SEC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2024-25 season

3. Tennessee Volunteers

Over the past few seasons, Rick Barnes has turned Tennessee into one of the better programs in college basketball. In nine seasons at Tennessee, he has made the NCAA Tournament six times and has won at least 25 games in each of the last three seasons. 

The Volunteers did lose a couple of mainstays from the last few years with both Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James running out of eligibility. But the biggest loss of the offseason was Dalton Knecht. Knecht took the SEC by storm in his lone season with Tennessee, averaging 21.7 points per game and being named SEC Player of the Year. 

Luckily for Barnes, he had plenty of solid players to build around. Among his returners is last year's SEC Defensive Player of the Year Zakai Zeigler. Zeigler does just about everything for this Tennessee team. Last season he was the team's second-leading scorer (11.8 ppg), he led the conference in assists (6.1 apg) and even though he is an undersized point guard, he was fourth in the conference in steals averaging nearly two per game. 

Barnes added a ton of talent from the transfer portal. Chaz Lanier (19.7 ppg), Igor Milicic (12.8 ppg), and Darlinstone Dubar (17.8 ppg) were all really good scorers in the mid-major ranks. Lanier made 44 percent from three a year ago and should be a good candidate to replace a bulk of Knecht’s scoring. Milicic and Dubar are both strong rebounders and solid defenders. And to solidify his interior defense, Barnes signed Felix Okpara (6.4 rpg, 2.4 bpg) from Ohio State. 

The only concern for this year's Tennessee team is that the offense might see a slight step back if Lanier and Dubar can’t score at a high level in the SEC. Both are great three-point shooters and with Zeigler getting them the ball, they should have some wide-open shots. There is little to no concern with the defense. Zeigler should once again be the best defender in the conference and the addition of Okpara as a rim protector all but solidifies that the Volunteers should be the top defense in the conference. Tennessee made it to the Elite Eight last season, and there is no reason why it can’t make it back again this year.