The Southeastern Conference women’s basketball preseason media poll is out, and the Tennessee Lady Vols have been picked to finish second in the league in 2021-22 by a vote from a select panel of SEC and national media members.

The projection is the highest by the Big Orange program since the 2015-16 squad was predicted to finish second in both the media and coaches’ polls.

UT, which finished third the past two seasons in SEC play, welcomes back nine total letterwinners and six players who were in the starting lineup a year ago. Third-year Lady Vol head coach Kellie Harper and her staff also brought onboard the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year via the transfer portal and signed a freshman class ranked No. 9 by ProspectsNation.com and No. 15 by espnW.

South Carolina, which returns all 12 members from last season’s NCAA Final Four and SEC Tournament champion team, was picked to finish first. Falling in line after Tennessee were Texas A&M, Kentucky, Georgia, Arkansas and LSU in the top half, with Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Missouri, Florida, Auburn and Vanderbilt rounding out the bottom half of the 14-team league.

The Preseason All-SEC Team consisted of only five players. Those are the five returning members of last season’s All-SEC First Team, with last year’s SEC Player of the Year projected to repeat.

Rae Burrell – Lady Vols / Credit: UT Athletics

PRESEASON MEDIA PREDICTIONS

Order of Finish
1. South Carolina
2. Tennessee
3. Texas A&M
4. Kentucky
5. Georgia
6. Arkansas
7. LSU
8. Ole Miss
9. Mississippi State
10. Alabama
11. Missouri
12. Florida
13. Auburn
14. Vanderbilt

SEC Player of the Year
Rhyne Howard, Kentucky

All-SEC First Team
Rhyne Howard, Kentucky
Khayla Pointer, LSU
Shakira Austin, Ole Miss
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Zia Cooke, South Carolina