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Tennessee basketball: Takeaways from men’s Vols media day

By Caleb Calhoun

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 10: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team during the 67-65 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second round of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 10, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 10: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team during the 67-65 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second round of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 10, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee basketball players and coach Rick Barnes spoke to the media on Thursday previewing the Volunteers’ 2017-2018 season. Here are our takeaways.

The 2017-2018 Tennessee basketball season is a little over a month away, and the Vols are getting ready. Rick Barnes and players spoke with the media about a range of issues Thursday to get things going.

Entering his third year with the program, Barnes’s group showed significant improvement from year one to year two. Now, postseason play is the focus.

But which postseason will it be? Well, that’s still up for debate. What’s clear is the Vols once again have a very tough schedule. But they also have a lot of guys back with some key newcomers.

Barnes and the players discussed all of this on Thursday. You can see Barnes’s full presser here. Here are three takeaways from their media session.

1. Three newcomers look to play major roles for Tennessee basketball.

Rick Barnes added five key newcomers to his team this year, including three new freshman, a junior college transfer and a graduate transfer. And based on his press conference, one of the freshmen and both transfers figure to see some real action.

Barnes specifically praised the play of junior college transfer Chris Darrington on their foreign trip. He then talked about graduate transfer James Daniel III’s development after being hurt during the summer. And he discussed the adjustment at length for Yves Pons, a four-star freshman who comes from France. Given all of that talk, expect him to implement all of them into the rotation this year.

2. There’s lots of pressure on the sophomores.

Rick Barnes’s first full recruiting class for Tennessee basketball included key players on last year’s team, including Jordan Bone, Jordan Bowden, Lamonte Turner and most notably Grant Williams. This year, he is clearly demanding more out of them. And with Robert Hubbs III gone, he’s going to have to.

We already mentioned the three newcomers. When you add these four sophomores, that makes up a huge portion of the rotation. Kyle Alexander and Admiral Schofield are still important players as upperclassmen. But these sophomores are the heart and soul of the team.

3. Expectations are higher than ever.

Barnes spent lots of his time during the press conference emphasizing the culture they have built in Knoxville. Tennessee basketball is slowly becoming a program fans can be proud of, and with the SEC getting tougher and Barnes scheduling tough out of conference, they aren’t running from any competition.

The optimism was so high compared to the way he has talked in previous years that it seems like he really is thinking about the NCAA Tournament this year. And he’s got a reason to feel that way. He only lost one key player last year in Hubbs and brought in significant talent to replace him. Tennessee was too young or too thin in the last two years to finish the season the way they wanted.

This year, they are still young, but they’re deeper. So the expectations are back. And Tennessee basketball is in great position to take the next step. Based on the way he spoke Thursday, Barnes certainly seems to think that’s the case.

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