Three weeks before Tennessee men's basketball opens it 2024-25 season, the Vols debuted in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 poll on Monday.

The Vols, who are coming off of just their second NCAA Tournament Elite Eight run in program history, debuted at No. 12 in the rankings.

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Tennessee is the third highest ranked SEC team behind No. 2 Alabama and No. 11 Auburn and ahead of No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 16 Arkansas, No. 19 Texas, No. 21 Florida, No. 23 Kentucky and No. 24 Ole Miss.

The Vols lost a number of veterans from last season's SEC title team, including Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi, as well as leading scorer Dalton Knecht, who set a plethora of records in his lone season with the program as a transfer from Northern Colorado.

Tennessee is set to return a few key pieces from that team, though in Zakai Zeigler, who averaged 11.8 points and 6.1 assists last season and stingy defender Jahmai Mashack.

"(Ziegler) is wanting to have a great year and not just individually, but one thing that defines him is he's want to win," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. "And, I think he's done a really good job again with Jahmai (Mashack) and Jordan (Gainey) trying to get the younger players and the new guys to understand we've got some big holes to fill and we need those guys to play at an extremely high level."

Jordan Gainey--a sparkplug for the Vols offensively off of the bench at times last season--is expected to take on a bigger role on both ends of the floor while J.P. Estrella, who had a strong outing against Purdue's Zach Edey in the Elite Eight as a freshman, should fill the void left by transfer portal losses Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka.

Tennessee used the transfer portal to its advantage, too. Chaz Lanier, one of the top players available in the last portal cycle, chose the Vols over a plethora of suitors, including Kentucky, after averaging 19.7 points on 51.0% shooting per game at North Florida last season.

"When (Lanier) is really playing his best basketball, he doesn't he doesn't mess with the ball very much," Barnes said. "You know, he gets to a shot, he gets where he needs to be. It's been a really, I think he would tell you a unique experience for him playing against a group of guys that that bring the energy and effort that. Jahmai and Zakai bring, you know, Jordan Gainey has been with it, too.

"The standard that those guys play with every day has probably been as big an experience for him as anything that he's gone through and he would tell you that."

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Everything Rick Barnes said at Tennessee basketball media day

To help on the inside, Tennessee added 6-foot-11 forward Felix Okpara after he averaged 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks at Ohio State a year ago. Igor Miličić Jr., a 6-10 forward that began his career at Virginia, averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds at Charlotte.

Another transfer, 6-8 guard Darlinstone Dubar, should help Tennessee's perimeter shooting. He scored 17.8 points and shot better than 53% per game at Hofstra last season.

Tennessee will play Indiana in a high-profile charity exhibition at Food City Center on Oct. 27 (3 p.m. ET, SEC Network+) before opening its season against Gardner-Webb on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.

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