COLUMBIA, MO. • At the start of the 2017-18 men’s basketball season, Tennessee was nothing but an afterthought in the Southeastern Conference, picked to finish 13th in the 14-team league. The Volunteers lived up to those expectations at the start of league play, losing their first two games to Arkansas and Auburn.
A year later, after the SEC sent a league record eight teams to the NCAA Tournament, the conference has a Rocky Top look on top. The Volunteers have won 28 of 34 games since last year’s 0-2 start in SEC action, including 11 of their first 12 games this year to climb to No.