Tennessee basketball: Five most important Vols for 2019-2020

We initially had John Fulkerson projected as a backup and never considered putting him on this list. But with Uros Plavsic unable to go, there is only one other player over 6’9″ on the roster. That player is Zach Kent at 6’11” 235 pounds, but he is a redshirt sophomore who only played two games as a freshman and then missed all of last year due to injury.

As a result, Fulkerson is now the key to the Vols in the post, and Rick Barnes doesn’t have any other options. There’s a reason he got the start at 6’9″ 212 pounds. He has experience as Kyle Alexander’s backup over the past two years, and now he’s the one player who will be responsible for carrying the post game.

Sure, the freshmen could be key. Drew Pember is 6’9″, and Olivier Nkamhoua is 6’8″. But Fulkerson is the only one with close to the proper height and weight to be able to play the five, and at this point he is really the only option. He does have experience doing it, though, which is good news for the Vols.

After all, Fulkerson averaged over three points and two and a half rebounds while shooting 58 percent from the field in just over 12 minutes of action a game last year. So this is a projection on that potential. And although it was against a team with nobody over 6’7″, he did have a double-double in the exhibition.