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Tennessee Basketball projected to bounce back

By Colton Pickard

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - MARCH 03: Yves Pons #35 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates during the 81-73 win against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on March 03, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - MARCH 03: Yves Pons #35 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates during the 81-73 win against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on March 03, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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The 2019-20 season was a difficult one for Tennessee Basketball, but they are projected to bounce back and have a much better season this year.

Tennessee basketball was expected to have a rebuilding year for the 2019-20 season, and that was exactly the case. The Vols struggled to find any consistent success throughout the season and was well on their way to missing the NCAA Tournament entirely.

Finishing the season 17-14, the Vols were barely holding onto a winning season, but it was nothing to write home about.

The 2020-21 season could be much better for Tennessee based on recent projections. This time last year, we knew that we’d be losing our best contributors and that we didn’t have a clear leader for the future.

Jordan Bowden and Lamonte Turner were both expected to fill in that role, but that wasn’t quite the case this season. Now, Bowden is the only senior on the Vols roster that is leaving, and Tennessee’s roster is much more clear for the season ahead.

Along with the main contributors returning, Rick Barnes also worked hard on the recruiting trail to sign two five-star guards in Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson, along with four-star Corey Walker Jr. Those three players alone could improve the Vols’ performance on the hardwood drastically.

Some experts are already realizing that and the potential that the 2021 Vols have. It’s just a matter of can they achieve that potential.

Experts around the country are already recognizing what the Vols could do this upcoming season, and they believe Tennessee could be in store for a bounce-back season.

Tennessee has already appeared in the top-15 in some too-early season rankings, and now ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has projected Tennessee back in the NCAA Tournament next spring.

Lunardi has projected the Vols as a five seed for the NCAA Tournament, which would be a huge improvement from this past season.

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Tennessee has a really good chance to return to dominance that we saw in 2019. Now it’s up to Barnes getting the Vols to where they need to be.

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