In many ways, it can actually serve as a benefit when a college basketball team loses a key player in November. Assuming he gets back fully healthy, they can learn to develop depth without him and then are even better than they would have been when he returns and they’re at full strength in March.
However, when one of those key players is still developing on his own, it hinders what the program wants to do. That’s the exact situation facing the Vols with the news that guard Cameron Carr will miss several weeks due to a thumb injury.
Carr isn’t a starter, but he’s one of the primary scorers off the bench and was supposed to be a weapon alongside Jordan Gainey in the backcourt. His development, which led Rick Barnes to fall in love with him, resulted in multiple backcourt players entering the transfer portal this past offseason.
The assumption was Carr would take major strides playing more significant minutes in real in-game action this year and would become a major weapon in March. Well, with him now likely to miss the rest of November and all of December, it may be a different story.
Carr not playing these games could push him down the depth chart during SEC play, as Barnes won’t have the time to develop him by then. There’s also the fact that the team will have more trouble developing chemistry with him, as he’s not a returning significant contributor.
It’s not like Carr was lighting it up before going out. He was averaging just under five points a game. However, the 6’5″ 175-pound reserve was shooting 62.5 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and 77.8 percent from the free throw line while logging just over 10 minutes a game.
Simply put, he was showing promise, and with more early-season action, all the signs were there for him to develop into a superstar. He still could develop into a star one day under Barnes, and he could still be a reliable force for the Vols this year, but this injury slows it all down.
Taking all this into account, Carr going down could hurt the Vols long-term. Barnes, as a defensive specialist, altered his scheme to have as many backcourt scoring options as possible, and Carr needed to fit that. There’s still a chance he will be able to do that, but it’s now an uphill battle.
