Tennessee basketball: Vols men picked fifth, women picked sixth in SEC

Will both Tennessee basketball programs finish in the top half of the Southeastern Conference? The Volunteers are picked fifth, and the Lady Vols are sixth.

A drop-off is expected for the men’s a program due to attrition. But for the women, a surprise improvement is expected despite attrition there as well combined with the change of a head coach. Such is the case for Tennessee basketball programs with SEC Media Days underway.

Rick Barnes’s team, after losing four starters, its three leading scorers and rebounders along with its two leading assists men, is picked to finish fifth in the SEC this year, according to SECSports.com. That comes after finishing tied for No. 2 last year with the Kentucky Wildcats, behind the LSU Tigers, in a season in which they went 31-6 and made the Sweet Sixteen.

UK is picked to win it all on the men’s side. Meanwhile, Lamonte Turner was named preseason second-team All-SEC, while Kerry Blackshear, who transferred to the Florida Gators, is the projected SEC Player of the Year.

On the women’s side, things are a bit more shocking. The Lady Vols lost their leading scorer and assists woman, Evina Westbrook, to transfer this past year, and they lost Meme Jackson, their third-leading scorer along with Cheridene Green, their top rebounder, to graduation. Oh, and they have a new coach in Kellie Harper replacing Holly Warlick.

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This is all from a team that finished tied for eighth in the SEC with a 19-13 overall record and first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament. But somehow, they are picked to finish sixth this year, according to SECSports, with the South Carolina Gamecocks as the favorites to win it.

Rennia Davis, who was right their with Green as last year’s top rebounder and was the second-leading scorer, made second-team All-SEC. Chennedy Carter of the Texas A&M Aggies is the leading vote-getter for projected player of the year, although Rhyne Howard of the Kentucky Wildcats and Chelsea Dungee of the Arkansas Razorbacks also received votes.

You have to wonder if this was more about the Lady Vol brand name than anything else, because this level of attrition makes it hard to project that they will improve. After all, they had almost as much attrition as the men’s Tennessee basketball program.

Meanwhile, the men’s team kept its head coach and added a five-star guard in Josiah-Jordan James. And the level of attrition on their side caused them to drop four spots in SEC projections. So this is weird all the way around.

Either way, it’s a different era for both Tennessee basketball programs, as the Lady Vols have a new head coach and the men have a completely different identity. With the season less than a month away, it’s time for fans to get a bit excited, especially if football doesn’t recover.