Tennessee basketball: Vols unranked, play eight games vs. AP preseason top 25 teams

With four Volunteers starters gone, men’s Tennessee basketball begins 2019-2020 three spots out of the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll.

It looks like Tennessee basketball will have to earn its way back to a national ranking. Despite going 31-6 in 2018-2019, reaching the Sweet Sixteen and spending nearly a month ranked No. 1 in the nation, Rick Barnes’s fifth team on Rocky Top begins the 2019-2020 season outside of the AP Preseason Top 25 rankings.

Topping the poll was the Michigan State Spartans. The Vols came in at No. 28 with 78 points. However, they will have plenty of chances to get back into the top 25 soon enough with their schedule, and it starts with a few huge games in November and December.

On Nov. 16, Tennessee basketball faces the Washington Huskies in Canada in the James Naismith Classic. Washington is two spots ahead of the Vols, just one spot outside of the top 25 at No. 26, receiving 164 votes.

Then they travel to Niceville, Fla. for the Emerald Coast Classic, tipping off Nov. 29 against the Florida State Seminoles, who are two spots behind the Vols in the top 25 at No. 30 with 36 votes. After that, the next day they will either face the Purdue Boilermakers or VCU Rams, who are ranked No. 23 and No. 25 respectively. Purdue eliminated UT in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

That’s one preseason top 25 teams and three overall receiving votes before December. Then the Vols host the No. 14 ranked Memphis Tigers on Saturday, Dec. 14. Four days later, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, they visit the Cincinnati Bearcats, who also received eight points in the preseason AP poll and are in the top 40. The Wisconsin Badgers to end December are an extra Power Five opponent.

After a series of SEC games, their final non-conference game is Saturday, Jan. 25 at the No. 3 ranked Kansas Jayhawks in the SEC-Big 12 challenge. So Tennessee basketball has seven of its 13 non-conference games coming against either Power Five teams, teams receiving votes in the top 25 or both. And that doesn’t even count their SEC schedule.

There are four SEC teams in the preseason top 25: The Kentucky Wildcats at No. 2, the Florida Gators at No. 6, the LSU Tigers at No. 22 and the Auburn Tigers at No. 24. UT has to face Kentucky and Florida twice, but fortunately for them, Auburn and LSU are at home.

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Outside of those teams, though, there are three other SEC teams receiving votes in the AP Poll along with the Vols: The Missouri Tigers with 13 points at No. 34, the Mississippi State Bulldogs with 12 points at No. 35 and the Alabama Crimson Tide with two points and tied at No. 43. Tennessee basketball faces all three of them once, but they are all on the road.

Taking all this into account, the Vols have eight of their 31 games against preseason AP top 25 teams for 2019-2020. They have 15 of their 31 games in total against teams receiving votes in the preseason ranking. And 25 of their 31 games are against either Power Five teams or teams receiving votes in the preseason AP Top 25.

We’re looking at a brutal schedule for a team beginning the year unranked. That ranking comes after the Vols lose four starters in Grant Williams, Jordan Bone, Admiral Schofield and Kyle Alexander. Included in that group are their three leading scorers, three leading rebounders and two leading assists men. Three of those players were drafted, and all four earned NBA deals.

Meanwhile, they lost two backup power forwards to transfer, one of whom redshirted last year. So you could see why there is a lot of skepticism surrounding this team, even with lots of newcomers headlined by five-star freshman combo guard Josiah-Jordan Games and a few returning contributors headlined by Jordan Bowden and Lamonte Turner.

Simply put, the preseason AP Poll shows that Tennessee basketball has a lot to prove heading into the 2019-2020 season. But it also shows that they will get plenty of chances to prove it, and that’s a big deal.