Where Lady Vols basketball is ranked in preseason USA TODAY coaches poll for 2025-26

Lady Vols basketball is a top-10 team in both major polls going into coach Kim Caldwell’s second season at Tennessee.

The Lady Vols checked in at No. 9 in the preseason USA TODAY Sports coaches poll, which was released Oct. 23. Tennessee was ranked No. 8 in the preseason AP Top 25.

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The Lady Vols ended the 2024-25 season ranked No. 16 in the USA TODAY coaches poll and No. 15 in the AP Top 25 after starting Caldwell’s first season unranked.

Tennessee was ranked as high as No. 11 in Caldwell’s first season, though it never cracked the top 10.

The Lady Vols will face seven of the top-10 teams in the USA TODAY coaches poll this season and 11 total teams ranked in the preseason poll. They’ll open the season against No. 8 NC State on Nov. 4 (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2) in Greensboro, North Carolina. UT will also face No. 4 UCLA, No. 19 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. 3 Texas, No. 5 LSU, and No. 7 Oklahoma. Ole Miss is ranked No. 14, Kentucky is ranked No. 20 and Vanderbilt is No. 21.

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USA TODAY Sports preseason Top 25 women’s basketball poll

Rankings include the team’s record from last year in parentheses.

1. UConn (37-3), 772 points, 28 first place votes

2. South Carolina (35-4), 741 points, three first place votes

7. Oklahoma (27-8), 559 points

8. NC State (28-7), 516 points

9. Tennessee (24-10), 509 points

10. Maryland (25-8), 487 points

11. North Carolina (29-8), 431 points

13. Notre Dame (28-6), 351 points

14. Ole Miss (22-11), 346 points

15. Michigan (25-11), 322 points

16. Southern Cal (31-4), 291 points

17. Iowa State (23-12), 285 points

18. Baylor (28-8), 282 points

19. Louisville (22-11), 198 points

20. Kentucky (23-8), 164 points

21. Vanderbilt (22-11), 148 points

22. Oklahoma State (25-7), 113 points

24. Ohio State (26-7) 82 points

25. Kansas State (28-8), 76 points

Dropped out: No. 19 West Virginia (25-8);No. 21 Alabama (24-9); No. 23 South Dakota State (30-4); No. 24 Florida State (24-9); No. 25 Creighton (26-7). Others receiving votes: West Virginia (25-8) 72; Richmond (28-7) 67; Michigan State (22-10) 64; Alabama (24-9) 40; South Dakota State (30-4) 19; Florida State (24-9) 15; Creighton (26-7) 9; Princeton (21-8) 9; Washington (19-14) 8; Indiana (20-13) 7; James Madison (30-6) 4; Stanford (16-15) 4; Nebraska (21-12) 2; California (25-9) 1; Fairfield (28-5) 1; George Mason (27-6) 1; Minnesota (25-11) 1; South Florida (23-11) 1.

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

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Where Tennessee women’s basketball is ranked in preseason USA TODAY poll