ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf have been hard at work ranking the Top 100 players across the college basketball landscape with the 2024-2025 season just around the corner.
Tennessee, the No. 12 team in the preseason AP rankings, has one current player in the Top 100. The Vols also have one former player in the Top 100 from Borzello and Medcalf’s rankings.
Tennessee’s lone representative on ESPN’s list is senior point guard Zakai Zeigler.
Zeigler lands at No. 20 in the rankings and comes in as the fourth-ranked player from the SEC behind Alabama’s Mark Sears (3), Auburn’s Johni Broome (5), and Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV (7).
“Rick Barnes’ program lost more than 55 points per game from a Vols squad that reached the Elite Eight last year,” ESPN wrote. “But Zeigler (11.8 PPG, 6.1 APG) is back for a Tennessee team that will follow the guard’s lead. That’s a good thing. He made 37% of his 3-point attempts and 54% of his shots inside the arc in SEC play last year, while also leading the conference in assist rate, per KenPom.”
With veteran players Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi gone from the team, Barnes’ unit now rests in the hands of his point guard from Long Island, NY. But that doesn’t seem like a challenge Zeigler will back down from.
Zeigler impressed the college basketball world during his three years at Tennessee by being one of the most pestering defensive players in the country with a solid offensive game to match it up with. Zeigler is a three-time SEC All-Defensive Team selection, a 2023 Second Team All-SEC selection, and a 2024 First Team All-SEC selection. The 5-foot-9 guard was also named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year after his junior season last year.
“As you know from day one, it didn’t take long for him to establish himself in our program, our team,” Barnes said about Zeigler during preseason ball. “The face of the program, whatever that may be, it took him literally a week on campus four years ago to let know everyone he was here to compete and play at the highest level. What he does day in and day out is what makes him special. You all have watched him through the years. The way he plays, the way he practices, he’s extremely hard on himself, sometimes to a fault. But there’s no one that wants to win and is going to prepare any order than Zakai. He’s going to have a great year, not just individually.
“The one thing that defines him is he wants to win. I think he’s done a really good job, again, with Jahmai [Mashack] and Jordan [Gainey], trying to get the younger players and the new guys to understand that we’ve got some big holes to fill. We need those guys to play at an extremely high level.”
Zeigler led Tennessee in points (13), assists (8), and minutes (37) in the Vols’ 66-62 exhibition loss to Indiana on Sunday afternoon in Knoxville.
More from RTI: Rick Barnes Not Surprised By Tennessee Basketball’s Struggles Against Indiana
Former Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo is the only other Volunteer-related player to land on ESPN’s Top 100 preseason players list on Monday. Aidoo, now with John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks, lands as the No. 64 player in college basketball.
Aidoo played at Tennessee for three seasons and averaged 11.4 PPG and 7.3 RPG during his junior season with the Vols before entering the transfer portal this spring.
“There are a number of unknowns with John Calipari’s first Arkansas squad, but Aidoo (11.4 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.8 BPG) isn’t one of them,” ESPN writes. “The former Tennessee standout, who earned a spot on the all-SEC defensive team with the Vols last season, anchored a defense that ranked third in adjusted efficiency. We could expect something similar in Fayetteville.”
Check out Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf’s full list for ESPN here.
