Lady Vols basketball was not ranked in either of the preseason AP Top 25 or USA TODAY Coaches Poll released Oct. 20.
Tennessee fell out both polls on Feb. 23 and never reentered the top 25 as the Lady Vols lost eight straight games to end the 2025-26 season. Before that, they had a 31-week streak in the AP poll going back to Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell's first season.
The Lady Vols received 20 votes in the preseason coaches poll and were the fourth team outside of the top 25 behind Baylor, Arizona State and Nebraska. They earned nine votes in the AP poll and were the seventh team outside the top 25.
Tennessee has nine games against teams ranked in the top 25. The Lady Vols have an exhibition against Florida A&M on Oct. 27 (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+) before officially opening the season against Duquesne at Food City Center on Nov. 2 (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).
The Lady Vols also started Caldwell's first season at the helm unranked before re-starting their streak in December of the 2024-25 season after a 7-0 start that included wins over Florida State and Iowa. Tennessee was a consensus top-10 team going into Caldwell's second season, but it fell out of the top 10 after losing its season opener to NC State.
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 809 of the 906 polls.
Women's college basketball preseason rankings for 2026-27 season
USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
First-place votes in parentheses
- South Carolina (26)
- UConn (6)
- Southern Cal
- Duke
- Michigan
- Texas
- Louisville
- LSU
- Vanderbilt
- Iowa
- North Carolina
- UCLA
- Notre Dame
- Kentucky
- Washington
- TCU
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Oklahoma State
- Ohio State
- Oklahoma
- Illinois
- Ole Miss
- West Virginia
- North Carolina
Dropped out: No. 20 Michigan State; No. 21 Baylor; No. 23 Texas Tech; No. 24 Virginia; No. 25 Princeton
Others receiving votes: Baylor 44; Arizona State 42; Nebraska 40; Tennessee 20; Michigan State 18; Gonzaga 15; South Dakota State 11; Oregon 9; Oregon State 8; Rice 5; Villanova 5; Princeton 4; Florida 3; James Madison 3; Texas Tech 3; Clemson 2; Fairfield 2; Kansas 2; Virginia 2.
AP Top 25 poll
First-place votes in parentheses
- South Carolina (23)
- UConn (6)
- Southern California (2)
- Duke
- Michigan
- Texas
- Louisville
- Vanderbilt
- LSU
- Iowa
- UCLA
- North Carolina
- Notre Dame
- Kentucky
- TCU
- Washington
- Minnesota
- Ohio State
- Ole Miss
- Maryland
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State
- Illinois
- West Virginia
- NC State
Others receiving votes: Nebraska 47; Arizona State 36, Baylor 31, Virginia 30, Michigan State 16, Kansas 12, Tennessee 9, Alabama 7, Syracuse 5, Villanova 5, Fairfield 2, Oregon 2, Rice 2, Georgia 2, Colorado 2, Virginia Tech 1, Clemson 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
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lady Vols basketball unranked in AP, coaches poll to start 2026-27 season