It has been a rough few weeks for No. 22 Tennessee and coach Kim Caldwell, who have lost three of their last four games.
Losing is bad enough, but the Lady Vols (17-6) haven't been competitive in the defeats, including a record loss to No. 2 South Carolina on Sunday.
“We just had a lot of quit in us tonight and that’s been something that’s been consistent with our team is when we’re not comfortable and things don’t go our way and I have a team that’ll just quit on you and you can’t do that in big games,” Caldwell said after the 43-point loss to the Gamecocks. “You can’t do that anytime in the SEC, but you certainly can’t do that at a program like this.”
That came a few games after a 30-point defeat to UConn that was the biggest margin in the history of that rivalry.
“They have to fix it,” Caldwell said. “They have to decide they want to fix it.”
In their six losses, the Lady Vols have averaged defeats by nearly 23 points a game.
The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Lady Vols, who face former coach Kellie Harper and Missouri on Thursday and then No. 4 Texas on Sunday.
“Win your next game. Win your next game. It’s embarrassing. We’re embarrassed. Win your next game,” Caldwell said.
The Lady Vols lost earlier this season to No. 2 UCLA, which is coming off its own big win last week. The Bruins topped Michigan by three on the road to retain sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
“I told our team this was going to be like an Elite Eight matchup,” UCLA coach Cori Close said after the win. "You could feel the intensity of each possession, and that’s something honestly, we needed because we haven’t had it since Texas.”
The Bruins visit No. 13 Michigan State on Wednesday.
The NCAA will announce the top 16 teams to this point of the season on Saturday to give a look at which teams currently would be hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
UConn still holds the top spot in the NET ratings Monday ahead of UCLA, South Carolina and Texas. The SEC has five of the top 11 spots.
North Dakota State and Richmond are the top mid-major teams, coming in at 40 and 41, respectively.
The NET is just one tool the NCAA selection committee uses to figure out which teams make the NCAA Tournament and where they are seeded. It has predicted the winner pretty accurately since it first was used in 2021. Four of the five national champions were No. 1 in the NET on Selection Sunday.
No. 17 TCU at No. 12 Baylor, Thursday. First place in the Big 12 will be on the line as the Bears have a one-game lead in the standings on the Horned Frogs, who also host third-place West Virginia on Sunday.
No. 24 Princeton at Columbia, Friday. The top spot in the Ivy League will be on the line as the Tigers visit the Lions. Princeton holds a one-game lead in the standings over Columbia and Harvard. The Lions handed the Tigers their lone loss in conference play when they met two weeks ago.
AP Sports Writer Larry Lage contributed to this story.
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South Carolina center Madina Okot, left, and Tennessee guard Jaida Civil, right, battle for control of the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
The Super Bowl is over, the football season complete. Now college basketball has more room to seize the spotlight.
Here's a look at storylines to watch among AP Top 25 teams with roughly five weeks until Selection Sunday:
The clear headliners continue to be No. 1 Arizona and No. 2 Michigan, even after the Wildcats stumbled for the first time at No. 9 Kansas on Monday night.
Arizona (23-1) held the top spot in Monday's latest poll for the ninth straight week, with the past four of those coming by unanimous votes. The Wolverines (22-1), meanwhile, have been sitting right behind the Wildcats six times in Arizona's current reign.
Of the two, the Wildcats have a tougher week ahead. The loss at Allen Fieldhouse came against a Jayhawks team playing without freshman star Darryn Peterson due to illness. And that started a run of four straight games against ranked Big 12 opponents, the next being Saturday's home game against No. 16 Texas Tech.
In the Big Ten, the Wolverines visit Northwestern on Wednesday and host UCLA on Saturday. Win both of those and they could have a shot at the program's first No. 1 ranking since January 2013.
Speaking of the Big 12, No. 3 Houston looms — both as a soon-to-be opponent for Arizona (Feb. 21) and as a Final Four contender after reaching last year's NCAA title game.
The Cougars (21-2) rose five spots in Monday's poll to tie for the week's biggest jump, which has them back inside the top 5 for the first time since a November stint that included a week at No. 1. Kelvin Sampson's team heads to Utah on Tuesday before hosting Kansas State on Sunday.
Also in the Big 12: the Jayhawks visit No. 5 Iowa State on Saturday with a chance to follow up the Arizona win.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is still rolling along with a bounceback year.
Duke was a clear heavyweight last year and reached the Final Four, but the league overall managed just four bids to March Madness and only one other non-Duke win in the NCAA Tournament.
The fourth-ranked Blue Devils still look like the league's best team this year. But the rest of the league is much deeper with the ACC having four other ranked teams in No. 11 North Carolina, No. 15 Virginia, No. 20 Clemson and No. 24 Louisville.
The Tar Heels edged the Blue Devils on Seth Trimble's last-second 3-pointer in a rivalry thriller on Saturday, sending Duke and Clemson into this week tied atop the league standings at 10-1. Duke and UNC don't have long to regroup from their emotionally draining battle; they both play on the road Tuesday, the Tar Heels at Miami and the Blue Devils at Pittsburgh.
As for the Tigers, they host an NCAA hopeful in Virginia Tech on Wednesday before visiting Duke on Saturday.
The Southeastern Conference had a record 14 NCAA bids last year and saw Florida go on to win the title. The 14th-ranked Gators are currently climbing as the league's highest-ranked team.
Opening the year at No. 3, Florida started 9-5 and slid all the way out of the AP Top 25 for a week. But the Gators have lost just once since, with the past three games against South Carolina, Alabama and Texas A&M all coming by at least 19 points.
Florida visits Georgia on Wednesday then travels Saturday to No. 25 Kentucky, which jumped back into the poll Monday for the first time since early December.
No. 18 St. Louis lost to Stanford on a 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left in November. The Billikens haven't lost since and sit atop the Atlantic 10.
St. Louis (23-1) goes for its 18th straight win Friday at Loyola Chicago.
Miami (Ohio) stood alongside Arizona as the nation's last unbeaten teams to start the week. Now the No. 23 RedHawks are alone.
The RedHawks (24-0) host Ohio on Friday in the Mid-American Conference with the nation's longest active winning streak.
Alabama and Iowa are the top vote-getters among unranked teams, and both have spent multiple weeks in the poll this year.
The Crimson Tide (16-7) visits Mississippi on Wednesday, then hosts South Carolina on Saturday.
The Hawkeyes (18-5) visit Maryland on Wednesday before hosting No. 13 Purdue on Saturday.
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Florida head coach Todd Golden, left, claps and talks to Alabama center Charles Bediako (14) who walks off the court after fouling out during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/Noah Lantor)
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas, left, blocks a shot by Kansas guard Tre White (3) as Arizona guard Brayden Burries (5) also defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
