Tennessee basketball player Admiral Schofield asks his coach, Rick Barnes, a question at SEC media day on Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala.BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - When it comes to expectations for Southeastern Conference men's basketball, what a difference a year makes for Tennessee.
A year ago, the Volunteers were picked 13th in the preseason media poll before sharing the regular-season conference title with Auburn.
Largely because of that success during coach Rick Barnes' third season at Tennessee, Wednesday's preseason poll has the Vols second to Kentucky and junior forward Grant Williams was named the SEC's preseason player of the year. Tennessee senior forward Admiral Schofield was on the All-SEC second team.
Joining Williams on the first team were Daniel Gafford of Arkansas, senior transfer Reid Travis of Kentucky, Chris Silva of South Carolina and Tremont Waters of LSU.
Joining Schofield on the second unit were Auburn's Bryce Brown and Jared Harper, Florida's Jalen Hudson, Jontay Porter of Missouri, Quinndary Weatherspoon of Mississippi State and Kentucky's P.J. Washington.
When asked about Tennessee on Wednesday during the SEC's annual media day for men's basketball, both Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy and South Carolina's Frank Martin listed Barnes as the chief reason for such optimism.
"I've always had great respect for Rick," said Kennedy, whose Aggies reached the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 last season. "That doesn't mean I like to play against him. His teams are always so well-prepared on both offense and defense."
Said Martin: "When UT hired him, I knew it would just be a matter of time before they'd become a power in this league. His teams always play with discipline and energy on both ends of the floor."
The Vols reached the second round of the NCAA bracket last season before falling to tourney Cinderella and eventual Final Four participant Loyola of Chicago.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.