Tennessee basketball: 5 things for Vols to address this offseason
No.2 – Lineup/deeper rotations
One thing a lot of fans pointed to other than not defending the three-point line was Tennessee had no bench depth. On a deeper level, it was the lack of knowledge when to play the depth.
Let’s not confuse the lack of depth to no depth.
Tennessee had capable depth; it just wasn’t used right. Lamonte Turner was best suited coming off the bench. The Vols played some of their best basketball of the season when Turner was the sixth man.
It’s not because he isn’t good. There have been really great talents make careers coming off the bench. Turner is a spark shooter. He can get hot at any moment, but you don’t want him taking shots from Grant Williams or Admiral Schofield.
Trending. Ranking all 6 Vols losses of 2018-2019 by heartbreak. light
It was as simple as starting Yves Pons and giving him the first four to five minutes of the game. Sprinkle him in the game before television timeouts, and he averages around 12-15 minutes per game.
There’s also Jalen Johnson and Derrick Walker that could have helped out. Why do you think Gregg Popovich started resting players? Every minute counts.
But, the lineup is another weakness to address. While I just made the argument of playing Pons, Johnson, and Fulkerson more often. Playing them at the same time was always a bad idea, and it showed more times than not.