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Tennessee goes unranked in initial AP Poll

They were close.

By Terry A. Lambert
NCAA Basketball: SEC Basketball Tipoff Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee basketball is officially unranked to start the 2019-20 season. Rick Barnes watched Admiral Schofield, Grant Williams, Jordan Bone and Kyle Alexander move on to the NBA, leaving massive holes on his roster for this season.

For that reason, Tennessee will start the year outside of the top 25. The initial poll was released this afternoon, with Michigan State, Kentucky, Kansas and Duke sitting up top.

Tennessee received the third most amount of votes from those not inside of the top 25, trailing Washington and Colorado.

The Vols will lean heavily on senior guards Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden this season, along with five-star freshman guard Josiah James. Rick Barnes will utilize a more guard centered offense, which will be a big change from playing through Grant Williams over the last three seasons.

Tennessee will open with UNC Asheville on November 5th. Before that, they’ll have an exhibition matchup against Eastern New Mexico on October 30th at 7 p.m. ET.

Full AP Top 25

  1. Michigan State
  2. Kentucky
  3. Kansas
  4. Duke
  5. Louisville
  6. Florida
  7. Maryland
  8. Gonzaga
  9. North Carolina
  10. Villanova
  11. Virginia
  12. Seton Hall
  13. Texas Tech
  14. Memphis
  15. Oregon
  16. Baylor
  17. Utah State
  18. Ohio State
  19. Xavier
  20. Saint Mary’s
  21. Arizona
  22. LSU
  23. Purdue
  24. Auburn
  25. VCU

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