Kansas and Texas Tech played a double overtime thriller last night, with the Jayhawks securing the win and the new top spot in KenPom’s defensive strength of schedule ratings. This rating is essentially, “How good are the defenses you’ve played against?”
The Vols slid to number two, but could move back to the top in the next couple of weeks. Tennessee’s overall strength of schedule will ease up a bit, but it will take a second on the defensive end. Along with playing Texas this weekend (17th in KenPom defense), the Vols’ next three league games are Florida, Texas A&M, and at South Carolina. The SEC’s best defenses are LSU (1st KenPom), Tennessee (5th), Auburn (12th), and Kentucky (30th). But right behind them, you guessed it: A&M (31st), South Carolina (33rd), and Florida (44th).
After the loss at Rupp, we asked if these Vols might simply be a reflection of the schedule they’ve faced so far. Then Tennessee had a relatively strong offensive performance against the nation’s best defense on Saturday, giving the Vols a second Quad 1 win and providing hope such a thing can continue to be possible going forward.
I don’t know where the Vols are going to end up in terms of the quality of defenses they’ve faced. But I’m pretty sure it’s going to rate fairly high on this list:
Tennessee Defensive Strength of Schedule, 2002-2022
| Year | KenPom Defense SOS |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2021 | 53 |
| 2020 | 45 |
| 2019 | 28 |
| 2018 | 18 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2016 | 41 |
| 2015 | 21 |
| 2014 | 29 |
| 2013 | 37 |
| 2012 | 71 |
| 2011 | 28 |
| 2010 | 35 |
| 2009 | 21 |
| 2008 | 41 |
| 2007 | 17 |
| 2006 | 20 |
| 2005 | 11 |
| 2004 | 34 |
| 2003 | 28 |
| 2002 | 1 |
(NCAA Tournament seasons in bold)
The KenPom era stretches back 20 years now, which includes everything from Buzz Peterson to the present at UT. Peterson’s first team faced Marquette, St. John’s, Memphis, Louisville, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Syracuse in the non-conference. They lost Ron Slay to a knee injury and finished 15-16, first in the nation in defensive strength of schedule.
And you’ll see Rick Barnes’ second team on there from 2017, which caught Wisconsin and Oregon in Maui before facing North Carolina and Gonzaga. South Carolina’s Final Four team finished third in the nation in defensive efficiency that year; Florida, Kentucky, and Alabama also all finished in the Top 10. Those Vols finished 16-16.
Among Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament teams in the last 20 years, none have faced a defensive challenge like this. The closest comparisons are Bruce Pearl’s first two teams, which were bolstered in part by playing John Calipari’s Memphis teams and Barnes’ 2006 Elite Eight squad at Texas. And Tennessee’s 2018 SEC Championship squad lost to the eventual national champs from Villanova and faced an SEC of increasing depth.
Those three teams all finished between 17-20 in defensive strength of schedule. But this year, the SEC looks better than we’ve ever seen. We’ve faced the nation’s best defense twice from LSU, plus the usual pair of games with Kentucky. And the Vols drew four Top 20 defenses in the non-conference in Texas Tech (4th), Arizona (9th), Texas (17th), and Villanova (18th).
Tennessee’s offense has struggled and may again, though the steepest portion of the climb appears to be over. The only easy outs on defense in this league don’t grace our schedule until late February.
But the Vols are also facing the deepest SEC and the toughest defenses we’ve seen one of our tournament teams go up against.
If you can come through all that with your confidence intact – and Saturday was a big one for that – you can hopefully put yourself in position to weather any storm in March.