Lady Vols basketball unranked in AP, coaches poll to start 2026-27 season

Lady Vols basketball was not ranked in either of the preseason AP Top 25 or USA TODAY Coaches Poll released Oct. 20.

Tennessee fell out both polls on Feb. 23 and never reentered the top 25 as the Lady Vols lost eight straight games to end the 2025-26 season. Before that, they had a 31-week streak in the AP poll going back to Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell's first season.

The Lady Vols received 20 votes in the preseason coaches poll and were the fourth team outside of the top 25 behind Baylor, Arizona State and Nebraska. They earned nine votes in the AP poll and were the seventh team outside the top 25.

Tennessee has nine games against teams ranked in the top 25. The Lady Vols have an exhibition against Florida A&M on Oct. 27 (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+)

before officially opening the season against Duquesne at Food City Center on Nov. 2 (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).

The Lady Vols also started Caldwell's first season at the helm unranked before re-starting their streak in December of the 2024-25 season after a 7-0 start that included wins over Florida State and Iowa. Tennessee was a consensus top-10 team going into Caldwell's second season, but it fell out of the top 10 after losing its season opener to NC State.

The Lady Vols have been ranked in the AP Top 25 the most of any program since the poll began in 1976. UT has been ranked in 809 of the 906 polls.

Women's college basketball preseason rankings for 2026-27 season

USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

First-place votes in parentheses

1. South Carolina (26)
2. UConn (6)
3. Southern Cal
4. Duke
5. Michigan
6. Texas
7. Louisville
8. LSU
9. Vanderbilt
10. Iowa
11. North Carolina
12. UCLA
13. Notre Dame
14. Kentucky
15. Washington
16. TCU
17. Maryland
18. Minnesota
19. Oklahoma State
20. Ohio State
21. Oklahoma
22. Illinois
23. Ole Miss
24. West Virginia
25. North Carolina

Dropped out: No. 20 Michigan State; No. 21 Baylor; No. 23 Texas Tech; No. 24 Virginia; No. 25 Princeton

Others receiving votes: Baylor 44; Arizona State 42; Nebraska 40; Tennessee 20; Michigan State 18; Gonzaga 15; South Dakota State 11; Oregon 9; Oregon State 8; Rice 5; Villanova 5; Princeton 4; Florida 3; James Madison 3; Texas Tech 3; Clemson 2; Fairfield 2; Kansas 2; Virginia 2.

AP Top 25 poll

First-place votes in parentheses

1. South Carolina (23)
2. UConn (6)
3. Southern California (2)
4. Duke
5. Michigan
6. Texas
7. Louisville
8. Vanderbilt
9. LSU
10. Iowa
11. UCLA
12. North Carolina
13. Notre Dame
14. Kentucky
15. TCU
16. Washington
17. Minnesota
18. Ohio State
19. Ole Miss
20. Maryland
21. Oklahoma
22. Oklahoma State
23. Illinois
24. West Virginia
25. NC State

Others receiving votes: Nebraska 47; Arizona State 36, Baylor 31, Virginia 30, Michigan State 16, Kansas 12, Tennessee 9, Alabama 7, Syracuse 5, Villanova 5, Fairfield 2, Oregon 2, Rice 2, Georgia 2, Colorado 2, Virginia Tech 1, Clemson 1

Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [e-mail]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social‬. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lady Vols basketball unranked in AP, coaches poll to start 2026-27 season