Should Tennessee basketball stick with four guards?

Heading into the year, John Fulkerson and Yves Pons were the seasoned veterans for Tennessee basketball. One was an All-SEC forward, and the other was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. They were the penciled in starters at the four and the five.

However, with Pons out of the game due to injury, Rick Barnes went small against the Georgia Bulldogs. Until the end, it worked to perfection, as UT built a 22-point lead, saw a highlight dunk from Keon Johnson and got 30 points from Jaden Springer.

In fact, the three guards who were all five-star recruits finally looked like it Thursday. We mentioned Springer, one of the freshmen. He had three steals along with his 30 points and shot 9-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from the three-point line while going 9-of-12 from the free throw line. It was a masterpiece.

Johnson, his fellow five-star freshman in Tennessee basketball’s 2020 recruiting class, had his own great performance. Beyond his highlight dunk, he had 11 points, three assists and a block and continued to spark transition plays for the team.

Then there’s Josiah-Jordan James, a five-star in the Vols’ 2019 class. He came away with 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Recruited as a combo guard, James truly lived up to his billing.

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Given how they played, should Barnes considering starting all three of them plus Santiago Vescovi as the point guard? Obviously, Vescovi was a key part as well with 19 points. The elite play of all these guards suggests they could be unstoppable on the court all at the same time.

This team forced 18 turnovers and shot 41.7 percent from the three-point line with this rotation. It would have been better if Victor Bailey Jr. didn’t have an off-night, shooting 1-of-8 from the three-point line coming off the bench.

Simply put, Tennessee basketball could be dangerous if it goes small given how athletic the five-star guards are and how polished they can be offensively. They would also be extremely fun to watch on a nightly basis if Barnes did that.

Sure, Fulkerson and Pons both provide significant value. Nobody can defend like Pons, and Fulkerson knows how to make sure the offense goes through him. Fulkerson led the team in assists Wednesday because of his elite passing under the basket. We should also note that the Vols had trouble holding the lead in this one, as they held on to win 89-81.

On the other hand, maybe it would have worked to perfection if Barnes had the option to rotate Fulkerson and Pons in and out of the game while sticking to the four-guard set. When the Vols have a big lead like they did Wednesday, Barnes could put Pons in to hold the lead given how elite he is defensively.

At 14-4 and 7-4 in the SEC, this is just something to think about with a visit to the LSU Tigers looming. What’s clear is that Tennessee basketball is now open to a world of possibilities, as Barnes could run lots of different rotations to match up to different opponents. That’s a great position for Rocky Top to be in.