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Tennessee Basketball: Five Things to Watch for in the Vols in Exhibition Opener vs. Alabama Huntsville Chargers

By Caleb Calhoun

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Oct 21, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes speaks with the media during SEC Tipoff held at Ballantyne Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

4. Tempo

Throughout the offseason, we knew about Rick Barnes’s ability to adapt to his personnel and also about his preference for tempo. Well, this year, his personnel is built for an up-tempo offense, so that is exactly what we should expect to see.

The game against Alabama Huntsville is going to be the first time we can see that up-tempo offense on display. The basketball team has made it pretty clear all offseason that they will be committed to that style.

The good news is that up-tempo basketball is where the fondest memories lie for Vols fans. Barnes’s first team is a lot like Bruce Pearl’s first team at Tennessee, and Pearl obviously utilized the up-tempo offense to perfection.

Perhaps Barnes could do the same thing.

Tennessee is going to be running a seven seconds or less offense revolved around transition basketball and possibly some pressure defense. All of this could make for some high-scoring games and a team that is fun to watch.

In a scrimmage against Davidson, the Vols put up 90 points on offense. That is going to be fun to watch if they do that all year, even if they do struggle to be an NCAA Tournament team.

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The change in style is probably a simple one since it is just based on running and controlling the tempo of the game, as opposed to Donnie Tyndall’s complex zone defense and his Rick Pitino-style offense or Cuonzo Martin’s rigid half-court man-t0-man sets on defense that made for slow-paced half-court offenses.

But the most important person to run this style brings us to our next point. Literally.

Next: #3: Kevin Punter at Point Guard

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