For the first time this season, Lady Vols basketball has dropped out of the AP Poll. Tennessee received 12 votes to be ranked, marking the 28th-most votes of any team in the country.
UT began the season as the No. 8 team in the country, but has dropped all the way out of the rankings after losing four-straight games and racking up a 16-10 (8-6 SEC) record.
Instead, nine SEC teams represent the conference in the poll. This features No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 16 Kentucky, No. 19 Ole Miss, No. 23 Georgia and No. 24 Alabama.
Other teams Tennessee has played include No. 1 UConn, No. 2 UCLA and No. 10 Louisville. This means UT has played each of the top seven teams in the country and eight of the top-10.
More From RTI: Everything Lady Vols Basketball HC Kim Caldwell Said After Losing to Oklahoma in Norman
The Lady Vols played this past week as the No. 21 team in the country. However, Tennessee lost all three games on its schedule. First, UT dropped a matchup at Ole Miss on Tuesday. Then, Texas A&M upset the Lady Vols in Knoxville as 21.5-point underdogs. Most recently, Oklahoma held off Tennessee’s upset bid in Norman.
“Yeah, that’s SEC, isn’t it?” Caldwell said after the loss to Oklahoma. “You’re gonna have patches where you look really good. You’re gonna have patches where you have a tough stretch. We’ve had an incredibly tough stretch. I think you just be honest with your team and they can handle it or not, and sometimes the honesty is not good, and sometimes the honesty is good.
“And tonight, honestly, our team was fun to coach. We definitely made some basketball errors, but the people that were on the floor played hard. They played together. Not a good third quarter for us, but again, we can make some adjustments from today’s game going forward and be okay.”
Tennessee has two games left on the schedule. On Thursday, the Lady Vols will square off with No. 6 LSU on the road. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET an dwill air on ESPN. Then, Tennessee will round out the season and hold Senior Day on Sunday against No. 5 Vanderbilt. That game will begin at 2 p.m. ET and air on ESPN.
