Tennessee basketball: Is No. 3 ranking too high for Vols in 2018-2019?

In a way too early preseason poll, Tennessee basketball is ranked third in the nation. Is that ranking justified or too high for the Volunteers?

Tennessee basketball is finally getting some love from the national media. All they had to do was listen to us during the last half of the season to know the Vols were for real.

We wrote a post the other day about Tennessee being favorites in the upcoming season against Gonzaga. At that time Gary Parrish from CBS Sports had the Vols ranked fourth in the nation only behind Kansas, Duke, and Villanova.

Recent news has surfaced that Villanova is losing Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges to the NBA Draft, making the Wildcats drop to the seventh spot. So in turn, the Vols jumped to the three spot.

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Is a three seed too high for the Vols next season? We have written on this topic many times, but the Vols return almost everyone from last year’s team. James Daniel III was a senior last season, and the future of Admiral Schofield is still up for grabs.

However, number three in the national ranking is awfully high. But too high? I am not claiming to be an expert, after all, I did think Tennessee was a lock for the Sweet Sixteen last season. But, maybe a number three ranking is justified.

As we mentioned, the Vols return virtually everyone from a team that was a tough out last season, just a little young, If the starting lineup stays the same as last year, the Vols would start two seniors and three juniors. All five players would have a great deal of experience as well.

That is not even mentioning the SEC Sixth Man of the Year in Lamonte Turner. He had games last season where he couldn’t be stopped. Turner had four games with over twenty points. One point during SEC play, Turner was shotting a staggering 55 percent from the three-point line.

We know the defense is going to be great and if Bowden and Bone can become more consistent threats on offense, Tennessee could have a real opportunity to make next season a special one.

Both Bowden and Bone showed signs throughout the season where they were hard to guard. Other times, however, they failed to get involved in the offense. No one is expecting them to score 20 points a game, but some games need more production.

Next: 5 bold predictions for the Vols 2018-19 season

The expectations are set high at the current moment. High expectations are sometimes hard for some teams to overcome. However, if any team could live up to expectations, it is this Tennessee team coached by Rick Barnes.

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