Both Tennessee basketball teams are gearing up for an exciting 2025-26 season, and with good reason. The Lady Vols and the men's team are both ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, with the Lady Vols starting at eighth and the men's team at number 18. But here's where it gets controversial: while both teams have high expectations, their paths to success are quite different. The Lady Vols are led by Kim Caldwell, who returns a large part of last year's production and has assembled elite groups of signees from the transfer portal and high school. Caldwell attributes this success to the ease of selling the Tennessee program to recruits, as they can show clips of players in Tennessee uniforms and highlight how they'd fit in. On the other hand, Rick Barnes had to reload with players who were not key contributors on last season's Elite 8 team and people who were not even in the program. One of Barnes' new players is former Greeneville Greene Devil, Ja'Kobi Gillespie, who Barnes describes as 'better than I thought.' So, will the Lady Vols and the men's team live up to the high expectations? Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure: with Caldwell's recruiting success and Barnes' new players, both teams are certainly in good hands. And this is the part most people miss: the impact of last season's success on recruiting. So, what do you think? Will the Lady Vols and the men's team exceed expectations? Or will they fall short? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
