Worth watching 1.22.19: Things are looking up

https://twitter.com/MasonBurgin/status/1087727178136150016
https://twitter.com/Vol_Football/status/1086711755814944768
https://twitter.com/Vol_Football/status/1086712868396040193
https://twitter.com/Vol_Hoops/status/1086753595050074112
https://twitter.com/Vol_Hoops/status/1087013128947195905

Worth reading 1.22.19: We’re No. 1

If you read only one thing about the Vols today . . .

. . . make it this, from Wes Rucker at 247Sports:

Other Vols stuff worth reading today

  1. Anything is Possible, via Will at Gameday on Rocky Top
  2. College basketball media, fans react to Vols at No. 1, via 247Sports
  3. Admiral Schofield on being ranked No. 1: ‘Let the hate begin’, via 247Sports
  4. Top Spot: Tennessee Ascends to No. 1 in AP Rankings – University of Tennessee Athletics, via UTSports
  5. Vol Hoops Recruiting: Barnes Should Keep Looking for 2019, via DylanVol at Gameday on Rocky Top
  6. The Wise Move for the (Possible) Last Spot, via DylanVol at Gameday on Rocky Top
  7. Tee Martin hire was about more than recruiting for Pruitt, via 247Sports
  8. Vols Add Transfer Deangelo Gibbs – University of Tennessee Athletics, via UTSports
  9. Pruitt reveals what Vols are getting in Georgia transfer Gibbs, via 247Sports
  10. Departures leave Pruitt a staff void with special teams, via 247Sports
  11. Lady Vols Drop Nail-Biter To Arkansas, 80-79 – University of Tennessee Athletics, via UTSports

From the archives

2009: Recruiting U: the innovation we didn’t expect, via Joel at Rocky Top Talk. Despite how it all turned out, this wasn’t a bad reason to be excited about Lane Kiffn.

Anything is Possible

Almost eight years ago, I sat in a hotel room in Lexington, KY and wrote this:

This marriage is worth saving. We can survive without each other, but it will not be the same. And I do not believe that Bruce Pearl and Tennessee Basketball will ever be as good apart as we are together.

Save Bruce Pearl – Rocky Top Talk, March 18, 2011

Do this for any length of time, and you get to be wrong. And sometimes, you get to be wrong in ways that delight you.

With Tennessee going to number one, I’ve thought about those last few days at the end of Pearl’s tenure, when it felt like we were giving away something we wouldn’t get back. And I’ve also thought about those few days in November of 2017, when a basketball team picked to finish 13th in the SEC upset #18 Purdue in the Bahamas, four days before the football team almost hired Greg Schiano. In a relatively short period of time, we’ve experienced the worst of football – and the potential to stay there had things gone any number of ways with the head coach and athletic director hires – and now the very best of basketball.

Living at the extremes of football and basketball is another reminder of why we do this as fans: for all the moments along the journey, not just the peaks.

I don’t know how many times we’ve thought we were at rock bottom in football in the last decade. Nothing would be harder than saying goodbye to Fulmer. Nothing could be worse than losing your head coach in the middle of the night in January. Whoever followed Dooley would surely help the program ascend. Whoever we hired next would be more well-received than Butch. It can always get worse.

And I do know what Tennessee basketball achieved under Pearl was special, in a way that seemed impossible to duplicate. Yet here we are, back at the top of the polls and playing even better than the 2008 team, at least according to KenPom. It can always get better.

Follow the Vols (or any team) long enough, and you get the relative highs and lows. The whole of it brings us back, the relationship itself. That relationship hasn’t been boring the last ten years, in either sport. We’ve all had our moments, but we’re still here…and right now, here to the tune of 21,000+ at Thompson-Boling for Tennessee Tech, Georgia, and Alabama, with a multitude of sellouts to come.

I don’t know where this is going, or how far. Can the Vols stay healthy? Hungry? As good as we are, KenPom still projects three losses left in the regular season, even before we try to slay a 40-year dragon in the SEC Tournament. We’ve only made the Elite Eight once. We’ve never made the Final Four.

I only know it’s going to Vanderbilt on Wednesday night. And I know we’ll keep following.

