The Lady Vols have landed in ESPN’s preseason bracketology, and the early picture puts Tennessee in familiar territory.
Charlie Creme’s latest preseason bracket watch, released Tuesday morning, slots Kim Caldwell’s team as a No. 8 seed in the Durham bracket, which sits in Region 4 in Las Vegas. Tennessee would be matched up with No. 9 seed Princeton, and the winner would draw either No. 1 seed Duke or No. 16 seed Jacksonville or Binghamton.
It’s still very early, but that projection would keep one of the sport’s most durable streaks alive. Tennessee is on track for a 45th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, a run that dates to 1982, when Pat Summitt’s Lady Vols reached the Final Four.
Before the season gets rolling for real, Tennessee will get one more tune-up on Tuesday night. The Lady Vols host Florida A&M in their lone exhibition, with former Tennessee star Bridgette Gordon coming back with the Rattlers.
Gordon’s place in Lady Vol history is hard to overstate. She won national championships in 1987 and 1989, with the 1987 title marking the first of eight for Summitt and Tennessee. Over her four years in Knoxville, Gordon helped power the Lady Vols to a 115-21 record, four straight trips to the Final Four, and a pair of NCAA and SEC championships.
She also made history in a number of ways along the way. Gordon was the first freshman ever to lead UT in scoring, earned co-SEC Rookie of the Year and All-SEC honors, then helped Tennessee win its first NCAA title the next season while landing on the All-Final Four team.
As a junior, she added All-SEC honors, SEC Tournament MVP, and the first of two Kodak All-America selections to her resume. After winning a gold medal with the 1988 U.S.
Olympic basketball team, she returned for her senior season and guided Tennessee to the 1989 NCAA title, earning Final Four MVP honors before finishing as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Tournament history.
Caldwell has made a point of bringing that kind of connection back into the program. At local media day, she made clear she wants former Lady Vols around the team whenever possible.
“We want to continue to do it,” Caldwell said during local media day. “We want to do it as much as we can.
It helps educate our players, and it helps connect the future and the past. That’s part of what we have to do.
That’s what our job here is, to continue to try to make that legacy proud and relevant and everything to that degree. So, anytime there is a former Lady Vol within a local distance, we try to grab them.”
Tuesday’s exhibition tips at 6:30 p.m. ET at Food City Center, and fans can stream it on SECN+. After weeks of practice and scrimmages, it will be Tennessee’s first real chance to see where the team stands heading into the season.
Caldwell said the staff has pushed to create as many game-like moments as possible in practice while also sorting through rotations and lineup combinations.
“That’s some of the things we’re trying to get ahead of,” Caldwell said on trying to avoid a slow start. “We’ve tried to scrimmage as much as possible, even in practice against our practice players, getting as many game-like simulations as we possibly can and getting a taste of failure to see who we are then and getting a taste of success and to see who we are then.
“And you have some things, you’re right, you can’t emulate. Sometimes we’re going to have to switch our rotations and who plays with who and who comes in for who and getting your 10 players set.
And that does take time throughout November. You have to make sure you have your foundation set with the type of players that you have and where their heads are at, and I think we have that.”
In Other News...
Lady Vols Showed Off A Depth Tennessee Fans Will Notice Fast
The only exhibition game on Tennessees schedule offered an early look at how many different ways this Lady Vols roster can beat you, and Florida A&M had no answer for it. Tennessee rolled to a 132-63 win while forcing 37 turnovers and turning those takeaways into 45 points, the kind of pressure-to-points formula that can make a deep team even harder to handle once the games start to count.
Eight players finished in double figures, a sign that the scoring load could be spread around in a way Tennessee fans are likely to appreciate fast. White filled the box score with 16 points, seven assists, six rebounds and four steals, Minus added 12 points and seven rebounds, Smikle led the way with 19 points, and Janneh controlled the glass with 13 rebounds, giving the Lady Vols a glimpse of the balance they can lean on this season. [Read more 🡒]
DeSean Bishop Update Matters For Tennessees Stretch Run
DeSean Bishops day at South Carolina ended early, but Tennessee got a reassuring sign afterward. Josh Heupel said the running back is expected to be in good condition for the upcoming week, which matters as the Volunteers head into the stretch run with Bishop playing a bigger and bigger role in the offense.
Bishop has been pushing toward 1,000 rushing yards this season, and his presence gives Tennessee another reliable option as the games get tighter. With one year of eligibility still left after this season, keeping him available now and down the stretch looms as an important piece of the bigger picture for the Volunteers. [Read more 🡒]
Vols Suddenly Have A Real Shot At Key 2027 DB Target
Preston Glascos recruitment is moving into the home stretch, and Tennessee has positioned itself squarely in the mix for one of the more intriguing 2027 defensive backs in the region. The Grayson High School cornerback from Georgia is expected to make his college choice soon, and his list has been trimmed to Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee after a process that has already brought multiple scholarship offers and steady attention from major programs.
For the Vols, the encouraging part is that Glasco has remained in regular contact with the coaching staff and came away from a recent visit with Tennessee firmly in the conversation. That kind of late momentum matters in a battle like this, especially when the competition includes two heavyweight SEC neighbors, and it leaves Tennessee with a real opening as his decision approaches. [Read more 🡒]