From the highs of winning an early-season tournament to the lows of a season-ending injury, college basketball can be a brutal ride. That’s what Tennessee is dealing with on the hardwood now.
Three days after beating the No. 13 ranked Baylor Bears in dominating fashion, 77-62, to win the Baha Mar Championship in The Bahamas, the Vols, who entered Monday 4-0 and ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll, learned that forward J.P. Estrella is done for the year. Estrella revealed on Instagram he’d miss the season due to foot surgery.
In many ways, this is a brutal loss. UT now only has three true post players: Felix Okpara, Igor Milicic Jr. and Cade Phillips. Also, Estrella was coming on strong last year and figured to be a key part of the rotation, albeit off the bench, this year.
A big reason for excitement behind the Vols was the fact that Estrella was banged up early this season while the team was still looking good. How they would look when he was fully ready generated a lot of anticipation that will never come to fruition.
Adding to the bad breaks for the Vols, this comes a week after the news that guard Cameron Carr will miss four to six weeks due to a thumb injury. Both Carr and Estrella are young guys who were reserves last year and figured to be those types of players who took huge leaps under Rick Barnes.
So how can the program overcome it?
Well, fortunately for them, the blueprint was on display Friday in their win over Baylor. Spoiler alert: Estrella nor Carr played in that game, and it didn’t stop the program from looking spectacular against a top 15 opponent.
In terms of replacing Estrella directly, Phillips will have to continue to shoulder the large role he took on Friday. He did have 11 points off the bench in that game and has scored double-figures in two of his last three games.
Of course, Milicic is the finesse four who is the offensive threat in the post, and Okpara is the athletic scrapper. Phillips figures to do more to replace Okpara, so where the Vols are lacking is the other finesse four.
Enter Darlinstone Dubar.
Due to a personal issue and still needing time to pick up the defense, the transfer who is built like a clone of Dalton Knecht showed at other stops that he can score anywhere on the court when fully healthy. At 6’6″ 220 pounds, that means Barnes can easily put him in the post.
Dubar played 12 minutes and hit a three against Baylor, and his role is likely to increase very soon. In fact, we should note that the Vols managed to beat Baylor without Estrella and Carr while Dubar was still working his way into the lineup.
See the big picture yet? UT has little to worry about.
By the time January rolls around, Carr will be back, and Dubar will be fully implemented into the offense. That will be enough production to offset the loss of Milicic, and Barnes will then have the ability to play small ball.
Recently, meaning the past two years, Barnes has shown a willingness to play four out and one in. With three reliable bigs, that’s more than possible. Dubar could be a fourth in the post, or he could help out on the perimeter.
Meanwhile, the Vols are loaded with elite backcourt players. Chaz Lanier continues to prove himself a go-to scorer at the two the way Knecht was from the three last year. Zakai Zeigler is a slasher who can get hot from three and generate points at any time.
Jordan Gainey, who had double figures against Baylor, is proving he can be a weapon when he’s on, and even Jahmai Mashack is capable of getting hot. Zeigler and Mashack are such elite defenders that they can generate points as well.
Taking all this into account, the Vols have enough elite perimeter scorers and more than enough flexibility to stay elite without Estrella. Barnes has proven himself to be more flexible in recent years, so he should be easily prepared for that this year.