It’s great. To be.

Vol Hoops Recruiting: Barnes Should Keep Looking for 2019

After signing his first 5-star at Tennessee in G Josiah James, along with Wing Davonte Gaines and Stretch-4 Drew Pember, it appeared that Rick Barnes was finished recruiting for the 2019 class.  After all, the Vols have one scholarship open during the 2018-19 season and have only two seniors in Admiral Schofield and Kyle Alexander. However, as this season has progressed it has become a much more realistic possibility that there will be more scholarships open when all is said and done.  For one, Junior F Grant Williams is having yet another outstanding season and is on his way to becoming the first back-to-back SEC Player of the Year since Corliss Williamson.  He’s therefore earning more and more first round NBA Draft buzz as he’s not only expanded his game to include more outside shooting but at the same time the NBA itself continues to evolve in a way that no longer labels someone with Williams’s body type and game a “tweener” who can’t play at a high level in the league.  His classmate, Junior PG Jordan Bone, is also having a breakout season and has cemented himself as the premier lead guard in the SEC and one of the best in the country.  At close to 6’4 he’s got workable height for an NBA PG and his athleticism and speed are elite.  His shot has continued to improve as well, both in terms of catch and shoot and even off the dribble, and as the Vols continue to rack up wins and see their national profile surge it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Bone’s name start to garner some buzz as well.  Finally, without naming names, there is at least one player on the current roster who could decide that having seen essentially zero minutes in two seasons at Tennessee that a transfer is the best thing for him. 

With all of these possibilities, it stands to reason that Tennessee should be continuing to recruit not just for 2020 and 2021, where the Vols already are in great shape for some elite prospects, but also for 2019.  Especially since the program’s national profile has never been higher – the Vols are now the #1 team in the country and are set up to win back to back SEC championships and have a deep March run – and Tennessee already has a 5-star in James it can tout to potential classmates.  As Tennessee Basketball stamps itself as an up and coming premier program – see this outstanding post by one of the best and most knowledgeable hoops posters on Volquest.com – it needs to take advantage of any opportunity it has to add more and more great players that fit its culture.

After the November signing period the pickings are relatively slim in terms of no-doubt high level players, and when considering the kind of character/fit filter that Barnes places on potential recruits that field narrows down even further.  However, there are a few potential avenues that Tennessee could pursue should more scholarships open up.

Unsigned 2019 Recruits or Signed 2019 Recruits Who Could Get Out of LOIs

Although the Vols don’t find themselves in the mix for any of the top unsigned prospects in the 2019 class, that’s largely a function of the staff having originally targeted a small number of players and then landing three of them.  However, there are still multiple high level 2019 players who have yet to sign/commit – 11 of the Top 47 players in the Rivals Top 150 are in fact undecided – and again as Tennessee both becomes a more desirable destination and also finds itself with an opening(s) the Vols could find themselves back recruiting multiple new 2019 players.

At the same time, every year when coaches get fired or leave for greener pastures players who signed LOIs in the fall signing period are released.  That will shake itself out over the course of the next two months or so, but one can be assured that the Tennessee staff is well aware of who is on the hot seat and what players signed to those schools the Vols might want to target.

Grad Transfers

A new trend is the massive amount of transfers in college basketball every offseason, many of whom are immediately eligible as graduates from their prior school.  Tennessee could use one of its theoretical open scholarships on such a player as a way to add a veteran player to what no matter what will be a talented and experienced roster. Tennessee hit it relatively big two offseasons ago when they beat out Ohio State for James Daniel III, a high-scoring guard from Howard Universitywho was a graduate transfer.  “JDIII” ended up being a meaningful contributor as a 3rd guard and great locker room presence on an SEC Championship team.  This past offseason however, the Vols were burned when they couldn’t get Richmond transfer guard Kwan Fore into school and ended up having the aforementioned open scholarship.  This is likely the route that Barnes will take should the Vols end up with only one scholarship open AND they can’t get a high level 2019 prospect or 2020 reclassifier (see below) AND they want to hold that scholarship open for what looks like it could be a monster class in 2020.

