start we’ve gotten off to, and it’s a compliment to them. They worked hard and they certainly want to be No. 1. But they wanna be No. 1 at the end of the year.
And I think if you embrace it, it can make you better because you know that everyone else is looking to build a resume. I mean, if we’re on the other end of it, we’d be talking just like that. Hey, this chance will beat the No. 1 ranked team, build your resume. So we’re on this side of it. So you embrace it. You realize it can help you get better because the challenges you’re gonna see all year long. So it is what it is and you deal with it.”
On what he’s learned from coaching previous teams ranked No. 1
“Just that. Talk about it and not say, well, it is what it is. But they haven’t been there, some of them. And I think the key is like I just mentioned, you can use it to your advantage. And I don’t think anybody expects any team to go undefeated in college basketball and that’s what happens. You get ranked early and teams in front of you that sometimes are playing difficult schedules lose and you just move up just by the way it happens. But our key and it always will be, we’re gonna talk about where we are every day. We’re gonna talk about what we have to do every day to get better. And we also talk about the outside noise. And not that this is noise, this is college basketball. It is what it is. But, again, can use it and say, hey, if you really want to be No. 1, there’s a lot that comes with it with other people trying to lift their level of play because they know, hey, for 40 minutes, we got a chance to really do something special. And you embrace it. So you really, you do talk about it with them and say, hey. This is the way we’ve got to go about this.”
Zakai Zeigler
On if he’s able to enjoy being the new No. 1 team in the country
“I’m blessed that people look at us like that but it’s just a bigger target on our back. We’re going to approach every game the same way. It doesn’t really change anything on our end.”