Despite the departures of Dalton Knecht, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi due to eligibility and Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka to the transfer portal, Tennessee basketball may not take a step back after reaching the Elite Eight and winning the SEC regular season title.

Bart Torvik dropped his rankings for the 2024-25 season and the Vols are knocking on the door of a 1-seed.

He has Tennessee as the No. 5 team in the country and top squad in the SEC.

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The Vols only fall behind Houston, Duke, Iowa State and Kansas who make up the top four in that order. The next closest SEC squad is Auburn at seven who has Alabama right behind it at eight.

Its Tennessee's defense that is doing the heavy lifting in his projections. The Vols own the third-highest ranked defense in the country with a 91.3 grade (lower is better). Their offense is at No. 43 in the country at 113.5.

This leads to a projected record of 14-8 (12-6 SEC). This would give Tennessee a second-straight SEC regular season title. The low number of overall games is due to schedules still being worked out, though.

In returning minute percentage adjusted for injury, the Vols return just 37.6%. This is 208th best in the country.

Returning possession minutes is ranked 177th in the country, though, with it moving to 35.5%.

In projected effective experience, Tennessee is toward the top. It is at 2.62 which is 36th best.

Projected production from transfers for the Vols is 142nd at a 190 grade.

The overall projected effective talent is a 58.9 grade which is 33rd in the country.

Torvik also projects each player's projected statlines over the season. Here's what it looks like for the Vols.

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