Media Picks Lady Vols Third, Names Jackson, Spear To Preseason All-SEC Team

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Southeastern Conference women's basketball preseason media poll is out, and the Tennessee Lady Vols have been picked to finish third in the league in 2023-24 by a vote from a select panel of SEC and national media members.

UT, a third-place SEC finisher, SEC Tournament finalist and NCAA Sweet 16 participant a year ago, returns a veteran nucleus with six players who combined to start 122 games in 2022-23 and have amassed 466 starts during their careers. Fifth-year head coach Kellie Harper also welcomes an NCAA Transfer Portal class ranked No. 6 in the nation by 247Sports, featuring a trio of shooters who combined for 197 three-pointers made in 2022-23.

Members of the media also selected an 11-player preseason All-SEC Team. Rickea Jackson, a consensus 2022-23 All-SEC First Team selection during her first year at Tennessee, was chosen to the five-player 2023-24 Preseason All-SEC First Team. Newcomer Jewel Spear, a two-time All-ACC honoree and transfer from Wake Forest, was named to the media's six-player Preseason All-SEC Second Team.

Jackson, a 6-foot-2 forward, is second in scoring among returning SEC players, putting up 19.2 points per game in all contests, 21.4 ppg. in conference play and 25.7 ppg. in SEC Tournament action last season. She shot career bests of 54.8 percent from the field and 79.2 percent from the free-throw line while accumulating 16 games of 20 points or more to rank No. 9 at UT for both season and career totals. She wound up No. 3 in scoring, No. 4 in field goal percentage and No. 5 in free throw percentage in the league en route to being named All-America Honorable Mention for the third time and a top-five finalist for the Cheryl Miller Award.

Spear, the No. 4-ranked player in the transfer portal, according to ESPN, started 32 games at Wake Forest in 2022-23, averaging 16.5 ppg., 3.7 rpg. and 1.8 apg. and ranking fifth in the ACC in scoring. The 5-10 guard connected at a 37.7 percent clip from the field, a 35.4 percent rate beyond the three-point arc and a career-topping 83.9 percent pace on free throws. Spear finished with a career-best 93 three-pointers, racking up the No. 2 season total in school history, and her percentages from three-point land and the charity stripe stood at No. 2 and No. 4 in the ACC, respectively.

LSU tops the predicted order of the team standings by the media, with South Carolina, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Georgia rounding out the top half of the league. Texas A&M, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Auburn, Kentucky and Vanderbilt complete the bottom half.

PRESEASON MEDIA PREDICTIONS

Order of Finish

LSU
South Carolina
Tennessee
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Arkansas
Georgia
Texas A&M
Alabama
Florida
Missouri
Auburn
Kentucky
Vanderbilt

Preseason SEC Player of the Year
Angel Reese, LSU

Preseason All-SEC First-Team
Flau'Jae Johnson, LSU
Angel Reese, LSU
Hailey Van Lith, LSU
Kamila Cardoso, South Carolina
Rickea Jackson, Tennessee

Preseason All-SEC Second Team
Aneesah Morrow, LSU
Madison Scott, Ole Miss
Jessika Carter, Mississippi State
Jewel Spear, Tennessee
Aicha Coulibaly, Texas A&M
Jordyn Cambridge, Vanderbilt

University of Tennessee Athletics

Media Picks Lady Vols Third, Names Jackson, Spear To Preseason All-SEC Team

Players Mentioned

Rickea Jackson

Jewel Spear

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