Still # 1

[508mikey]

The full Associated Press men’s basketball poll from Dec. 16, 2024.

1. Tennessee (10-0)

2. Auburn (8-1)

3. Iowa State (9-1)

4. Kentucky (10-1)

5. Duke (8-2)

6. Alabama (8-2)

7. Florida (10-0)

8. Kansas (8-2)

9. Marquette (9-2)

10. Oregon (10-1)

 

[Chris4Vols22]

Three undefeated SEC teams in the top 25 (#13 Oklahoma)

 

[SGMVols]

We need Auburn to not blow out Purdue this weekend or there may be enough voters who flip to knock us out of #1. All we have left OOC are 3 buy games.

 

[JohnWardForever]

I don't think Tennessee will get bumped until they lose one.

 

[JohnWardForever]

We need Auburn to not blow out Purdue this weekend or there may be enough voters who flip to knock us out of #1. All we have left OOC are 3 buy games.

Forget about it. Auburn is gonna blast Purdue, they got it coming. And Tennessee will still be #1.

 

[BreatheUT]

The full Associated Press men’s basketball poll from Dec. 16, 2024.

1. Tennessee (10-0)

2. Auburn (8-1)

3. Iowa State (9-1)

4. Kentucky (10-1)

5. Duke (8-2)

6. Alabama (8-2)

7. Florida (10-0)

8. Kansas (8-2)

9. Marquette (9-2)

10. Oregon (10-1)

Top 10 Breakdown by conference

SEC - 5
Big 12 - 2
ACC - 1
Big East - 1
Big Ten - 1

 

[cardvolfan]

5-7 SEC teams in top 7. Just wow. Our total first place votes fell from 58 to 50. A prominent local media guy said yesterday Tennessee would be a unanimous #1. I won’t call him out, but knew he would be wrong. Auburn did hammer an overrated Ohio State team in an overrated arena with an overrated coach.

 

[njvols]

We need Auburn to not blow out Purdue this weekend or there may be enough voters who flip to knock us out of #1. All we have left OOC are 3 buy games.

Auburn is legit. We are too, but will all sort itself out when conference play starts. Going to be a slug it out year I think...but we're in a great spot w/ our team. It looks like we've got the RB Defense standard, plus more consistent scoring...which we had LY w/ DK, but this year seems deeper... w/ the ability to have more than one player do the heavy lifting and not have those long scoring droughts that just tank you a few games a year. That Illini game, I think, was a great early test for conference games...live crowd, physical matchup.

 

[cardvolfan]

Auburn is legit. We are too, but will all sort itself out when conference play starts. Going to be a slug it out year I think...but we're in a great spot w/ our team. It looks like we've got the RB Defense standard, plus more consistent scoring...which we had LY w/ DK, but this year seems deeper... w/ the ability to have more than one player do the heavy lifting and not have those long scoring droughts that just tank you a few games a year. That Illini game, I think, was a great early test for conference games...live crowd, physical matchup.

Auburn is very good….scary good. We are very good, too. Are we scary good? Maybe.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

I want to win but right now I'll be happy if we just don't get blown out at Auburn.

 

[Rrcox1951]

The national media didn’t seem to expect the Vols to beat Illinois. CBS Sports had six of their sports writers to predict the winner of that game. Five of them picked Illinois to win, and only Jerry Palm picked Tennessee.
To me, that’s a bit of a surprise. Palm has always seemed to disrespect the Vols in his bracketology predictions.

 

[omghulkhands]

We need Auburn to not blow out Purdue this weekend or there may be enough voters who flip to knock us out of #1. All we have left OOC are 3 buy games.

That’d require like 21 voters to switch their vote. Hard to imagine that happens, I can’t remember an undefeated team this late into the season losing a #1 ranking until they lost

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Auburn is very good….scary good. We are very good, too. Are we scary good? Maybe.

I know it was early for a young Louisville team, but we absolutely beat their asses on their home floor in a hostile environment. They've beaten ranked teams since and stayed close at Rupp. The fact is, Barnes gets his teams to be competitively tough. We beat UK in Rupp and Alabama at Coleman down the stretch last year without the usual output from Knecht. That literally won the SEC for us.

 

[Voltopia]

Auburn certainly looks like they could prove out as the best team in the SEC and emerge as a #1 seed for this year's tournament. Johni Broome is a monster player for them. They look like the real deal. And I think there's a lot of voters chomping to bump Tennessee off the pedestal because they're not as sexy as Auburn or Alabama or Kentucky. Won't be surprised if they make that switch at some point.

That said, Tennessee's looked like the best team in the SEC in several past seasons, emerged as the highest seed from the SEC, and then gone on to do diddly squat (**) in the NCAA tournament, so I don't really care at the end of the day if they rank Auburn above UT or however they do it. To the extent the team and program cares, I'm all for it, but the rest is a media celebrity contest. End of the day, all I want is for UT to have a ranking that gets them a good draw in the NCAA tournament - and by good draw, I think I mean a path that dosn't have those Boiler ding dongs in it.

