Tennessee Vols former basketball players’ standings in Thursday’s upcoming NBA Draft leads our Volunteers news for Tuesday, June 18, 2019.
Here in the middle of June, the Tennessee Vols have a few storylines surrounding former players that are extremely rare for the program when you look at its recent history. But it’s dominating our news coverage.
Today’s morning update on Rocky Top includes lots of that, leading with the NBA Draft Thursday. We’ll start by taking a look at where multiple former UT basketball players are projected to land, as quite a few are generating some buzz.
After that, we also have news surrounding baseball players to cover. That includes the signing of one former player and then a current player receiving another honor. So it’s a short news day but one that’s rare for UT this time of year. Let’s start with the draft news.
Mock draft suggest three Vols could be selected – Grant Ramey, GoVols247
Update Mock NBA Drafts over the weekend are giving the Tennessee Vols a lot of love. Many of them have three UT players, Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield and Jordan Bone, being selected with Williams going in the first round most of the time. Kyle Alexander is looking to be picked up by a team as well.
"Only twice in the history of the NBA Draft has Tennessee had three players selected, in 1950 and again in 1977, with players taken as deep as the 12th round. The Vols in total have had 10 players drafted since 1989, when the NBA went to its current two-round format, with 60 total picks."
Baseball pitcher invited to national team training camp – UTSports
Tennessee Vols pitcher Garrett Crochet is the 21st player in school history to now have a connection with one of the USA Baseball National Teams. The left-handed sophomore accepted an invitation to the 2019 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp.
"The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team will participate in series of four intrasquad exhibition games and a game against the Coastal Plain League Select before announcing a 26-man roster prior to the 8th USA vs. Cuba International Friendship Series that will take place July 2-6 in Cary, Charlotte, Durham and Hickory, North Carolina. Team USA’s 26-man roster will then travel to Taiwan for the 19th USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series after which USA Baseball will announce a final 24-man roster to compete in the 43rd USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series from July 16-21 in Japan."
Former Vol signs with Phillies – Ken Lay, VolsWire.com
For the second day in a row, Tennessee baseball lost one of its underclassman draft picks to the pros for good. Pitcher Andrew Schultz, who would have been a senior next year, signed a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Schultz was taken in the sixth round with the 180th pick overall.
"At his best, Schultz was heralded as a top pitcher in the SEC, but like Linginfelter, he battled control problems at times as he walked 22 batters and hit five others. Those numbers added up to more than an average of one free pass per inning pitched – but he baffled opposing hitters who hit just .191 against him."