Tennessee Vols basketball reaches program best mark on Tuesday
It wasn't the way that the Tennessee Volunteers or their fans wanted to see their 2023-24 season end. A 72-66 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers in the Elite Eight left the Big Orange one game short of their first-ever trip to the Final Four. However, it seems the Vols earned plenty of respect from the […]
It wasn't the way that the Tennessee Volunteers or their fans wanted to see their 2023-24 season end. A 72-66 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers in the Elite Eight left the Big Orange one game short of their first-ever trip to the Final Four.
However, it seems the Vols earned plenty of respect from the voters around the country in the final Associated Press and Coaches Top 25 polls. The Vols checked in at #5 in both polls.
This is the first time since 1948 that the final AP poll has been released after completion of the tournament, per the university. Tennessee previously ended up at #5 in the final AP poll twice before: in 2007-08 and 2021-22. However, Tuesday marks a program-best #5 in the final Coaches poll.
Tennessee was thought by many to have had a legitimate claim to a #1 seed (which went to North Carolina), or at least that they should have been matched up with the Tar Heels as the top 2 seed in the West region. That ended up going to Arizona instead. Neither advanced to the final four, as Alabama – who finished third and fourth in the final AP and coaches polls, respectively – eventually claimed the West region.
Tennessee proved they deserved their seed and consideration for the fourth 1 seed with a strong tournament run to the Elite Eight. It seems as though the writers and coaches agree.
It's of little consolation now, but it does speak to the respect that the Tennessee program has grown to receive in Rick Barnes' ninth season in Knoxville.
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