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| | Thursday, November 2 Preseason Top 25: No. 7 Tennessee | ||||||||
Bryan Wietrzynski, Knoxville, Tenn. Follow the rest of the top 25 Click on the following pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | |||||||||
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Why No. 7?: The expectations are high for the Volunteers to make a Final Four run. All but C.J. Black return to a team that has the weapons to matchup with any team in the nation. Tony Harris was one of the better leaders in the nation last year during the regular season. But Harris may need to yield the playmaking duties to Jon Higgins. Harris is a better scorer than true point and could make the Volunteers difficult to guard. Jerry Green may opt to start Jenis Grindstaff, too, giving the team better scoring threats in Harris and Grindstaff on the floor. Vincent Yarbrough has finally matured on the court and become the go-to player he was billed as when the Vols signed him three years ago. But the keys to this team are Isiah Victor and Ron Slay. The Vols get more out of these two than any tandem of players. Slay is as active around the basket as any high-major player. Charles Hathaway and Brandon Crump could be starters making the Vols' frontcourt deeper than any other team in the SEC. The hunger to go deeper in the tournament than the Sweet 16 should provide enough incentive for the Vols throughout the season.