Tennessee basketball: 5 vulnerabilities Vols need to address for a Final Four run

No.1 – Post play depth

One of the most glaring weaknesses on the No.1 team in the nation is post depth. Now, maybe it doesn’t matter because Grant Williams is just that good. But, as we mentioned earlier in the post, Williams has had a history of getting in foul trouble, so depth is needed.

Alongside Williams in the starting lineup is Kyle Alexander. The senior big man is arguably having the best season of his career. He’s scoring 9.7 points per game which is four more than last year. He’s also averaging the most rebounds, blocks, and steals of his career.

However, Williams and Alexander can’t do it all down low, and that could cause a lot of problems in a one and done scenario like the NCAA Tournament.

At the current moment, John Fulkerson is the first big man off the bench. The 6-foot-9 sophomore is averaging 12.5 minutes per game but only scoring around 3.8 points per game.

Here is what is alarming, in the past two games against Alabama and Vanderbilt when the games have been close, Fulkerson only played a combined 14 minutes and went scoreless shooting 0-2 from the field.

Derrick Walker is the other big man off the bench but is only averaging six minutes a game. In fact, he is playing even fewer minutes since conference play started.

The Vols are fantastic at running a smaller lineup that consists of Bone, Turner, Bowden, Schofield, and Williams so post depth may not be necessary depending on how the game is flowing. However, it could end up hurting them at the worst time.