All-time Tennessee March Madness starting lineup

Tennessee men's basketball has made quite a few trips to the NCAA Tournament but has never gone deep into March Madness. This team could be the best chance and a few of the 2024 players could become all-time greats.

Tennessee forward Grant Williams (2) / Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

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Shooting guard: Josh Richardson

Josh Richardson bridged an interesting gap for the Tennessee basketball program. The transition from Bruce Pearl to Rick Barnes was not a smooth one. Cuonzo Martin took over for three years after Pearl before one season of Donnie Tyndall, finally leading to Barnes.

Over that four-year stretch, Tennessee made the tournament just one time, in 2014, and as a junior Richardson led the Vols out of the First-Four in Dayton to the Sweet 16. He averaged 19.25 points while shooting 61.7% from the field and his best game came in the Round of 32 against Mercer. Richardson scored 26 points on just 13 field goal attempts and finished with three assists. During the regular season, he only averaged 10.3 points per game and shot 47.4% from the field.

Tennessee was bounced by Michigan in the Sweet 16, and failed to make the tournament in 2015, Richardson’s senior year. However, he averaged a career high 16.0 points and 3.6 assists and was named All-SEC for the first time and to the All-SEC Defensive Team for the second consecutive year.

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