Lady Vols basketball is a top-10 team going into coach Kim Caldwell’s second season.
Tennessee was ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press preseason poll released Oct. 14. The Lady Vols were ranked No. 15 in the final AP poll of the 2024-25 season, which was released after the season ended and UT made a run to the Sweet 16.
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Tennessee restarted its streak in the AP Top 25 after a 7-0 start last season, which included wins over Florida State and Iowa, got it back in the rankings on Dec. 9. The Lady Vols were ranked the rest of the season and climbed as high as No. 11.
Tennessee entered the 2024-25 season unranked. Before it earned its way into the rankings, the last time UT had been ranked in the AP Top 25 was Week 4 of the 2023-24 season, which was released Nov. 27, 2023. Tennessee had only been ranked for 10 of the previous 45 weeks of the AP Top 25 since being ranked the entire 2021-22 season.
The Lady Vols have been ranked in the AP Top 25 the most of any program since the poll began in 1976. UT has been ranked in 795 of the 886 polls.
The Lady Vols have 11 games against teams ranked in the AP preseason poll, including four nonconference opponents.
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Tennessee will face No. 9 NC State in the season opener on Nov. 4 (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2). UT will also face No. 3 UCLA, No. 20 Louisville and No. 1 UConn in nonconference play.
Eight SEC teams were ranked in the preseason poll. Tennessee is the fifth-highest ranked SEC team behind No. 2 South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 LSU, and No. 6 Oklahoma. Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Kentucky are also ranked.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee women’s basketball ranked No. 8 in preseason Associated Press Poll