2020 Reclassifiers

Another relatively recent phenomenon that Tennessee freshman DJ Burns just took advantage of is for basketball players to reclassify into the class ahead of theirs and graduate/enroll in their school of choice a year early.

Walker Kessler is a 5-star 2020 Tennessee target who has mentioned reclassifying enough times to make one thinks it’s a real possibility.  Both Kessler’s brother and uncle played at UGA so the Dawgs are a strong contender, but the Vols are also fighting with the likes of Duke, Virginia, Michigan and UNC for the multi-skilled Center.  However, Rob Lewis from Volquest, who has more knowledge of what at least the Tennessee staff thinks about where they are with recruiting than anyone, seems to think that Tennessee is in better shape here than most national analysts do.  Tennessee will have to get him to campus to give itself a chance though, and the good news is that with the new official visit rules they can bring Kessler in for an official visit this season and if he does decide to stick in 2020 they can get him back officially again.

RJ Hampton and Jalen Green are Top 5 recruits in the 2020 class who to this point have not shown much interest in the Vols.  However, should the Vols indeed have a dream season they could find themselves in the mix for these two, among other future reclassifiers. 

The bottom line is that Barnes and Tennessee could be in the enviable position of having open scholarships when their stock has never been higher, and should be looking to take advantage.  Again, they are going to be picky when it comes to not just talent but also character, but just because they have at least 8 players returning next year from this year’s squad plus their 3 signees doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be looking to add bigtime talent when and where they can. 

Tennessee 71 Alabama 68: Bama, Beaten…Barely

Tennessee jumped to a 16-4 lead in the first eight minutes, then stretched it out to 44-29 with a minute to play before halftime; a Bama three made the Vol lead a dozen at the break. Jim Chaney and Tee Martin were introduced to the crowd. No. 2 Michigan was already down. A good day in progress.

The first half left us with comparisons that can still make you a little uncomfortable. The Vols shut down everything Bama wanted to do at the rim, affecting shots the way we’re used to seeing it happen to our own when playing Kentucky. Alabama, a solid bubble team, just wasn’t on Tennessee’s level; good game, good effort, etc., the Vols would roll to their 12th straight victory.

In three minutes and 23 seconds, Alabama lit that script on fire.

Here’s how ESPN’s play-by-play data shows the start of the second half:

  • Grant Williams miss
  • John Petty three
  • Admiral Schofield miss
  • John Petty two
  • Jordan Bone miss, offensive rebound, Admiral Schofield miss
  • John Petty three
  • Grant Williams miss
  • Herbert Jones miss
  • Kyle Alexander miss
  • Kira Lewis three
  • John Petty steal
  • Herbert Jones layup, Bama leads 45-44

The Tide didn’t go away, and Petty stayed hot for nearly seven more minutes. With 9:52 to play, he splashed his sixth three. Alabama led 59-58. Petty had 30 points.

He didn’t score again. He attempted only two more shots.

Some of that was Jordan Bowden; the Vols tried Bowden, then Lamonte Turner, then went back to Bowden on Petty. Donta Hall’s presence (16 points, 12 rebounds) meant extended action from Kyle Alexander, preventing the Vols from using their Bone-Bowden-Turner-Williams-Schofield lineup. The Vols instead tried to chase down an Alabama team taking 26 threes with only two true guards on the floor for most of the game.

And some of that was Alabama, with that combination of open looks and perhaps a belief that Petty’s fire could spread. Petty and Kira Lewis were 9-of-16 from the arc. The rest of the team was 1-of-10. Four of those ten attempts came in the last ten minutes, when Petty couldn’t get a look.

But all of that shouldn’t have mattered. Alabama wins this game if it shoots even a little bit better than 8-of-18 at the free throw line. Tennessee, which has looked incredibly unbeatable for most of the year, looked human today.

Beatable, but not beaten.

The Vols got an and-one from Schofield with 10:14 to play, then went almost seven minutes without making another shot. Alabama’s size and physicality were bothersome for Grant Williams, who needed 17 shots to score 21 points. Lots of jump shots that went down in the first half didn’t in the second, and the Vols shot just 3-of-12 (25%) from the arc.

