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Tennessee Basketball: Should the Vols Be Aggressive on the Recruiting Trail?

By Billy Williford

ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 09: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team against the Mississippi Bulldogs during the quarterfinals round of the 2018 SEC Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 9, 2018 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 09: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team against the Mississippi Bulldogs during the quarterfinals round of the 2018 SEC Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 9, 2018 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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With the departure of Chris Darrington, Tennessee Basketball has the opportunity to sign two recruits. How aggressive should Rick Barnes and the Vols be on the recruiting trail?

Rick Barnes has been in this position before; in fact, it was just a couple of years ago when his Texas Longhorns were returning virtually every player from a 24-11 season with the exception of Martez Walker who was suspended from the team.

The 2014-15 Texas Longhorns were preseason top 10 and had big plans with five-star, Myles Turner. He was a big-time recruit from Texas, and many believed to be on of the best recruits coming out of high school.

The big man was rated fifth on scouts, ninth on rivals, and second in ESPN’s rankings. Of course, Texas thought they caught the biggest fish in the sea, and with all the returning talent they were going to make some noise.

Well, they made noise and not in a good way. The losses began to pile up, and by February the Longhorns found themselves on the outside of the top 25. Throw in a couple of multiple game losing streaks, and Texas struggled to find wins.

This didn’t make sense, after all, Myles Turner was a five-star recruit, and he was going to the difference in a loss in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament and possibly a National Championship. Anytime a team adds such a huge piece of the puzzle to the lineup it has to workout, right?

Well, as you know Texas didn’t win a National Championship; they had to claw their way into the tournament with three wins near the end of the season. And, in typical Rick Barnes fashion, his team went home in the first round as they lost 56-48 to the Butler Bulldogs.

Some say history has a way of repeating itself and it just so happens that Rick Barnes is in a similar situation only with a different shade of orange.

Tennessee Basketball is bringing back almost everyone. Most notably the SEC Player of the Year in Grant Williams, SEC Sixth Man of the Year in Lamonte Turner, and possibly Admiral Schofield who showed he could be one of the best players in the entire nation in the final weeks of the season.

On the other hand, they lost transfer guard, James Daniel III, who was an excellent role player and obviously now, Chris Darrington who didn’t make much of an impact anyways.

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So, Barnes is standing at a fork in the road and needs to decide on how to move this program forward. Should he be aggressive and target top 150 recruits or go the slow and steady route with three-stars that turn into five-stars?

Tennessee’s roster is comprised of all three-stars with the exception of Yves Pons, who was a four-star, ranked 127th in the nation by govols247. Despite the low rankings, Tennessee is coming off one of the best years in recent history. Co-champions of the regular season and made it to the SEC Championship Game with a total of 26 games.

So, is there a need to recruit four and five stars? In the case of Myles Turner and Texas, it didn’t work. In most cases, not all, but most, five stars can be tricky. They think they are the greatest at basketball and in most cases, they are really good and have dominated their games throughout their life. But, it won’t work for Tennessee, at least not next year.

Tennessee has the making of having a special season, a season that could include cutting down nets, that’s if Admiral Schofield comes back.

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So, why mess with something flowing so well? Barnes needs to recruit two solid three-star guards. One that can run the offense without making too many mistakes and one longer combo guard who can replace Admiral Schofield if Jalen Johnson and Yves Pons don’t pan out.

No need to panic just yet. Barnes doesn’t need to sign a big name just because of the star rating. Sometimes the big stars fade too quickly and the smaller ones shine the brightest.

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