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It seems perfect on paper. Tennessee Basketball picked up a five-star at the one position the Vols needed help. Nate Ament of Virginia became the highest-rated recruit in UT history with his commitment to the Vols, and him doing so also proves Rick Barnes has still got it.

Ament, who hails from Highland School in Warrenton, Va., announced his commitment to UT Sunday night on Instagram. Standing at 6’9″ 185 pounds, the Fauquier County prospect is a small forward. He’ll fit in perfectly with transfer point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, returning guard Bishop Boswell and the Vols’ deep post game that includes three returnees and transfer Jaylen Carey.

What’s there to worry about?

Well, there’s Rick Barnes’ history with one-and-done five-star freshmen. While it’s good in turning out NBA players, such as Kevin Durant, it has not translated to team success in college. Barnes has historically underachieved with such players, with Tennessee Basketball and the Texas Longhorns.

Throughout his history, Barnes has coached nine one-and-done freshmen. Only once did he advance past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament with such a player: in 2023 with Julian Phillips. However, the Vols were upset in the Sweet 16 that year by the Florida Atlantic Owls.

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Also, does anybody consider Phillips the reason UT advanced that year? He was fifth on the team in scoring and barely averaged over eight points a game. Phillips was surrounded by veteran players like Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James who played a much larger role.

Before Phillips, though, he had Kennedy Chandler in 2022, and as a 3-seed, his team was upset by the 11-seed Michigan Wolverines in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. One year before that, he had Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson, two one-and-dones, and was bounced out in the first round of the Big Dance.

That was all just with Tennessee.

At Texas, Barnes was bounced out in the first round when he had Myles Turner in 2015, in the second round when he had Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson in 2011, in the first round when he had Avery Bradley in 2010 and in the second round with Durant in 2007. He has dramatically underachieved with one-and-dones.

Turner and Bradley were the worst cases. In both instances, Texas returned a ton of talent from a team that made the second round of the Big Dance the year before, and those two were supposed to just immediately fill a void on the team. In both cases, the team regressed.

There’s a reason Barnes struggles with these type of players. Barnes, for as elite of a coach as he is, focuses on developing players and coaching them hard. He’s perfect getting three and four-stars who stay with him to blossom into elite talent, like Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield and Zakai Zeigler.

Also, Barnes thrives with upper-classmen one-and-dones who join him with a focus on fine-turning a specific part of their game to have a chance at the NBA Draft. That’s how Chaz Lanier and Dalton Knecht were able to be so successful under him.

One-and-done five-star freshmen, however, have little interest in developing their game. This is a pit-stop for the NBA to them. Typically, they underachieve in general at the college level, but under a guy like Barnes, who tries to develop players, they never mesh with his teams.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, yes, Ament is a one-and-done type player. In addition to being the highest-rated recruit in Tennessee Basketball history, he openly said Barnes sees him as a one-and-done and mentioned KD as a reason he chose to play for Barnes.

Taking all this into account, Tennessee Basketball didn’t do anything worth celebrating in landing Ament. He’s an elite score and can stretch defenses with his athleticism and ability to shoot from the outside, but he’s not going to fit in with what Barnes wants. Second Round Rick is coming back next year. You can book it.

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