The Southeastern Conference Preseason Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll and All-Conference Teams have been announced. The Tennessee Lady Vols have been picked to finish third in the league in 2021-22 and have two players receiving accolades ahead of the upcoming campaign.
The projection by the coaches is the highest by the Big Orange program since the 2016-17 squad was predicted to finish third in the SEC by the league’s skippers.
Earning Coaches Preseason All-SEC acclaim are 6-foot-1 senior guard/forward Rae Burrell on the first team and 6-6 junior center Tamari Key on the second team. Burrell also was a first-team pick by the media last week.
Burrell was an All-SEC Second Team performer in 2020-21, averaging 16.8 ppg. and 4.6 rpg. and hitting double figures in 22 of 25 contests. She shot 45.8 percent on field goals, 40.2 on three-pointers and 82.5 percent from the free-throw line, all easily career bests. The Las Vegas native fired in 15 or more points 17 times and hit 20+ on seven occasions, leading UT in the first two categories and ranking second in the third a year ago. Burrell is the fifth-best returning scorer in the SEC and is No. 1 in free throw percentage, No. 2 in three-point field goal percentage and No. 7 in field goal percentage.
Key, meanwhile, put up 8.9 ppg., 5.6 rpg. and 2.9 bpg. in 2020-21, while shooting 62.8 percent from the field and earning a spot on the SEC All-Defensive Team. She ranked No. 11 in the NCAA in blocks (72) and blocks per game (2.9) and was No. 2 in the SEC. Her 72 blocked shots ranked as the No. 8 all-time Lady Vol season total, while her career tally (158) ranks No. 8 as well. Key had UT’s fourth all-time triple-double on Jan. 31, 2021, with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocks vs. Florida.
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. Texas A&M and Tennessee grabbed the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, with Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Arkansas rounding out the top half of the league. LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Florida, Alabama, Auburn and Vanderbilt fill out the bottom half.
COACHES’ PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
ORDER OF FINISH
1. South Carolina
2. Texas A&M
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. Kentucky
6. Ole Miss
7. Arkansas
8. LSU
9. Mississippi State
10. Missouri
11. Florida
12. Alabama
13. Auburn
14. Vanderbilt
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Rhyne Howard, Kentucky
ALL-SEC FIRST TEAM
Lavender Briggs, Florida
Rhyne Howard, Kentucky
Khayla Pointer, LSU
Shakira Austin, Ole Miss
Rickea Jackson, Mississippi State
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Zia Cooke, South Carolina
Rae Burrell, Tennessee
ALL-SEC SECOND TEAM
Amber Ramirez, Arkansas
Kiara Smith, Florida
Que Morrison, Georgia
Jenna Staiti, Georgia
Aijha Blackwell, Missouri
Destanni Henderson, South Carolina
Tamari Key, Tennessee
Jordan Nixon, Texas A&M
Kayla Wells, Texas A&M
-UT Athletics
