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Tennessee Lady Vols 2018-2019 preview by position: Back court outlook

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images /

The Tennessee Lady Vols have lots of returning talent at guard for the 2018-2019 season. Here is the preview there for the women’s basketball Volunteers.

While the Tennessee Lady Vols replace all of their front court production, the back court has a ton of returning talent from the No. 1 recruiting class in 2017. So the expectations are much higher for Holly Warlick with this unit.

Add in the fact that her forte is coaching guards, and there is plenty of reason for excitement here. Maybe after a long drought we can see the program return to its former glory days, and after two straight years of missing out on the championship, even the slightest fall of the UCONN Huskies gives hope to some.

However, none of this is a given. With the losses of Mercedes Russell and Jaime Naried, the Tennessee Lady Vols guards will have a lot more pressure on them this year. Last season, they got by on raw talent but didn’t have to refine their skills as much because the inside game could bail them out.

But when they were forced to win games, things became problematic. If you don’t believe me, go back and look at their first loss last season against the Texas A&M Aggies. The guards turned into freshmen late and blew the game, and that loss started another downward spiral on the year.

So despite so much returning talent and another top 5 recruiting class loaded with back court talent, there are still lots of questions surrounding the guards for this Tennessee women’s basketball team.

Simply put, we don’t know if they’ll take that next step. There have been enough questions about Warlick’s coaching to wonder that same thing. And with a whole new class of freshmen on the bench combined with the loss of one of last year’s elite guards, it’s not all roses.

Let’s break down how everything stacks up. In this preview, we’ll take a look at the roles of each of the players as well. This is our preview for the back court on the 2018-2019 Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team.