But the Vols helped put Alabama in drought conditions as well, getting only one field goal from a dunk at 9:25 to a layup at 3:15. This wasn’t Tennessee’s best defensive effort, but it was good enough to win. Meanwhile a jumper by Jordan Bowden took the lid off, and the Vols hit four shots in the final four minutes, including two from a previously-cold Admiral Schofield.

The end of the game is getting plenty of press: a quick travel call on Petty with three seconds left and the Vols up one. In super slow-mo it looks right, though I get how frustrating it would be to have that go against you in real time. Grant Williams fouled out on the previous possession, again a victim of a couple of iffy offensive fouls (if not the last one, definitely the one before). This is no doubt a tough loss for Alabama.

It was a toughness win for Tennessee, who could still go to number one on Monday depending on how voters feel about the outcome of Duke-Virginia. But Barnes will get to sing some of the same song from the second half against Arkansas: those 20 minutes will get you beat in March, and these 20 minutes get you beat today if Alabama hits their free throws.

We already know the Vols can play with the nation’s best from Kansas and Gonzaga. I don’t know how many other teams will present the same combination of on-fire guards and a tough match-up inside like Hall that prevents Tennessee from playing last season’s crunch time lineup. But the Vols get to learn from victory instead of defeat.

The Wise Move for the (Possible) Last Spot

As Tennessee hits the home stretch of the 2019 class it has an incredibly limited number of spots to add more players, and despite what was a very successful Early Signing Period haul there are still needs at virtually every position.  The Thursday night addition of Georgia transfer Deangelo Gibbs – a former 5-star prospect who will boost the talent on the roster regardless of whether he’s eligible in 2019 or not until 2020 – reduces that number even further to likely only 3-4 spots.

OL Darnell Wright (1) and LBs Henry To’oto’to (2) and Chris Russell (3) probably have a spot available to each of them, respectively, and Wright appears to be a Vol lock while Tennessee is in good shape with instate Russell for whom they’re primarily battling Arkansas.  After an outstanding OV to Knoxville and the departure of Alabama DC Tosh Lupoi To’oto’to appears to be strongly trending to the Vols, but Saban (and likely new DC Pete Golding) and Alabama will fight for him until the end.  But with the Vols in good shape there too that seems like 3 of the max 4 spots are reserved and likely taken. 

Then there is WR George Pickens, the Auburn commit for whom the Vols are battling not just the Tigers but also UGA (where he’s OV’ing this weekend) and LSU.  Pickens has some grade concerns and of course is going to be a tough pull regardless.  He’s planning on going back to Auburn next weekend for an unofficial visit and you can bet that Malzahn and Co. are going to do everything – and I mean everything – they can to get him to shut down his recruitment.  Were Pickens to come out of that weekend wanting to take his last visit the Vols will still be in a battle with UF and Miami just to get that.  So there are quite a few obstacles to landing Pickens signature before you even get to qualifying and enrolling.  Regardless, Tennessee would make room for him if he decided he wanted to sign with the Vols.  He’s that good.

The Vols do have quite a few other prospects on the board, and in an ideal world would like to add another DL as well as another DB, but right now there won’t be room to add both and maybe not one of either.  Interestingly, Tennessee does in fact have a DL and a DB committed – DL Leddarius Cox and S Anthony Harris. 

Below we take a look at the options at both positions.

Defensive Line

Cox visited last weekend and came away saying he wants to sign with Tennessee.  However, both sides are clearly evaluating all of their other options, as Cox will OV to Auburn this weekend and Ole Miss the next, while the Vols are bringing in DL Wisdom Asaboro this weekend and are also recruiting DL Charles Moore and Kristian Williams (committed to Minnesota) as well.  Moore has yet to finalize an OV to Knoxville and lists Florida (OV’d last weekend) and Auburn (OV’d in December) as his Top 2 with the Vols in the third spot, while Mississippi State, where he was long committed, is also still trying.  The staff seems to be keeping Williams warm and might bring him on an OV the last weekend.

