Tennessee basketball: Projecting the Vols 2019-2020 two-deep depth chart

Shooting guard

1. Jordan Bowden

Senior; 6’5″ 193 pounds; Knoxville, Tenn.

By far Tennessee basketball’s most proven returner at the spot he’s playing, nobody is more penciled in than Jordan Bowden as the two-guard. He’s a scorer. That’s what he does. And it doesn’t matter if he’s coming off the bench, like he did last year, or if he’s starting, like he did two years ago. Either way, he’s elite.

Last year, Bowden averaged 10.6 points a game, but he was highly efficient, shooting 37.8 percent from the three-point line, and when he got hot, he was unstoppable. Now, as a senior, he will certainly slide into the shooting guard role with Lamonte Turner moving over to point guard. And as the go-to backcourt scorer, look for him to have superstar-level production.

2. Davonte Gaines

Freshman; 6’7″ 178 pounds; Buffalo, N.Y.

A three-star recruit in the Vols’ 2019 recruiting class, Devonte Gaines is only on here because we have to have a No. 2 guy. But it’s likely that when the person we say will truly move to point guard while Turner is on the bench does just that, then Turner’s backup, Jalen Johnson, will be the role player. However, Gaines has the potential to fill that void.

In fact, if the void is left on the wing, Gaines’s size at 6’7″ gives him a great chance to do that. All of this is why we have him backing up Bowden here. Gaines was a three-star for a reason, and he was recruited as a wing player before Rick Barnes ended up listing him as a guard on the roster. Whether or not that means anything is up in the air. But he’s clearly in the two-deep rotation.