Tennessee basketball: New look Vols nothing new for Rick Barnes

Tennessee basketball and Rick Barnes are apart of another rebuild after losing four starters to graduation or NBA Draft. Can he work magic again?

You’ve probably had the Tennessee basketball conversation with your buddies at least 1000 times since the 2018-19 season ended. Perhaps more than 100 times since Grant Williams and Jordan Bone announced they were staying in the 2019 NBA Draft.

That conversation circles around the 2019-20 basketball season and what the team has store for Volnation.

Will the newcomers show enough in season one to be an NCAA Tournament team? Or will replacing Williams, Bone, Schofield be too much for early success?

If you remember, this wouldn’t be Barnes’ first rodeo with rebuilding a team that lost so many pieces the year before. I’m willing to bet there haven’t been many times in his career where he’s been in the position to sign six players. But, of course, he’s at Tennessee, and the class of 2019 holds six newcomers.

It wasn’t too long ago that Barnes was faced with six new players in a single class. In fact, in 2016-17, Barnes was faced with a similar task. No, Tennessee didn’t have players like Williams, Bone, and Schofield leaving the program. Barnes did have to sign six players, though.

After his first season as the Vols head man, Barnes had to replace Kevin Punter (22.2 ppg), Armani Moore (12.2 ppg), Devon Baulkman (9.5 ppg), and Derek Reese (3.1 ppg). Three other players eventually left or were kicked off the team in Ray Kasongo, Jabari McGhee, and Detrick Mostella.

That 2016 class included Jalen Johnson, Jordan Bone, Kwe Parker, Grant Williams, John Fulkerson, and Jordan Bowden. We’ve seen what Bone, Williams, and Bowden are made of. There’s still hope Johnson and Fulkerson have two big seasons ahead of them.

If you go strictly by recruiting rankings, the 2016 class exceeded expectations. And, if Barnes can work that magic again, the Tennessee basketball program will be just fine.

But, that’s the question. Who do you give more credit to? Is Barnes one of the best developers in the nation? Or was Williams, Bone, and Schofield special players and would have shined for any team?

247Sports has the 2019 recruiting class ranked 22nd in the nation, 6th in the SEC. Obviously, the headliner is five-star combo guard, Josiah-Jordan James who is rated 21st in the nation. He’s joined by four-star Olivier Nkamhoua and three-stars Drew Pember, Davonte Gaines, Uros Plavsic, and Victor Bailey.

On paper, Barnes did a heck of a job bringing in more talent. Will it be enough for next season? Probably not. However, if these guys play hard like Barnes early Tennessee teams, the program will be just fine going forward.