Tennessee picked third in SEC by media; Three Vols named to All-SEC teams

Basketball season is now just days away, and the Tennessee Volunteers are once again set to be major players nationally and in the SEC. Rick Barnes returns a handful of key players that have plenty of experience in his system, while adding another NBA-caliber prospect in Julian Phillips.

Tennessee landed at No. 11 in the preseason AP poll earlier this week. The Volunteers landed at No. 4 in KenPom’s first batch of rankings.

On Wednesday, Tennessee was picked to finish third in the SEC by the media. Kentucky was picked to win the SEC, while Arkansas was picked to finish second.

2022-23 SEC Media Projections

1. Kentucky
2. Arkansas
3. Tennessee
4. Auburn
5. Alabama
6. Texas A&M
7. Florida
8. LSU
9. Ole Miss
10. Mississippi State
11. Missouri
12. Vanderbilt
13. Georgia
14. South Carolina

Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe was selected as the preseason SEC player of the year.

Three Volunteers landed on the All-SEC teams. Santiago Vescovi was named to the first team, while Josiah-Jordan James and Zakai Zeigler landed on the second team.

All-SEC First Team

G Nick Smith Jr. (Arkansas)

F Colin Castleton (Florida)

F Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky)

G Santiago Vescovi (Tennessee)

G Sahvir Wheeler (Kentucky)

All-SEC Second Team

F Brandon Miller (Alabama)

G Jahvon Quinerly (Alabama)

F KJ Williams (LSU)

G Zakai Zeigler (Tennessee)

G Josiah-Jordan James (Tennessee)

Tennessee will open the season with a couple of huge scrimmages — a closed door meeting with Michigan State, followed by a PPV scrimmage with Gonzaga. The Volunteers will officially begin their campaign on November 7th, hosting Tennessee Tech.