Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports
The Tennessee Volunteers‘ non-conference schedule is not as tough as the Florida Gators‘ or the Kentucky Wildcats‘, but it is still pretty solid.
Tennessee will take on Wichita State, Xavier, NC State and Virginia. The Volunteers will also play in the Battle 4 Atlantis, which features the Kansas Jayhawks.
The Shockers made it all of the way to the Final Four last season and they will be a challenge for Tennessee and any other team that they play for that matter. Xavier had a down year, but should be expected to compete once again. NC State loses a bunch of talent and Virginia will be good enough to compete for an ACC title.
So although Tennessee doesn’t really play a top five team in college hoops or anything like that, it will be challenged. Plus, who knows how good Wichita State will be. There is also a chance that Tennessee will have to play Kansas in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Volunteers should be one of the best teams in the SEC. Although that was the case last season, this team still managed to miss the dance. Tennessee finished with 20 wins, a conference record of 11-7 and was tied for fifth place in the SEC standings.
This team has to take care of business in its out-of-conference schedule in the upcoming season. The Volunteers have the talent to run the tables before SEC play begins, but in no way will that be an easy feat. They will also get a chance at beating a couple of top 10 teams once SEC play does begin, so beating Florida or Kentucky this year would be huge and would go a long ways when it comes to making the dance.
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