Tennessee basketball picked to finish fourth in SEC

Tennessee basketball was selected to finish fourth in the SEC in the conference's preseason media poll.

The voting panel consisted of SEC and national media representatives. Florida was picked to win the SEC regular-season championship. Texas was predicted to finish second, followed by Arkansas, the Vols, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Auburn, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, LSU, Mississippi State and South Carolina.

This marks the seventh consecutive year that Tennessee has earned a top-four spot in the preseason media poll, dating back to 2020-21. Additionally, the Vols have earned a top-five ranking every year since 2018-19.

Tennessee was previously projected to finish third in 2025-26 and 2024-25. The Vols were picked to finish first in 2023-24, third in 2022-23, fourth in 2021-22, first in 2020-21, fifth in 2019-20 and second in 2018-19.

Individually, Tennessee junior guard Juke Harris was select Preseason First-Team All-SEC by the panel. Harris, a Wake Forest transfer, earned first-team honors, along with Rueben Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh (Florida), Jake Hubbard (Mississippi State) and Tyler Tanner (Vanderbilt).

Harris earned Second-Team All-ACC honors for the Demon Deacons. He was also named the ACC's Most Improved Player after averaging 21.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game.