Where Tennessee Basketball is ranked in the Preseason Coaches Poll

Tennessee Basketball debuted at No. 17 in the preseason Coaches Poll on Wednesday afternoon. The Vols, who host Duke in a sold-out exhibition game Sunday night and open the regular season on November 3, were ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 on October 13.

Purdue is No. 1 in the Coaches Poll, ahead of No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 UConn and No. 5 Duke. Rounding out the top 10 are No. 6. St. John’s, No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 BYU, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 10 Louisville. Other ranked SEC teams are No. 15 Arkansas, No. 16 Alabama and No. 22 Auburn.

Last season Tennessee started at No. 12 in both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll in the preseason and finished at No. 5 in both polls, after a second straight run to the Elite Eight. The Vols also finished at No. 5 in both polls at the end of the 2023-24 season. 

Tennessee has been ranked for 81 straight weeks, the second-longest active streak in college basketball and more than doubling the previous program record of 37 straight weeks ranked.

The Vols have been ranked every week since the start of the 2021-22 season and have been ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 for six straight seasons.

Tennessee was ranked in the top 10 in the Coaches Poll for 20 straight weeks last season and was ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 for 18 straight weeks. The Vols were also ranked No. 1 for five straight weeks last season while tying a program record with its 14-0 start to the season.

The exhibition game against Duke on Sunday is a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN2 in the preseason finale, before Tennessee opens the season against Mercer.

Tennessee picked to finish third in SEC preseason media poll

Tennessee last week was picked to finish third in the SEC in the preseason media poll. Florida was picked to win the league and Kentucky was picked to finish second. 

The Vols have been picked to finish in the top three in the SEC for four straight seasons, while no other program has done so more than twice in that time. They’ve been picked to finish in the top five for eight straight seasons. 

Tennessee freshman Nate Ament and transfer point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie were both voted second-team All-SEC.

Tennessee ranked No. 9 in new KenPom.com ratings

On Sunday KenPom.com had Tennessee at No. 9 in its first ratings update for the 2025-26 season. The Vols are ranked No. 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 28 in adjusted offensive efficiency. 

The Vols finished at No. 6 in the KenPom ratings in 2022-23 and No. 9 in the 2021-22. Their last KenPom finish outside the top 10 was No. 28 in 2020-21.

Tennessee last season finished No. 17 in adjusted offensive efficiency in the KenPom ratings and No. 3 on defense. The Vols were No. 28 on offense in 2023-24 and No. 3 on defense. They haven’t finished outside the top five on defense since 2019-20, including a No. 1 ranking defensively in 2022-23.