The Southeastern Conference’s media picked Tennessee basketball to win the league’s regular season title, the SEC announced Tuesday afternoon.
Tennessee is coming off a season where it posted a 25-11 (11-7 SEC) record that was good for a tie for fifth place in the regular season before making a run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
The Vols have finished in the top five of regular season standings in four of the last five years including splitting the regular season championship in 2017-18 and second place finishes in 2018-19 and 2021-22. After finishing a game behind Auburn in ’22, the Vols won their first SEC Tournament Championship since 1979.
Rick Barnes program has been the favorite to win the SEC once during his tenure when the league’s media picked the Vols to win the conference title in 2020-21. Tennessee disappointed that season, finishing fourth in the regular season before a first round exit in the NCAA Tournament.
The SEC is expected to be a tight race again this season with no team as the clear favorite. Directly behind Tennessee in the preseason standings are Texas A&M, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama and Auburn.
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While there’s no obvious front runner in the SEC, Tennessee has been the near consensus team to win the conference. Both the AP (No. 8) and USA Today Coaches Poll (No. 10) ranked Tennessee has the top team in the conference with Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Alabama not far behind.
There’s plenty of reason for optimism in Knoxville entering the season after veterans Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James elected to return to Knoxville for their super senior season. Tennessee also added talented redshirt freshman Freddie Dilione (who early enrolled and redshirted last season) and transfers Jordan Gainey and Dalton Knecht to a roster that returns six contributors from last season’s Sweet 16 team.
Tennessee also returners a number of players looking to take a step forward in their second or third-year in the program including Zakai Zeigler, Tobe Awaka, Jonas Aidoo and Jahmai Mashack.
The Vols’ tip off their 2023-24 season on Nov. 6 against Tennessee Tech before facing Wisconsin, Syracuse, Gonzaga/Purdue and one other top team in the Maui Invitational before the calendar turns to December.
The full SEC preseason predictions are below.
SEC Preseason Predictions
- Tennessee
- Texas A&M
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- Alabama
- Auburn
- Mississippi State
- Florida
- Missouri
- Ole Miss
- Vanderbilt
- Georgia
- LSU
- South Carolina
