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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Power forward: Grant Williams

There were quite a few contenders for the power forward spot, but a recent Rick Barnes-era player deserves the spot most. Williams was the heart and soul of Tennessee basketball for three seasons and was a part of Barnes’s first two Volunteers teams to make it to the big dance.

In 2017-18 Williams led the team in scoring and the Vols went 26-9, grabbing a No. 3 seed in the tournament. Then, Williams only scored 12 points in a second round loss to Loyola Chicago.

The next season, 2018-19, Williams upped his scoring to 18.8 points a game with 7.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists. In the tournament, he only went for nine points in the opener against Colgate, but he bounced back with 19 points, seven boards, and five assists against Iowa, and 21 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in the Sweet 16 loss to Purdue.

Williams never took the Vols deep into the tournament, but he helped Barnes reestablish the program as a powerhouse in the SEC and he performed well enough in March to be selected in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft.

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