Tennessee basketball: Men, Lady Vols fall in AP Poll

By Caleb Calhoun | Jan 22, 2018

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 13: Tennessee Volunteers players react from the bench in the second half of a game against the Texas A /

The men’s and women’s Tennessee basketball teams fell in the AP Poll for Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. See where the Volunteers are in the rankings.

Both Tennessee basketball teams moved around in Monday’s AP Polls, and it wasn’t good news for either of them. The Vols and Lady Vols both dropped, and while it was clear the Lady Vols would, the men’s fall was debatable.

At 13-5 and 4-3 in the SEC, the men’s Tennessee basketball ranking dropped one spot to No. 22 in the men’s AP Poll. They were leapfrogged by the Ohio State Buckeyes, Florida Gators and Saint Mary’s Gaels.

Ohio State was No. 22 in last week’s rankings, but wins over the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Northwestern Wildcats helped them jump over the Vols. However, those are two very mediocre teams, and Tennessee deserves more credit for splitting last week with two road games against he Missouri Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks.

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Florida and Saint Mary’s, meanwhile, were unranked last week. The Gaels scored two huge road wins against the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Pacific Tigers. Florida beat the Arkansas Razorbacks and Kentucky Wildcats on the road. So it was reasonable to give both of them a jump.

And speaking of Kentucky, the Vols leapfrogged the Wildcats, who dropped out of the Top 25, and the Seton Hall Pirates, who also fell out. That’s why they were No. 22 and not No. 25.

At the same time, though, the men did remain at No. 21 in the Amway Coaches Poll. That’s because Florida stayed one spot below them.

In Monday’s RealTime RPI, Tennessee basketball was No. 12 with the No. 4 ranked strength of schedule. The only SEC team higher was still the Auburn Tigers.

The women, meanwhile, were a different story. The Tennessee Lady Vols dropped to No. 10 in the women’s AP Poll for this week, and the only question was why they didn’t drop further from their No. 6 ranking.

After all, the Lady Vols were embarrassed by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Mississippi State Bulldogs last week, proving that Holly Warlick’s team doesn’t look any better than teams from previous years. It was a bad look, and they deservedly fell back below the South Carolina Gamecocks.

In the women’s RealTime RPI, though, they are actually moving up. This team is now in the Top 10 at No. 9. That’s because they went from being undefeated with a terrible strength of schedule to 16-3 with the No. 19 ranked strength of schedule. So despite looking awful the past two games, they still did enough to get into the Top 10.

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