{"id":51015,"date":"2024-05-09T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=51015"},"modified":"2024-05-09T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T16:00:00","slug":"rick-barnes-talks-three-open-roster-spots-at-tennessees-final-big-orange-caravan-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/rick-barnes-talks-three-open-roster-spots-at-tennessees-final-big-orange-caravan-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Barnes talks three open roster spots at Tennessee\u2019s final Big Orange Caravan stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennessee basketball<\/a> coach Rick Barnes<\/a><\/strong> met with reporters before Wednesday\u2019s Big Orange Caravan<\/a> stop in Kingsport, the final of the four-part fan event across the state of Tennessee: <\/p>\n

Tennessee having three open scholarship spots and if he ever gets concerned with how quickly the Vols need to fill them<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot really. I think the key is being deliberate and in terms of knowing what you want do when you\u2019re really trying to construct a roster. And I think probably the worst thing you can do is feel like you got to do something quickly without really thinking it through. But we are really happy with where we are right now. We\u2019re going to be really selective with what we have left.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If they\u2019re selling Tennessee\u2019s defensive work to prospects in the portal<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, obviously people talk about it because a year ago this time, no one who knew who Dalton Knecht really was on the national level. And so obviously when we\u2019re talking to people, his name comes up. But not just his, I mean, every guy on our team. People want to talk about Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack, guys who they want to play with. And the fact is, whether it\u2019s someone in your program right now or whether someone we\u2019ve recruited or someone we\u2019ve had, we\u2019re looking for somebody to make that same kind of jump that (Knecht) made. And none of us knew that he was going to be able to do what he did. And hopefully someone else can make the same jump he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

What John Fulkerson meant to the Tennessee program during\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, (he) was important to us when we first got here. He was one of the first guys that we targeted, when we knew the foundation that we wanted to build our program on. And John, it seemed like he was here forever. Now it seems like he\u2019s been gone a long time. But he made an incredible impact with our program in more ways than what he saw on the basketball court. And we\u2019re extremely proud of him. I know that he\u2019s playing professional ball now. I think he had a tough year this year with an injury, but he\u2019ll be back because he\u2019s a fighter. But again, he, he\u2019s a VFL and always will be special to us because he was part of really laying the foundation of where we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

What kind of skillset Tennessee is targeting in the portal \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>Well, I think what we\u2019re looking for now is the best player we can find. And someone that \u2026 you\u2019re always looking to add some scoring if you can. And that\u2019s something we look at, whether it\u2019s up front or in the back court. But right now it\u2019s whatever we do, it\u2019s got to be something that we think that we don\u2019t have and something that we know can benefit us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tennessee having success finding high school kids late in the process, what the market is like<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I think now you think about how many guys are still in the portal and we come every day and not just the guys that are are coming in, but the guys that are there because I think we have put together a really nice analytical program to help us sort through it, trying to find out the things that we think that has in the past proven to be successful when you make a jump from certain levels to this level. But I always think there\u2019s somebody out there and I\u2019ve said my whole career, there\u2019s enough players for everybody.\u00a0 You just need to find the ones that fit you and we still think there\u2019s a couple guys out there that will fit us.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there are still high school guys out there that fit what Tennessee is looking for<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI do think the portal right now is probably where high school players are probably overlooked a little bit more. There\u2019s some schools now that are strictly going to go forward (using the portal) and because of that, that means there\u2019s high school players that are going to be overlooked and we\u2019re not gonna do that. We\u2019ll keep our eye there and we always will, but we\u2019re in a different era. I mean like, we knew we were going to lose some guys. We obviously lost two that we didn\u2019t think we would lose, but that happens and we\u2019re no different than anybody else. I think probably most teams were surprised at something, maybe some guys leaving.\u00a0 But we feel like we\u2019ve been able to\u2014\u00a0you have to have the attitude that when you lose guys, whether it\u2019s through graduation, whatever, this gives us an opportunity to try to get better and we feel like we\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The importance of fan support in the changing landscape of college athletics<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans, they\u2019re really important. When you come to a football game, basketball game, baseball game, softball game, volleyball game, you go down the line. I was at Tennis Sunday and you just feel the love that our fan base has for the University of Tennessee and its athletic department. You can\u2019t come in this state without feeling the impact of the power team. And with that said, when you bring a recruit into a basketball game or any of those other events, they feel something special about Rocky Top. And we\u2019ve actually talked to some guys the other day, and I love it when they say to me, we\u2019re looking forward to visiting Rocky Top. And so we know it\u2019s a national brand and something that people know about and I think we\u2019re going continue to build it with because of the success that not just the athletic department is having but the university with the great leadership from Randy Boyd and Donde Plowman and Danny White. What they\u2019ve done is really remarkable and it\u2019s fun to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell saying that she\u2019s enjoyed being around him during the Big Orange Caravan, how much he enjoys being able to help young coaches<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ve really enjoyed time with Kim. One, she\u2019s going to be successful and I can learn from her as much as talk about wisdom. I think you can feel her passion. You can. I\u2019ve seen what she\u2019s done in a short time with what she\u2019s got going right now, the way that they spent the spring here. But I\u2019ve really enjoyed time with her and I think she\u2019s all \u2014 this has obviously been new to her \u2014 but the way she\u2019s handled everything has been really remarkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it just shows you that Danny White knew what he was looking for when he went out there and made a great hire. She\u2019s a basketball person and you can tell from our last trip. We watched a little film together and were talking about it. You can just tell from her insight, she knows what she\u2019s doing and like I said, I love talking basketball with coaches and I think she and I will will end up spending time talking basketball and like I said, I think I can learn from her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game this past season that stands out to him when he reflects on the season<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cProbably the North Carolina game because we hadn\u2019t played totally up to what we were capable of to that point. And I thought the second half Zakai (Zeigler) found himself. Dalton, obviously that was a time when he really, you knew that, hey, this guy is not gonna shy away from the bright lights. But that was the game where again, I thought Zakai got it back and from that point it was just a matter of now we know what we\u2019ve got at this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of just putting it together. But there\u2019s so many games throughout the year, so many ups and downs you go through emotionally and physically, but anytime you get to the NCAA tournament, you can advance and get close and just makes you want more the next year. And hopefully our guys, and I know they want more. I can tell by the way they\u2019ve approached the spring workouts and so it\u2019ll be here before you start next week. We\u2019ll have guys starting to trickle in here, so we\u2019re really back into swing for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting away from Knoxville for a couple of days to spend time with Tennessee fans<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you know, you\u2019re part of something special. You know, your whole life, when you do what we do, you want to be appreciated. You want to know people love it. And you can\u2019t be a Tennessee Volunteer and go out like this and not feel like, hey, you\u2019re blessed to be have the job that I have and know that there\u2019s so many people that care and there\u2019s just those blue-blooded Volunteer fans that you know they\u2019re gonna be with you, they\u2019re gonna stick with you. And it goes back to really nine years ago when I first got here. A good friend of mine, Kevin Felton, said, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re gonna be surprised by the Volunteer basketball base. And he\u2019s right. But now I\u2019m not surprised. I\u2019m not surprised by anything that happens within our fan base because truly, I think they\u2019re the best in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Rick Barnes talks three open roster spots at Tennessee\u2019s final Big Orange Caravan stop<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes met with reporters before Wednesday\u2019s Big Orange Caravan stop in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51040,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51015\/revisions\/51040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}