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Tennessee Lady Vols Finish Regular Season Outside of Both Top 25 Polls

By Caleb Calhoun

Mar 23, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 23, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Despite a huge win to close out the regular season, the Tennessee Lady Vols enter postseason play outside of both Women’s Basketball Top 25 rankings.

They scored a huge, shocking victory on the road over the Mississippi State Bulldogs to close out the year. Meanwhile, they finished on a two-game winning streak and are in the Top 15 of the RPI. But the Tennessee Lady Vols could not crack either Top 25 poll as the regular season drew to a close.

Going into postseason play, Holly Warlick’s Volunteers are two spots outside of both polls.

In the AP Poll, they received 31 votes with the Crieghton Bluejays one spot ahead of them.

Meanwhile, they received 32 votes in the USA TODAY poll with the Missouri Tigers one spot ahead of them.

In addition to the Tigers, who were ranked No. 23 in the AP Poll, there were three other SEC teams in the Top 25 over the Tennessee Lady Vols.

Those were the Kentucky Wildcats, the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Tennessee beat all four of those teams, but they achieved first-round byes in the SEC Tournament as well, while the Vols got a No. 5 seed.

With a 19-10 record overall and a 10-6 SEC record, Tennessee’s inconsistent play was not enough to convince the voters to put them in.

But if they have a strong SEC Tournament showing, given their No. 4 ranked strength of schedule, they could likely go into the NCAA Tournament with a higher seed than their ranking in either poll indicates.

Their first game in the tournament is Thursday, but the opponent remains unknown.