Tennessee Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Volunteers

There’s a recent era of prosperity at Tennessee Basketball since Rick Barnes was brought into the program nearly a decade ago. The Volunteers are coming off a season where they made the NCAA Tournament for a fifth year in a row, this time advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. This was their second trip into the second weekend of the Big Dance under Barnes’ leadership.

Tennessee has spent much of the last few seasons in fantastic shape in this strong SEC. They’ve finished at or above .500 in conference play each of the last six seasons, including last year’s 11-7 mark against their conference foes. Not only have they been regular entrants in the AP Top 25, but they boasted one of the nation’s very best defenses last season, giving up just 57.9 points per game, the 3rd lowest total in the nation. In fact, they were ranked 1st in defensive efficiency by KenPom at season’s end.

Now, the attention turns towards this season, where things will be a bit different for the Volunteers. Julian Phillips is in the NBA, while both Tyreke Key and Uros Plavsic are off to the next level, having run out of eligibility. Perhaps the most important offseason departure was Olivier Nkamhoua, who will play this season at Michigan. Fortunately Barnes and his staff didn’t exactly sit on their hands and have an intriguing combination of recruits and transfers reloading the Volunteers with intriguing talent.

One of Tennessee’s greatest issues in recent seasons has been their performance in the postseason. In each of their five trips to the Big Dance during Barnes’ tenure, the Volunteers have been upset by a lower seed in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve lost three of those games to teams seeded seven spots or lower. While they alleviated some of those demons with an impressive win against Duke last year, they fell to Cinderella school Florida Atlantic in a winnable Sweet Sixteen matchup.

The Volunteers will again be one of the SEC’s best squads and they’ll certainly have aspirations for another deep run into the NCAA Tournament. Today we’ll be looking closely at this team, examining who’s on the roster, what kind of schedule they’ll play, and what we can expect from Tennessee throughout the season. There were certainly changes in Knoxville this offseason but can a reloaded roster push for an SEC crown and continue to play elite defense?