Where Tennessee Basketball is ranked after the Players Era Festival

Tennessee Basketball on Monday moved up three spot to No. 13 the Coaches Poll and four spots to No. 13 in the Associated Press Top 25 after wins over Houston and Rutgers in the Players Era Festival last week in Las Vegas.

The Vols (7-1) go to Syracuse (4-3) on Tuesday (7 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN2) in an ACC/SEC Challenge game at the JMA Wireless Dome. 

Tennessee faces Illinois on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, then is back home against Louisville on December 16.

Tennessee last week moved up three spots from No. 20 to No. 17 in the AP Top 25. The Vols moved up one spot from No. 17 to No. 16 in the Coaches Poll. 

In October Tennessee started at No. 18 in the preseason AP Top 25, then dropped to No. 20 on November 10 and stayed there on November 17.

The preseason Coaches Poll on October 22 had the Vols at No. 17 before a drop to No. 18 on November 10, then a move back up to No. 17 on November 17. 

Last week started with an 85-60 win over Rutgers to start the Players Era Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Monday. Tennessee beat then-No. 3 Houston 76-73 on Tuesday, but gave up a 12-point lead with 15 minutes left in an 81-76 loss to Kansas on Wednesday.

Vols have been ranked for 84 straight weeks 

Tennessee has been ranked for 84 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. 

Where Tennessee is ranked in the KenPom ratings

Tennessee is ranked No. 13 overall in the KenPom.com ratings after the 7-1 start to the season. The Vols are ranked No. 13 in adjusted defensive efficiency (95.3) and No. 18 in adjusted offensive efficiency (121.7).

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.