Rick Barnes gave Tennessee a unique advantage in Juke Harris recruitment

Tennessee has totally reshaped its roster this offseason, and it was all topped off with the addition of Juke Harris from Wake Forest. The Vols already brought in a great group, but adding an All-ACC scorer who averaged over 20 a night shows just how high this ceiling really is. The Vols have a chance to compete for a title next year.

Setting the ceiling for Tennessee with Rick Barnes’ offseason moves complete

Not to mention, it's only May, and Juke Harris already has Tennessee fans fired up for what he can do on the big stage. He said, "I'm super ready to come play in front of you guys, and it's going to be a big show.”

But the real story is how the Vols leveraged Harris into coming to Knoxville, and it all begins and ends with Rick Barnes. When talking about Barnes, Harris was super grateful for his prior relationship with the coach, but also Barnes' ability to not sugarcoat Harris. He said:

“Another thing that he did that separated himself from everybody else is he came in and told me how good I was, but he also got on me about some stuff they can see that I need to work on. ... I feel like I'll be more of a complete player going into Tennessee next year.”

Rick Barnes isn't going easy on Juke Harris, and it helped land him

I love that Rick Barnes isn’t just going to cater to Harris, just like how he didn't cater to Nate Ament last year. In fact, we saw last year that Barnes was even harder on Ament than anyone else because he knew there was more to unlock in his game. It sounds like this year, Juke Harris will get that same type of treatment from Rick Barnes. No sucking up from Barnes, which is great and expected from an old school coach.

While Harris will be the main focal point of this team, Barnes is going to make him earn it. If he doesn't play up to par, someone else will take over the throne.

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