Defensive Back

At DB, Tennessee is bringing in CB/Nickel Jammie Robinson this weekend and also has Kenney Solomon (offered this past weekend on an UV) and Jamal Hill to go with Harris on the board.  Robinson is relatively undersized but is a dynamic playmaker and had an outstanding senior season.  He’s coming off a good OV to Auburn last weekend after visiting South Carolina and Kentucky before the Early Signing Period.  It seems like Kentucky would take him today, and likely South Carolina as well.  Auburn likes him a lot but, like Tennessee, would take him if numbers were not an issue but simply might not have room.  It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that another school swoops in between now and Signing Day because Robinson will have one more OV remaining. Solomon is a sleeper prospect who I don’t see Tennessee signing and Hill, while a really good prospect who looks to have a lot of potential, appears to be getting more love from among others Oregon, where he’s visiting this weekend.

Harris is an excellent prospect who shined during the NC/SC Shrine Game week after an outstanding senior season leading his team deep into the playoffs as a QB.  However, he’s got grade and other potential off the field issues (nothing scandalous, from my understanding) and at this point it seems unlikely that he signs with Tennessee in February.

So What Should Tennessee Do?

Let’s make one thing clear: No one other than Coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff knows exactly how much room Tennessee has to sign players.  There are rules and then there are loopholes, and that’s why the Tennessee program employs administrative people who are experts at this sort of thing.  What we know is that the SEC says a school can only have 25 initial counters for each year, but that schools can both backcount and forward-count players.  We also know that Tennessee signed 19 in February and have enrolled the aforementioned Gibbs, who must count towards this year’s class.  Further, we know that Tennessee has to count 2019 grad transfers Keller Chryst and Madre London towards this class.  And finally, we know that Michigan transfer Aubrey Solomon could be counted towards the 2020 class as he did not take an official visit (unlike Gibbs).

Point being, if Pickens wants in and Tennessee has already landed the Wright/To’oto’to/Russell trio the Vols will make it work one way or the other. But what if they don’t land him?  Do they still have a spot, and would they want to use it on a DL or a DB?

This is where I think the Vols should, like they have with the additions of Solomon and Gibbs – both of whom could possibly have to wait until 2020 to play – think towards the future and perhaps a bit out of the box.  Which player on the board has the most size, positional flexibility, and upside?  Easy, that’s Wisdom Asaboro.

The brief background on Asaboro is that via the Access to Sucess program, which also brought fellow Nigerian Chris Akporoghene to the US, Asaboro accepted an academic scholarship from Christ School in North Carolina in September 2016 and then after a brief return to Nigeria enrolled at Covenant Day School this year as the school was fielding its first varsity football team.  He’s 6-foot-8 and 280 pounds and has a 7’4″ wingspan.  Please make sure you read that last part again as you watch these highlights of him not just dominating at the line of scrimmage – table stakes for a kid that big against the kind of competition he was facing – but also chase down plays well past the line of scrimmage and play running back.  Those highlights are why, even though it was unclear up until a few weeks ago whether he was going to be a 2019 or 2020 signee – it turns out he’d already graduated from high school in Nigeria so 2019 became a late option – he got offers from the likes of not just Tennessee but also UGA and other bigtime programs. That athleticism has also been shown as he has competed on both the basketball and track and field teams.

He’s raw for sure, and to the degree that either of Moore or Cox or Williams at DL or any of those DBs could help next year, most of them, particularly the DL, are more likely to do so than Asaboro.  However from here all of those prospects, while solid in their own right, project to be future rotational players at their respective positions.  On the other hand, Asaboro has the kind of rare size and athleticism combination that projects to a bigtime college career and even an NFL future on either side of the ball with the right development. 

