Vols Sit in the Middle of Initial Basketball AP Poll
Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics
By Tucker Harlin
The preseason edition of the basketball AP Poll was released Monday.
FULL POLL HERE:
POLL ALERT: Kansas tops AP Top 25 preseason men's basketball poll ahead of Alabama, defending champion UConn; SEC leads way with 9 teams in poll.
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) October 14, 2024
Full poll: https://t.co/ZJG5mgWrsa pic.twitter.com/aAABleXK3s
Tennessee checks into the preseason AP Poll at #12. The Vols lost Dalton Knecht, a pair of veterans to graduation, and three more players to the transfer portal.
The SEC has far and away the most teams in the opening AP Poll with nine.
Of the nine, the two that rank ahead of Tennessee are Alabama at #2 and Auburn at #11. Not a surprise at all that Alabama is receiving all that love with numerous returnees and transfers coming in off a Final Four run, but Auburn generally doesn’t get this much preseason hype.
Texas A&M sits directly behind Tennessee at #13 coming off its best season under Buzz Williams.
Arkansas and Texas are the last two SEC teams in the Top 20 at #16 and #19 respectively. Arkansas is looking forward to a quick rebuild under John Calipari while Texas has a bit of a larger rebuild on its hands with Rodney Terry.
Rounding out the SEC is Florida at #21, Kentucky at #23, and Ole Miss at #24.
Florida and Ole Miss are trying to take steps forward under their respective coaches while Kentucky is hoping for the quickest of rebuilds under Mark Pope.
