The 2023-24 college basketball season ended late Monday with Connecticut claiming its second-straight national title with a convincing win over Purdue.
Not long after the final buzzer sounded inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona ESPN dropped its annual Way-Too-Early Top 25 for the 2024-25 season, which included Tennessee inside the top 10.
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The Vols, who are coming off just their second Elite Eight run in program history, debuted at No. 9 in the rankings and were the highest ranked SEC team, placing ahead of No. 12 Alabama, No. 13 Florida, No. 18 Auburn and No. 23 Kentucky.
Tennessee will have some valuable pieces to replace after winning the SEC regular season title and reaching the Elite Eight, including superstar guard Dalton Knecht who was named the SEC Player of the Year and finished as a Naismith Award finalist after a record-breaking one season in Knoxville.
The Vols will lose some experience in guards Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi, who are out of eligibility after five seasons and freshmen Freddie Dilione V and D.J. Jefferson both entered the transfer portal in the last week.
The biggest returner is undoubtedly Zakai Zeigler, who will be a senior next season. He averaged 11.8 points per game after returning from a season-ending ACL injury a year ago and is expected to be the heartbeat of the 2024-25 Tennessee team again.
Jahmai Mashack, the Vols' elite defender will be back and will likely jump into the starting lineup alongside Jordan Gainey, who was at time an offensive spark off of the bench last season.
The starting five could also feature two bigs in Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka. Aidoo, who was an All-SEC First Team defender, also averaged 11.4 points per game.
Forward J.P. Estrella, who turned in impressive minutes in Tennessee's Elite Eight loss to Purdue and Cameron Carr should see increased roles after strong freshmen campaigns and the head coach Rick Barnes will likely utilize the transfer portal again after drawing Knecht and Gainey from there last offseason.
"Dalton Knecht is gone and Rick Barnes' best offense in several years is out the door with him," wrote ESPN staff writer Jeff Borzello. "But if the more up-tempo, 3-point-heavy offensive system remains in Knoxville, there should be plenty of optimism. Zakai Zeigler is one of the best point guards in the country and Jonas Aidoo made significant strides as a junior. The Vols will need someone on the wing to step up as a scorer and a slepper name to become that guy is sophomore-to-be Cameron Carr."
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