Assuming Tennessee does in fact land Wright/To’oto’to/Russell they’ll have themselves an outstanding and borderline Top 10 class even if they don’t add anyone else.  And that ranking won’t take into account the additions of Solomon and Gibbs, two former 5-star talents who have both been in elite college programs and will each immediately take the roster to another level talent wise whenever they respectively become eligible.  But if Tennessee is looking to get back to being an elite program, which it certainly is, it needs more elite talent.  And from here it looks like of all the prospects left on the board that Asaboro far and away has the potential to be just that.  So the recommendation here would be for Tennessee to go full bore after Asaboro this weekend and given themselves a shot at having another blue chip player on its roster. Further, wait to see if Harris can get qualified after National Signing Day and have him enroll in the summer (ala Bryce Thomson last year) and count towards the 2020 class. He’s good enough to use that spot on him as he’d be another foundational piece for that class to go with QB Harrison Bailey and JUCO DL Jordan Davis.

Tennessee vs Alabama (and 2008 Tennessee) Preview

So maybe we should start here with these previews: Tennessee is a 15-point favorite over Alabama in KenPom, 16.7 in ESPN’s BPI. That’s the bar this team has set for itself. So we’ll spend a few words here talking about Alabama – 59th in KenPom, next four out in the Bracket Matrix – but right now the Vols are eating bubble teams for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It’s tough to find the right comparison for this team. Their SEC contemporaries in year-end KenPom going back are Final Four caliber squads from Florida and Kentucky. But until Tennessee actually achieves that goal, it will continue to feel premature to compare them someone like the Noah/Horford Gators.

And it’s tough to compare them internally, because in many ways right now this feels like the best team in school history. As they’re actively flirting with what the 2008 team did in the regular season by reaching number one, and that squad doesn’t carry an overly-heavy burden of postseason success…maybe that’s a good place to start.

The 2008 vs 2019 Vols

This comparison probably felt a little unfair in preseason, not wanting to burden this team with number one expectations. But at the midway point of the season, it feels incredibly natural.

For our younger viewers, the 2008 Vols brought almost everyone back (minus Dane Bradshaw) from a Sweet 16 squad in 2007. And they carried the same motivation of March heartbreak: less Sister Jean, more Greg Oden.

The 2008 Vols were ranked seventh in the preseason AP poll, a school record broken this year at sixth. A win on Saturday would match 2008’s 16-1 start; those Vols went to Rupp Arena and lost in their 18th game, then won eight in a row to set up the #1 vs #2 showdown with Memphis on February 23.

Bruce Pearl’s non-conference scheduling drifted more toward the high-mid-major gauntlet: the 2008 Vols didn’t play anyone as good as 2019 Kansas or Gonzaga before facing #1 Memphis, but did take down five Top 50 KenPom teams from West Virginia, Western Kentucky, Xavier, Gonzaga, and Ohio State.

The 2008 SEC schedule opened with Ole Miss, surprisingly undefeated. Tennessee won 85-83 on a Tyler Smith bucket at the rim (Pearl in the postgame: “He stuck it up their nose.”) But from there, it gets familiar: Tennessee beat South Carolina by 24, Vanderbilt by 20, then Georgia by 16 after the loss at Rupp. They weren’t all that way: half of Tennessee’s 14 SEC wins in 2008 were of the single digit variety, plus another in the first game of the SEC Tournament.

Honestly, the biggest difference between these two teams right now? Rick Barnes…who, after (in)famously losing to the Vols in 2006 and 2007, beat the 2008 Vols in November by 19 points. Almost no one remembers this game because it took place on the same day as the four overtime win at Kentucky in football to seal the SEC East. The 2008 season also ended with a 19-point loss to Louisville in the Sweet 16, a bad match-up with a ton of length.

…I can’t see the 2019 Vols losing to anyone by 19. And while there are less favorable match-ups…I’m not sure there’s a bad one right now.

In fact, in advanced stats, the only place the 2008 Vols were clearly better is turnovers: Pearl’s team forced a turnover on 24.5% of opponent possessions, 19th nationally. Barnes’ team does so on just 19.1% of opponent possessions, 175th nationally. Everything else is a push, or to the advantage of the current squad.

There’s a long way to go this year. But with a legitimate chance to get to number one this weekend, the Vols could equal their 2008 brethren…and, right now, are playing at a level beyond them in many measurable ways.

On Alabama

But, if you’re looking to come back down to earth…well, that’s what happened last time we played these guys.

