NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early top 25 power rankings for 2022-23 season

2021-22 season record: 27-8 (14-4 in SEC)

The Volunteers were a 3 seed who couldn’t make it to the Sweet 16 in Kennedy Chandler’s lone season with them. He’s off to the NBA Draft, while longtime Tennessee big man John Fulkerson doesn’t have any eligibility left. But not only is everyone else capable of coming back if they want, the team already has replacements for those two departing pieces.

While Chandler may have been the most talented guard on the roster, Zakai Zeigler was the heart and soul of the team. Tennessee went to another level once the 5’9 freshman guard got consistent extended minutes. He’ll be the undisputed lead guard of the team next year and look for his numbers (8.8 ppg and 2.7 apg) to take a big jump.

Sharpshooter Santiago Vescovi and the versatile Josiah Jordan-James will be back as seniors as well, along with former Auburn guard Justin Powell, who lost his minutes to Zeigler but still has plenty of talent and should have a role next year if he doesn’t transfer out.

There should be plenty of depth in the frontcourt, led by the return of Olivier Nkamhoua. His season was cut short in February but he was on the way towards breakout status in November, including multiple 20+ point games. If he can get back to that form and former five-star prospect Brandon Huntley-Hatfield shows any sign of improvement, this team will be an SEC contender and not take much of a dip down at all.