Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm, front left, talks with Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes after an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)KNOXVILLE – The last time the Tennessee men’s basketball program was ranked in the Associated Press poll in February, Mike Hamilton was the athletic director, Derek Dooley was two weeks into his tenure as the school’s football coach and Pat Summitt had the Lady Vols ranked fifth nationally.
That will change Thursday when the calendar rolls over to a new month.
The updated AP poll released today had Tennessee 18th. It’s the highest the Vols have been ranked since entering the poll in the first week of December. Tennessee has been ranked for nine straight weeks – longer than any other team in the Southeastern Conference – as it prepares to host games this week against LSU and Ole Miss.
The Vols are 15-5 overall, 5-3 in SEC play.
But with 10 games left to play in a conference that is proving to be among the toughest in the nation, coach Rick Barnes remains on a relentless pursuit of consistency from his team, which lacks a single player with postseason experience beyond a conference tournament.