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Tennessee basketball: John Fulkerson makes Dick Vitale’s All-American team

By Caleb Calhoun

CINCINNATI, OH - DECEMBER 18: Mika Adams-Woods #3 and Tre Scott #13 of the Cincinnati Bearcats defend against John Fulkerson #10 of the Tennessee Volunteers in the first half of the game at Fifth Third Arena on December 18, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati defeated Tennessee 78-66. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - DECEMBER 18: Mika Adams-Woods #3 and Tre Scott #13 of the Cincinnati Bearcats defend against John Fulkerson #10 of the Tennessee Volunteers in the first half of the game at Fifth Third Arena on December 18, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati defeated Tennessee 78-66. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The ESPN analyst is high on the Tennessee basketball Volunteers forward.

Expectations and hype continue to pour in for Tennessee basketball fifth-year senior John Fulkerson. He’s standing out more than everybody on UT’s roster, including its high-profile recruits, its high-profile transfers and its returning NBA prospects.

One day after being named a candidate by Andy Katz for the Karl Malone Award, the 6’9″ 215-pound product of Kingsport, Tenn. was recognized by Dick Vitale. Fulkerson made one of Vitale’s preseason All-American teams for the 2020-2021 season.

Now, the returning leading scorer for Tennessee basketball didn’t get a ton of recognition here. Vitale goes five teams deep on his list, and he only had Fulkerson on his fifth team. As a result, he still may have a lot to prove.

Still, this is pretty impressive for a guy who was expected to be a role player throughout his career on Rocky Top. Fulkerson took a redshirt his first year in 2016-2017 after suffering a season-ending injury.

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He then struggled at times as Kyle Alexander’s backup the next year, including starting in Alexander’s place in the Vols’ NCAA Tournament Round of 32 loss to the Loyola Chicago Ramblers, who eventually made the Final Four. Fulkerson’s struggles were a big reason for that loss.

In 2018-2019, Fulkerson remained a backup but improved behind Alexander. He then had a breakout years in the second half of 2019-2020. For the whole year, he proved himself to be an elite defender and averaged 13.7 points and just under six rebounds a game.

From Feb. 4 onward, over his final 10 games, Fulkerson hit 20 points or more 10 times and averaged over 18 points a game. Given his development and Rick Barnes’ coaching, there is plenty of reason to believe in him as a breakout superstar this year.

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While Yves Pons is the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi add more experience as sophomores who had lots of hype as recruits, E.J. Anosike brings hype as a graduate transfer and two five-stars are in the recruiting class, Fulkerson could be Tennessee basketball’s most recognizable player. This further proves that.

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