**EDIT** - Diddly squat only in the sense that the high seeds and the accolades didn't translate into reaching the Final Four. Taking Duke's ass into the boom boom room, and reaching the Elite Eight, those are all good results for UT. It was not my intent to be dismissive of those accomplishments.

 

[brockytop]

Five of top seven teams in the SEC.

Amazing how competitive the league is in so many sports yet national media—the dummies they are—seem pretty much oblivious to it.

 

[cardvolfan]

Auburn certainly looks like they could prove out as the best team in the SEC and emerge as a #1 seed for this year's tournament. Johni Broome is a monster player for them. They look like the real deal. And I think there's a lot of voters chomping to bump Tennessee off the pedestal because they're not as sexy as Auburn or Alabama or Kentucky. Won't be surprised if they make that switch at some point.

That said, Tennessee's looked like the best team in the SEC in several past seasons, emerged as the highest seed from the SEC, and then gone on to do diddly squat in the NCAA tournament, so I don't really care at the end of the day if they rank Auburn above UT or however they do it. To the extent the team and program cares, I'm all for it, but the rest is a media celebrity contest. End of the day, all I want is for UT to have a ranking that gets them a good draw in the NCAA tournament - and by good draw, I think I mean a path that dosn't have those Boiler ding dongs in it.

So being in the Elite Eight is diddly squat to you? Interesting. I did like the rest of your post, though.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Auburn certainly looks like they could prove out as the best team in the SEC and emerge as a #1 seed for this year's tournament. Johni Broome is a monster player for them. They look like the real deal. And I think there's a lot of voters chomping to bump Tennessee off the pedestal because they're not as sexy as Auburn or Alabama or Kentucky. Won't be surprised if they make that switch at some point.

That said, Tennessee's looked like the best team in the SEC in several past seasons, emerged as the highest seed from the SEC, and then gone on to do diddly squat in the NCAA tournament, so I don't really care at the end of the day if they rank Auburn above UT or however they do it. To the extent the team and program cares, I'm all for it, but the rest is a media celebrity contest. End of the day, all I want is for UT to have a ranking that gets them a good draw in the NCAA tournament - and by good draw, I think I mean a path that dosn't have those Boiler ding dongs in it.

Going to an EE isn't exactly diddly squat. It's really not even close to that. Beating Duke's asses the year before to get to the Sweet 16 was decent. It's a one and done crapshoot. Have an off night against a lower seed and you're done. Should be best 2 of 3 from Sweet 16 to Finals

 

[tennrich1]

One thing for sure....IF we are still ranked top 10 at seasons end....we will have earned it (I personally think we still will be however). The SEC schedule may be the most brutal I've witnessed in a regular season. Just hope we can stay healthy and figure out what our 5 position is going forward. Might see a lot of small lineups on the floor.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

One thing for sure....IF we are still ranked top 10 at seasons end....we will have earned it (I personally think we still will be however). The SEC schedule may be the most brutal I've witnessed in a regular season. Just hope we can stay healthy and figure out what our 5 position is going forward. Might see a lot of small lineups on the floor.

I think Dubar is going to be a positive factor moving forward

 

[Voltopia]

Going to an EE isn't exactly diddly squat. It's really not even close to that. Beating Duke's asses the year before to get to the Sweet 16 was decent. It's a one and done crapshoot. Have an off night against a lower seed and you're done. Should be best 2 of 3 from Sweet 16 to Finals

So being in the Elite Eight is diddly squat to you? Interesting. I did like the rest of your post, though.

Sorry, very sorry, you are both completely correct. I didn't mean diddly squat to imply they didn't accomplish anything. That was unfair and dismissive.

I should have said that they didn't make the Final Four - which was where I wanted to go with that. The accolades didn't help Tennessee in the tournament, and really, the tournament performance is where Tennessee has the most room to break through their glass ceiling.

 

[cardvolfan]

Sorry, very sorry, you are both completely correct. I didn't mean diddly squat to imply they didn't accomplish anything. That was unfair and dismissive.

I should have said that they didn't make the Final Four - which was where I wanted to go with that. The accolades didn't help Tennessee in the tournament, and really, the tournament performance is where Tennessee has the most room to break through their glass ceiling.

Especially with the jolly green giant gone.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Didn't we score 100 in Rupp last year?

 

[RandomUTfan]

I think Dubar is going to be a positive factor moving forward

I agree with you. He's only going to get more comfortable the more he plays.

 

[Volprofch05]

 

[Sudden Impact]

Did anybody noticed the coach's poll. Number 1 still, but one coach rated TN 12th, KY-23, Auburn 11, FL 21, AL 12th. Maybe not the same guy but all the SEC teams out of the Top 10. Maybe the same guy may not be.