The last week was a mixed bag for Tennessee hoops. The Vols underwhelmed on Tuesday in Lexington, losing 75-64 to the Wildcats for a season sweep by Tennessee’s rival to the north.
Then, after a gross first half, the Vols stormed back to get past the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville 81-76. Tennessee trailed by as much as 16 points in the first half (38-22) and by 13 at the break (44-31) before embarking on a furious rally to get a much-needed SEC win and split with their Nashville rivals in the regular season.
It appears as though the three bad halves of basketball out of four was enough to dock the Vols with the poll voters this week. Tennessee dropped from 5 to 6 in the AP Poll and 4 to 6 in the Coaches Poll.
POLL ALERT: Florida up to No. 2 behind Auburn in AP Top 25, followed by Duke, Alabama and Houston as SEC holds five of the top 10.
Full poll: https://t.co/ZJG5mgWrsa pic.twitter.com/ct8OYIds5Q
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) February 17, 2025
It’s not hard to fault the drop. Tennessee still looks like a team that has the talent to make a Final Four run but has the scoreless droughts and occasional defensive lapses that could make them two-and-out in the tournament. Right now, they don’t look the part of a one seed, which ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Vols as one of the first two seeds in his most recent projections, so the ranking is probably on par with where they should be.
Tennessee has their mid-week game off this week, so they’ve got some extra time to prepare for a top ten clash with Texas A&M this Saturday in College Station. That will help prove if Tennessee is top seed material, or if the slow slide from the top of the rankings will continue further.