Rick Barnes Leads Vols To Best Finish Ever (UT Athletics)
The University of Tennessee men's basketball is fifth in both major polls to conclude the 2023-24 season.
Tennessee (27-9, 14-4 SEC) holds the fifth position in both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, as revealed Tuesday afternoon.
The Volunteers moved up one spot on each list, as they entered the NCAA Tournament sixth in the country. Tennessee defeated Saint Peter's, Texas and then-No. 11 Creighton to reach the Elite Eight for the second time, before falling to the eventual NCAA runner-up, Purdue.
Tennessee's fifth-place finish in the AP Poll ties a program record set in both 2021-22 and 2007-08.
This is the first time the Associated Press has released a year-end poll after the NCAA Tournament, as the final poll from 1948-49 through 2022-23 came beforehand.
Additionally, the Volunteers' fifth-place position in the Coaches Poll—the organization has traditionally released a post-NCAA Tournament list—sets a program best. Their prior top mark was seventh in 2007-08.
This is the ninth AP top-five ranking of the year for the Volunteers, good for the second-most in a campaign in program history, behind just the 14 they earned in 2018-19. Barnes has steered Tennessee to 27 AP top-five rankings, all in the last six years, after it had 17 all-time before his arrival in 2015-16.
Tennessee is in the AP top 25 for the 59th consecutive week, good the third-longest streak in the country behind just Houston (85) and Kansas (64). The only other team with a tally of even 40-plus in Arizona (57).
The Volunteers' 59-week mark is 22 longer than the program's prior best of 37 from March 1999 to Feb. 2001. Tennessee has now been ranked in every poll for three straight seasons, earning a top-10 spot in 32 of those 59 releases.
This is the 15th consecutive week Tennessee is in the AP top 10, passing a stretch in 2000-01 for sole possession of the second-longest ledger in school history. The only longer span was a 20-week run in 2018-19, also in head coach
Rick Barnes' tenure.
Of the Volunteers' five all-time double-digit streaks, three are under Barnes, who has led the program 57 of its 151 total AP top-10 rankings, 37.7 percent of its all-time total. This year, Tennessee earned a top-10 spot in 18 of the 20 releases, including ranking eighth or better in each of the final 15.
Tennessee, which won the outright SEC regular season title, collected 1,203 points in the AP Poll voting, a 45-point increase from last week and just 14 shy of the co-third-place teams, Alabama and Houston, and 108 ahead of sixth-place Illinois. In the Coaches Poll, the Volunteers accumulated 638 points, just 13 back of third-placed Houston and four behind fourth-place Alabama, as well as 60 in front of sixth-place North Carolina.
Five SEC teams ended the year in the top 25 of both polls. Alabama placed No. 3/4, with Auburn at No. 18/17, Kentucky at No. 20/19 and South Carolina at No. 24/23. In addition, Florida and Texas A&M received votes in both polls, while Arkansas did so in the AP Poll.