Winners of six straight, including the first win at Rupp Arena since 2006, Tennessee rolled into Tuscaloosa 18-5 and in the conversation for the final one seed. Instead, Alabama led by 10 at halftime and dropped the hammer in the second half, winning 78-50. Grant Williams had 16, but the rest of the team went 11-of-46 (23.9%) from the floor.

Collin Sexton is playing for the Cavs these days, but the other two guys who beat up the Vols last year are back: John Petty is now a sophomore averaging 10.9 points per game, and Donta Hall is back for his billionth season at center. Freshman guard Kira Lewis Jr. leads this team in scoring at 14.4 per game; Texas transfer Tevin Mack adds 9.3 points in just 19.8 minutes.

Last Saturday’s 81-80 home loss to Texas A&M tarnished what was looking like a tournament resume for sure. Bama lost to Northeastern in the third game of the year, but has wins over Wichita State, Murray State, Arizona, Liberty, Penn State, and opened SEC play by beating Kentucky. The loss at LSU is nothing to hang one’s head about, as the Tigers are now 30th in KenPom. Last time out they won at Missouri by 10.

The Tide are great on the glass: 44th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage, 39th in defensive rebounding percentage. It’s a big turnaround when your last opponent was Arkansas. Donta Hall is again a beast here on both ends of the floor, though this year’s version of Tennessee shouldn’t eat seven blocked shots like last year. And in the same physical fashion, Bama excels at getting to the line: 18th nationally in free throw rate, though they shoot only 69.3% once there. Defensively they don’t try to force a lot of steals or turnovers, relying more on solid defense and eliminating second chances.

They already beat Kentucky, so arguments to use talent to simply blow past them aren’t as strong here. You also have to go back to Cuonzo Martin’s last year to find a really good performance against these guys, a 76-59 win in Tuscaloosa. Donnie Tyndall’s Vols lost 56-38, and Barnes would be 0-3 against the Tide if not for second half heroics from Lew Evans in the 2017 regular season finale, a game in which the Vols trailed by 16 points.

Tennessee famously hadn’t played well against Georgia under Barnes, then annihilated them a couple weeks ago. But this Bama team is a lot better than Georgia…which leads us back to the same place in these previews, where I find myself saying, “We should be careful with this team…” while acknowledging the Vols are 15-point favorites.

#2 Michigan travels to Wisconsin at noon (ESPN), so we’ll know in part what we’re getting into when our game tips off at 2:00 PM (ESPN2). Wins by Wisconsin, Duke over Virginia (6:00 PM ESPN), and, of course, Tennessee should get the Vols to number one. There’s a lot to play for, a lot to be excited about…and plenty to be cautious about. We owe this team a beat down.

Beat Bama.

Worth reading 1.17.19: What it’s like to play for Jim Chaney

If you read only one thing about the Vols today . . .

. . . make it this, from The Athletic:

Yes, it’s behind a paywall, but it’s the thing most worth your time today.

Other Vols stuff worth reading today

  1. Tennessee picks up a couple of crystal ball predictions for Henry To’oto’o in light of the departure of Alabama DC Tosh Lupoi , via 247Sports
  2. Four-star Alabama commit Khris Bogle reacts to Tosh Lupoi news, via 247Sports
  3. Report: Vols assistant [Charles Kelly] has coordinator offer from Maryland, via 247Sports. Also, Tee Martin is reportedly already on the road recruiting.
  4. Newcomer Profile: Solomon should be worth the wait for Vols, via 247Sports
  5. Phillip Fulmer seen coaching offensive linemen at UT Vols football practice, via KnoxNews. Minor violations, but the Knoxville News Sentinel appears conditioned to attack when it comes to The Papa.

Best of luck to TK.

Behind the paywalls

  • Five-star OL [Darnell Wright] gets another visit from Vols’ coaches, via 247Sports

From the archives

  • 2010: Kiffin cut off retreat for everyone but himself, via Joel at Rocky Top Talk. Written not in the heat of the moment but after time to consider it, this is what I think was the reason we were justified in being upset the night Kiffin left.
  • 2018: Barnes, Bruce, and Cuonzo: The Real Thing, via Will Gameday on Rocky Top. It is possible to love all of these guys.