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Tennessee Basketball: 3 reasons why you should be hype about this year

By Colton Pickard

COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Lamonte Turner #1 and Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers react after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 83-77 in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Lamonte Turner #1 and Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers react after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 83-77 in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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2. Backcourt

COLUMBUS, OHIO – MARCH 24: Lamonte Turner #1 and Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers react after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 83-77 in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO – MARCH 24: Lamonte Turner #1 and Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers react after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 83-77 in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

The Vols backcourt might be the main attraction of this year’s basketball team. Tennessee has Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden returning with previously mentioned Josiah-Jordan James throwing himself into the mix.

Don’t be surprised if you find all three of these guys in the game at some point when Barnes puts in a smaller, offensive heavy group. If they can all get hot at the same time, these guys could light up the scoreboard, unlike anything we have seen in Knoxville in quite a while.

Those are just the main stars of the backcourt heading into the season if you thought it couldn’t get any better, well, you’re wrong.

The Vols also have Davonte Gaines, Jacob Fleschman, and Jalen Johnson, all ready to come off the bench.

But wait, there’s more, with his versatility, Yves Pons can also fill in at a guard role if needed. Pons had a lot of hype surrounding him at the beginning of last season but slowly faded into barely getting on the court come March.

Let’s hope Pons has a better season this year and see if he can add to the deep backcourt the Vols already have. I don’t expect Pons to run the point, but he could play shooting guard if he needs to. That’s a role Admiral Schofield filled if he had to, and Pons or Johnson could fill that role this year.

The Vols backcourt could be one of the deadliest and deepest in the country. Barnes has already said the chemistry looks like it’s there, and all the guys get along, so building that into on-court success would be a game-changer for Tennessee.

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