'I hope we're that good': What Rick Barnes said about Tennessee being picked to win the SEC

Rick Barnes was walking around Knoxville Tuesday afternoon when he started being congratulated by people around him. It took a second Tennessee men’s basketball coach to figure out exactly what everyone was talking about.

It was announced Tuesday afternoon that the Vols had been picked win the SEC’s regular-season championship the preseason media poll. But it was news to Barnes. 

“I think that those polls are obviously for the media and the fanbases to do that,” Barnes said Wednesday at SEC basketball media day in Birmingham, “but you gotta go win games. And you embrace it. I mean, I hope we’re that good. I really do. I really do hope we’re that good and better.”

Tennessee was picked to win the SEC ahead of No. 2 Texas A&M. Arkansas was picked third, ahead of No. 4 Kentucky, No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Auburn. Mississippi State was picked seventh, with Florida at No. 8 and Missouri at No. 9. The bottom five were No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 12 Georgia, No. 13 LSU and No. 14 South Carolina.

It’s the second time in four season Tennessee has been picked to win the league in the preseason media poll. Tennessee was voted first in 2020-21 and was the first time the program had been picked to win the league since 2008-09.

The Vols were picked third in the preseason poll last year and fourth before the 2021-22. They were voted fifth in 2019-20 and second in 2018-19. The first Barnes team in 2015-16 was picked 12th and his next two teams were picked 13th, in both 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Zakai Zeigler: ‘We treat ourself like we’re at the bottom’

Fifth-year senior guard Santiago Vescovi was voted First Team All-SEC and junior guard Zakai Zeigler was voted Second Team All-SEC.

Vescovi led Tennessee in minutes (32.3), points (12.5), three-point percentage (.370), threes made (91) and steals last season. He was second in assists with 102. Before suffering a season-ending ACL tear on February 28 last season, Zeigler was averaging 10.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.

“That’s really good for us,” Zeigler said Wednesday of his team being picked to win the league, “but we always use that as fuel to the fire still and the chip on our shoulder. We don’t look at it as we’re number one. We don’t get big-headed. We use that as just us saying, hey, this is what people see us as, but we treat ourself like we’re at the bottom.”

Tennessee on Monday was ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 Preseason Poll and No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. It’s just the fifth time in program history that the Vols were ranked in the top ten of both preseason polls. It’s the fourth straight year Tennessee has been ranked in the top 20 to start the season.

Tennessee’s non-conference schedule full of ranked opponents

The Vols are three weeks away from the start of the regular-season opener against Tennessee Tech on November 6 at Thompson-Boling Arena. They go on the road to face Wisconsin on November 10 at the Kohl Center in Madison.

After the trip to Wisconsin, the treacherous non-conference schedule continues with the Vols in the Maui Invitational field that includes No. 1 Kansas, No. 3 Purdue, No. 5 Marquette and No. 11 Gonzaga, along with UCLA and Syracuse.

Tennessee goes to No. 19 North Carolina on November 29, the first game back from the trip to Hawaii, hosts No. 25 Illinois on December 9 and plays North Carolina State on December 16 in a neutral-site game in San Antonio.

“This time of year, rankings, ratings, all that come out,” Barnes said, “I mean, within the first week, you could be a top-five team in the country. You could be the number one team in the country. Some of these (early-season) tournaments you could be out of it in a week because of this time of year everybody’s trying to find themselves and figure out who they are.

“And some of these early preseason tournaments are really good. What we’re gonna face in Maui is as good as I’ve ever seen in terms of a tournament itself. And you can be a really good team there and come out with a couple losses.”

Forget preseason polls. Barnes on Wednesday was focused on what’s left of the preseason for his team.

“We’ll always be more concerned with what we do day to day in practice, getting ready for each game,” he said. “And like I said, I tell our guys once we walk on the floor and once we start playing our first game, every game is an NCAA Tournament game if you want to get there.

“And whether you’re picked to win it, I guess when you’re picked to win the league or you’re ranked, you got a ranking, you’ve got a big bullseye on your back and you’ve gotta embrace that and know that if you really embrace it, you’re going to get better every night. And that’s the key from now, how much better can we get?”