It’s Basketball Time in Tennessee!
College basketball starts today. Can Rick Barnes replicate the success that led him to last year’s SEC Championship?
This year seems to be zipping by, doesn’t it? The country was just getting ready for college football to start up after conference media days, and all of a sudden it’s November. As football enters the home stretch, basketball tips off tonight and carries us into the spring.
Knoxville should be buzzing with excitement as Tennessee welcomes the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech later tonight. The Vols are ranked #11 to start the year and look to end up somewhere in the top 5 before SEC play kicks off. After winning their first SEC Championship since 1979, UT fell short in the NCAA Tournament with a disappointing loss to Michigan. Head coach Rick Barnes has done an excellent job building this program up over the last seven years, but may feel like he has something to prove after the last couple of seasons have ended earlier than most expected.
Josiah-Jordan James, Santiago Vescovi, Olivier Nkamhoua, and Uros Plavsic make up the senior class and hope to repeat and build on their success from last year. James and Vescovi were banged up and started slow last season, but should be available tonight and look to start on a high note. Nkamhoua missed most of last season due to injury, but steps right back into his role as rim protector, rebounder, and rim-runner. Improvement on his outside shooting is something fans should look for this year. Flashes of great play will no longer suffice for Plavsic, who replaces longtime starter John Fulkerson. Zakai Zeigler went from unheralded late addition to fan favorite and key player over the course of his freshman season, but will need to take that even further as he tries to fill Kennedy Chandler’s shoes at point guard.
The BasketVols lost Chandler to the NBA and Fulkerson to graduation. In addition, associate head coach Michael Schwartz left to take the East Carolina job, clearing out everyone from Barnes’ original staff in 2015. Notable transfers include Victor Bailey, Jr. (George Mason), Quentin Diboundje (East Carolina), Justin Powell (Washington State), Handje Tamba (Weber State), and former 5-star recruit Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (Louisville). On the court, Bailey, Jr., Powell and Huntley-Hatfield left much to be desired. Tamba and Diboundje were not really factors in the rotation at all. We should thank those guys for their time and effort, but also consider their departures to be addition by subtraction. Last year’s team lacked a sharpshooter and/or pure scorer that could deliver the knockout punch at critical junctures. As a result, bad teams could hang around and comebacks against better teams were difficult. Defensively, UT struggled against high-level three-point shooting and post players that could bang down low. Scoring droughts plagued the Volunteers throughout the season and ultimately cost them a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in March.
To his credit, Coach Barnes addressed those needs and filled them. He promoted volunteer analyst Gregg Polinsky to an assistant position and bumped Justin Gainey up to associate head coach. Those two, along with assistant coach Rod Clark, provide a unique combination of youth and experience that should be useful this season. The coaching staff as a whole handled business and then some in recruiting, bringing in a haul of talented high school players and finding the right graduate transfer(s). DJ Jefferson, Julian Phillips, and former Knoxville Catholic star B.J. Edwards highlight the 2022 signing class, with Tobe Awaka looking to be another version of the Zakai Zeigler story, a late addition from the New York area that exceeds all expectations. Celina, Tenn. native Tyreke Key comes in from Indiana State as a grad transfer, looking to be the guy with the ball in his hands when the game’s on the line. Edwards, Phillips and Jefferson will push for minutes in the lineup, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Phillips establishes himself as a starter before SEC play commences.
All told, I think this team could very well take a step forward from last year. We loved the days of Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield, but the recruiting has been taken to another level since their time on Rocky Top. It’s a shame that some of the four and five-start talent didn’t really pan out, but I find that to be more of a testament to Barnes’ INAM (It’s Not About Me) culture more than player development. He won’t play guys that aren’t all in, and he’s more than earned that right. It’s a good sign that assistants continue to leave for head coaching jobs, as the core tenets remain but new ideas and approaches make their way into the program. The addition of Key as a three-level scorer takes pressure off of James and Vescovi to create their own opportunities and brings another veteran presence, which balances out the youth on the roster.
There was a changing of the guard in the SEC this last offseason, but it doesn’t make the road back to the conference championship any easier. New hires comprise of Chris Jans (Mississippi State), Dennis Gates (Missouri), Todd Golden (Florida), Matt McMahon (LSU), Lamont Paris (South Carolina), and Mike White (Georgia). Frankly speaking, I don’t see a bad hire in any of these. You might be questioning UGA’s hire of White after he was fired by Florida, but the expectations and standards for Bulldogs basketball are lower than that of the Gators. The same track record that forced UF to cut him loose will keep him in Athens for quite a while. I think McMahon and Golden were home run hires, while Jans, Gates, and Paris will have their hands full to start. Those additions to a conference that already has Barnes, John Calipari, Eric Musselman, Bruce Pearl, and Jerry Stackhouse only strengthen’s everyone’s schedule. Kermit Davis and Buzz Williams aren’t exactly pushovers either. A rising tide lifts all boats, and it can be argued that the SEC will have an all-out war for the regular season and conference title.
Vol Nation should expect tough outs night in and night out this season. Excellent play in a scrimmage versus Michigan State and an exhibition game against Gonzaga bode well for the BasketVols, but consistency will be the key going forward. SEC play will test their fortitude and whether the go-to guys are up to snuff for the stretch run. Non-conference matchups against Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, and Texas will also tell the story about how they can compete against unfamiliar teams in March. If Barnes and Co. want to go back-to-back in the SEC Tournament and possibly add a regular-season title to that, they’ll need Key, James, Vescovi, Plavsic, Zeigler, and one of Julian Phillips or B.J. Edwards to excel in their assigned roles. If this team can stay healthy, it’ll contend for all that and then some.
Last year’s NCAA Tournament exit was a tough pill to swallow, no denying it. Deacon Barnes was yet again on the wrong side of March misfortune and squandered an opportunity to take his legacy as a coach to another level. Controversial seeding did them no favors, but the fact remains that the Big Orange have fallen short time and time again in the Big Dance. That said, this is a squad that has potential to go to the Sweet Sixteen and beyond. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo even commented that this Tennessee team has the look of a Final Four contender. It’ll be a long time before we see if that holds weight or not, but fans should be excited for this team. Tipoff against Tennessee Tech is in less than two hours, so make sure you have an extra screen ready for Monday Night Football. Talk to you soon!