KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Women's Basketball will go into the 2021-2022 season ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press Preseason Poll, which was released on Tuesday morning.
The Lady Vols have some tough opponents on their schedule. Many of their opponents were ranked or received votes.
Tennessee will play No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Connecticut and No. 3 Stanford this season.
Other ranked opponents include No. 13 Kentucky, No. 21 South Florida. No. 23 Texas A&M, No. 24 Virginia Tech and No. 25 Texas. The Lady Vols have other games against teams receiving votes in the AP Top 25 too.
Tennessee begins its season against Georgia College on Nov. 3 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Lady Vols do return plenty of experienced players. Last season's second-leading scorer, Rae Burrell, returns for her senior year. Junior center Tamari Key is also back with Tennessee. Fellow junior, Jordan Horston, returns as the Lady Vols' assist leader.
Tennessee also welcomes a slew of newcomers for the upcoming season. Grad transfer Alexus Dye joins the Lady Vols from Troy. She earned the 2021 Sun Belt Conference player of the year award, leading the Trojans with 16.6 points per game and 12.6 rebounds per game. Four freshmen join Tennessee this year. Brooklynn Miles, Kaiya Wynn, Karoline Striplin and Sara Puckett all enter their first year of basketball on Rocky Top.