Two bad breaks for Tennessee have turned the Vols from national title favorites in men’s basketball into a team raising major questions as to whether or not it’s deep enough to make an NCAA Tournament run. All of this is happening while Rick Barnes’ team remains undefeated with its best start in 100 years.
The Vols received word that wing Cameron Carr would enter the transfer portal shortly before their 82-64 win over the MTSU Blue Raiders Monday night. Apparently, it came out of the blue, which probably explains why they struggled in that matchup, trailing by six at halftime.
Carr’s departure comes a month after the news that the Vols would lose forward J.P. Estrella for the season due to injury. In between both of those, they have been trying to work highly touted transfer Darlinstone Dubar into the rotation after missing the start of the year due to personal issues and then injury.
All of a sudden, what looked like a 10-man rotation is now, to this point, a seven-man rotation entering SEC play. Of course, Carr had been out due to injury, but the hope was that he would return by mid-January, restoring the depth Tennessee needed. Simply put, there is cause for concern.
Here’s the good news: UT hasn’t lost any starters, and it has a path forward
The stars of this year’s team are clearly Chaz Lanier, Igor Milicic Jr. and Zakai Zeigler. Felix Okpara and Jahmai Mashack are great role players in the lineup. All five starters have been healthy. Jordan Gainey has been an elite scoring threat off the bench, and with Estrella out, Cade Phillips has been a great post player as well off the bench.
That makes for seven guys Barnes can turn to at any moment. As Dubar continues to develop, though, he’ll be able to go eight-deep. Then there is four-star freshman Bishop Boswell. At 6’4″ 203 pounds, Boswell could be another backcourt option, which would allow Barnes to go nine-deep.
Should Boswell develop and nobody get hurt, Tennessee will have the personnel it needs to still be a national championship contender. It’s going to take Barnes doing something that goes against every instinct he has, though: giving playing time that’s not earned.
Barnes’ philosophy is that players have to earn playing time by developing at the level he wants them to develop at. It’s a great philosophy for developing talent and young men, but it doesn’t necessarily always work when trying to win a national title, which is why he doesn’t have one.
In the case of Boswell and even to a lesser degree Dubar, if the guys are showing effort and a desire to develop, Barnes needs to throw them out there, if for nothing else than to give the stars a break. He has overrun his starters in the past by not using his depth enough. If that remains his philosophy at 70 years old, then he’ll never get that title ring.
