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AP Top 25: Tennessee leads 5 SEC teams in March 4 poll
By Andrew Olson
Published:
The new AP Top 25 was released Monday.
Tennessee, the top team in the SEC standings, leads 5 ranked conference squads. Florida dropped out after losing to South Carolina on Saturday.
Here’s the full poll:
- Houston
- UConn
- Purdue
- Tennessee
- Arizona
- Iowa State
- North Carolina
- Marquette
- Duke
- Creighton
- Baylor
- Illinois
- Auburn
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Alabama
- South Carolina
- Washington State
- Gonzaga
- BYU
- San Diego State
- Utah State
- Saint Mary’s
- USF
- Dayton
Others receiving votes: Nevada 42, Florida 39, Boise St. 26, Texas 10, Texas Tech 10, Indiana St 9, Appalachian St 6, New Mexico 5, FAU 4, James Madison 4, Princeton 3, Michigan St. 2, Villanova 2, Colorado St. 2, McNeese St. 2, Richmond 1.
Tennessee stuck at AP’s No. 4, but the rankings that matter are just under two weeks away
Tennessee had quite an impact on the new AP Poll. Auburn dropped 2 spots from No. 11 to No. 13 after losing to the Vols in Knoxville. Alabama also dropped 2 spots, from No. 14 to No. 16, after falling to UT at home. As for Tennessee itself, those two ranked wins did not lead to any movement in the rankings.
The Volunteers are in a tough spot when it comes to the AP Top 25. UT is 23-6, while Houston, UConn and Purdue are all 26-3. In the eyes of AP voters, Tennessee is solidly at No. 4 with 1,364 points, well behind No. 3 Purdue (1,459 points) but firmly ahead of No. 5 Arizona (1,252 points). Back in November, Purdue beat Tennessee 71-67.
Before getting too frustrated over the rankings, Vols can just remind themselves that it is March, and Selection Sunday is less than two weeks away. Sure, it feels like two wins over top-15 teams should be rewarded with a rankings bump, but the AP poll only has a few more days of relevancy in the 2023-24 college basketball season.
Unfortunately for the Vols, the NET rankings have Arizona at No. 4 and Tennessee at No. 5. Zona has a better Quad 1 record (8-3 to 6-5) while the Vols have fewer losses to Quad 2 and Quad 3.
“Arizona’s edge over Tennessee for the final No. 1 seed is razor-thin at this point,” ESPN’s Joe Lunardi wrote in his Monday bracketology update.
Tennessee faces a tougher final stretch of the regular-season season. UT faces South Carolina (NET No. 47) and Kentucky (NET No. 20) in its final two games. Arizona, meanwhile, closes out the regular season against UCLA (NET No. 115) and USC (NET No. 96).
After finishing the season with four straight games against ranked teams, Tennessee can use the SEC Basketball Tournament as an opportunity to further its case for a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed.
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Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
