Tennessee Basketball: Rick Barnes Betting On His Own Coaching Ability

With the transfer of Utah State forward Lew Evans, Rick Barnes has given Tennessee basketball a complete roster. The Volunteers now depend on his coaching.

Despite losing Kevin Punter, Armani Moore, Devon Baulkman, and Derek Reese along with the transfer of Ray Kosongo, the Tennessee Vols have a complete roster going into the 2016-2017 season thanks to Rick Barnes.

Barnes employed an odd recruiting method focused on filling specific roster spots with competent players to fit his system, and he grabbed as many players as he could to do that, focusing on quantity rather than quality.

He completed the process by picking up Utah State transfer Lew Evans. Evans has never been really impressive, shooting only 41 percent from the field last year and averaging only eight and a half points and five and a half rebounds.

But he is the second player that is 6’9″ on the team, along with Kyle Alexander, so he fills exactly what Barnes needs. His 35.6 percent three-point shooting is a pretty big plus, though.

Now, with two big men and another 6’7″ newcomer in three-star John Fulkerson, Barnes has a collection of decent players that make up the exact puzzle he needs to run his proper system.

None of these players are stars unless Lamonte Turner becomes one in his return from injury. But they are all solid guys who fit a system. All of this proves one thing.

Barnes sure does believe in his abilities as a head coach.

Every one of the players on the Vols next year will be somebody that requires coaching and can thrive in a specific system. Barnes did exactly what coaches are not supposed to do in recruiting. He used up scholarships to fill roster spots rather than find the best players.

The only reason for that could be that Barnes believes in his coaching and believes in his system, and he just needs to get the right depth and the right players in it. The level of skill does not matter as much because he knows he can coach them up.

This is what Gary Williams did with the Maryland Terrapins in his 20-year run in College Park.

Both coaches ran an up-tempo system, and Williams was known for finding the diamond in the rough that would be a four-year player and fit that system to become a star as a senior. Juan Dixon, Lonnie Baxter, and Greivis Vasquez are just a few guys who fit that mold.

Barnes is doing the exact same thing in Knoxville. And Vol Nation is fine with it, as they should be.

After all, there has never been any doubt about Barnes’s knowledge of basketball or his ability to coach. If he can fill up the roster with the right pieces in the right place the way he wants it, at this point everybody should have faith that he can win that way.

When John Calipari bases his entire method on bringing the top talent every year to the rival school up north but only has one national championship to show for it, maybe the four-year guys that you know will stay are the better way to build a consistent program unless you can recruit the way Coach K or Roy Williams does.

It just takes coaching abilities for that method to work out. Barnes clearly believes he has it, which is why he recruited the way he did.