BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Tennessee women’s basketball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference this year, and senior Mercedes Russell has been chosen to the five-member Preseason All-SEC Team, in voting by a select panel of SEC and national media members.
Defending NCAA champion South Carolina was projected to finish first, followed by NCAA runner-up Mississippi State. Missouri, UT and Texas A&M rounded out the top five.
The Lady Vols finished 20-12 overall and placed fifth in the SEC a year ago with a 10-6 mark. They return a pair of all-star candidates (Russell and classmate Jaime Nared) and a 19-game starter in junior wing Meme Jackson. Sixth-year head coach Holly Warlick also welcomes the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation as well as the return to action of two-time JUCO All-American Cheridene Green, who redshirted last season due to a knee injury.
Russell, 6-foot-6 center from Springfield, Ore., was one of five players chosen to the squad. The others were South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson, the overwhelming choice for SEC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, as well as Sophie Cunningham from Missouri and Mississippi State’s Victoria Vivians and Morgan William.
As a junior Russell averaged 16.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per contest while tallying a UT junior-record 19 double-doubles. She was named to the 2017 All-SEC Second Team by the media and coaches and was an All-America honorable mention selection by AP and the WBCA.
The Lady Vols play their lone exhibition game on Nov. 7 vs. Carson-Newman (7 p.m. ET) and open the 2017-18 regular season vs. East Tennessee State at 2 p.m. on Nov. 12. Both games will be played at Thompson-Boling Arena.
ORDER OF FINISH
1. South Carolina
2. Mississippi State
3. Missouri
4. Tennessee
5. Texas A&M
6. Kentucky
7. LSU
8. Georgia
9. Alabama
10. Auburn
11. Vanderbilt
12. Florida
13. Ole Miss
14. Arkansas
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
A’ja Wilson, South Carolina
PRESEASON ALL-SEC
Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State
Morgan William, Mississippi State
Sophie Cunningham, Missouri
A’ja Wilson, South Carolina
Mercedes Russell, Tennessee
-UT Athletics
