Head coach Rick Barnes met with the media over Zoom to discuss the upcoming season and the effects of COVID-19.
On the developments of other conferences opting not to play fall sports this year and if there has been any new communication between Barnes and the SEC:
“To be quite honest, and this is my opinion, we’ve got to get football going first. Obviously as a conference we’ve been talking about certain things—not anything drastic to be quite honest with you. I think it’s so important these next couple of weeks that we see how it goes with students being back on campus. We’ve got to get football up and going. That’s the first and foremost thing. We’ll come up with plans. There’s no doubt. I’ve got a call later this afternoon to find out some of those type plans. I think Danny Gavitt came out and said some time in the middle of September they might have something. Again, I don’t know why we say September. Our first game isn’t until November 10. I don’t know why we don’t wait as long as we possibly can. I just believe that maybe being an optimist that we’re going to go on time. What might happen is some of the places we have some of these tournaments, like New York or Charleston, there has been dialogue of moving those to Orlando. There are a lot of teams that are in those that are going to lose some games because the other team is not going to start up until January. I think if football goes well that some of these schools will reconsider. Understand that when the Big 10 made their announcement, we got a call the very next day from Wisconsin saying they are planning on playing. We’ll wait and see.”
On the team’s progress over the summer and if Barnes feels they are behind schedule:
“The only thing we’re behind schedule is being behind with our younger players. They didn’t get a full summer of what it really is like. They didn’t get a taste of that until the last couple of weeks they were here in July. I’ve used the analogy that all summer felt like going to a driving range or putting green and never getting to play golf. That’s kind of what the summer was. They weren’t allowed to play. They weren’t allowed to have competition of one-on-one or two-on-two, three-on-three, four-on-four or five-on-five. When we got back, last Friday I think, was the first time they competed since they were back from Nashville. With that said, Grant, I think we got a lot done. We really took it back to the bare basics in terms of fundamentals and things we wanted done. We always spend the offseason trying to work on individual weaknesses. For our older guys, if you ask me right now if they are behind, I’d say they’re not in terms of understanding the grind and commitment that goes into what you’ve got to get done every single day. The younger guys are still coming along with it. I’ve seen good, talented players, but this is all new to them.”
On the conversation of if college basketball will go into a “bubble”
“There’s been all kinds of thoughts because there’s some coaches out there that are talking about it. I’m one of those guys that thinks we need to pump the brakes a little bit on a lot of things. Let’s see what happens with football and how that goes. I think what people talk about with the bubble would be this: most universities have gone to where they’re going to finish up school by Thanksgiving. If you take ESPN, they could take the Maui Classic. They could take the Jimmy V. They could bring them all down there to a bubble, and for teams that are going to lose opponents because they’re not playing until January, those tournaments are over. They could put teams that want more games together at a sight like that. Again, all those ideas are going to be tossed about and will be tossed about. I personally still think that we’ve just got to slow down a little bit and see what happens and how things go, especially these next couple of weeks before we get to kick it off.”
On Pons and his decision return this season:
“We always want guys to get all of the information they can, and there’s so much unknown this year. There’s so much uncertainty. When you think about it, when players were allowed to have agents the past couple of years, the agents are going to do everything they can, I think, to get them to go into the Draft. With that said, there were some people at that point in time talking about how there’s not going to be college basketball or college football season. The NBA backed everything up. It’s not a typical year. The one thing we knew with Yves is that he’s a very well thought out person. I do think that every NBA team that interviewed him was more impressed after talking with him because they understood what we know, with how hard he works, his commitment (and) how much better he wants to get every day. He’s hearing it from a lot of different people, but Yves thought it out with his circle of trust and his people back home, and in the end, he’s coming back. Is he a difference maker? Absolutely. He’s improved. He has. I think this year is going to give him a chance to walk into the NBA from the front door. I believe it. The growth he’s made and will continue to make because he works. He’s got a chance to really be in that league for a long time.”
On Keon Johnson, Jaden Springer and Victor Bailey Jr.:
“All three of those guys give us versatility. They can play multiple positions. All three of those guys have the ability to be a lock down defender. It’s three guys that can play off the dribble and create shots for themselves and also for their teammates. I think VJ, from a conditioning standpoint and obviously being in college as long as he has been and sitting out a year, he’s ahead of those guys. The other two guys have got to get themselves in shape. That’s where this summer we weren’t able to get them in really the kind of shape and conditioning that we want to have them in. I’m not talking just physically. I’m talking the mental side of it and learning how to continue to play when you’re tired, how to concentrate, think and carry yourself when you’re tired. We haven’t had a chance to do that the way we’d really like to. That’s why these next couple of weeks will be really important to the them. From a talented standpoint, all three of those guys are talented. They give us versatility. We need that. We haven’t been as versatile as I think we can be this year.
On E.J. Anosike:
“Man, you’re talking about a guy that is a worker (and) very serious. He is going to do what he does. He can really rebound the ball because he really wants to rebound the ball. He’s worked very, very hard on his three-point shot. As you can imagine, he’s really good around the rim. He’s a worker. He’s one of those guys that goes to the gym, and after you spend time working with him he’s going to go back and work on it and keep up with it. He’s very serious. He, along with Yves and John, Olivier—who has had a great summer—and Uros, who didn’t get back as early as he’d like to. Those four post guys have all had great summers.”
On how he has kept the team focused despite the unknowns of COVID-19:
“We’ve got to play an NCAA Tournament. We’ve got to play it. If we don’t, it’s going to make it almost impossible for a lot of schools. I’m not talking about the Power Five. The money that some schools get, it might be $300,000, which is a lot of money for a lot of people. If they go two years without it—I just know we’ve got to have an NCAA Tournament some way, somehow. You can’t have an NCAA Tournament without having some kind of regular season. What we have told our guys is what I’m telling you: I think we’re going to play basketball. I think we’re going to play on time. We don’t know how all of this is going to play out. I know how far we’ve come since we started with this pandemic. I know how on our campus, we’ve had unbelievable leadership and I know in the athletic department, what we did this summer, our guys did a terrific job of really doing what we asked them to do. They haven’t really been in a locker room since they left in the spring. We do everything in Pratt (Pavilion). They have our chairs spaced out on the court up there. That’s where they dress. That’s their locker room for right now. When they’re in the weight room lifting, they wear masks. When they’re on the court, they don’t wear masks. We wear masks. We’ve told them, we’re going about it like we’re going to play and until they tell us not, we’re planning on getting ready for our first game against Wisconsin. That’s November (11). I think that they’re young. We’re going one day at a time. They’ve done that. They’ve locked into that. As we know, everything is so fluid right now that anything could change from day to day, but I’m a firm believer that we’re going to play basketball.”
On how different this past summer was from typical summers:
“In terms of family, we weren’t going to travel. We pretty much hunkered down here in Knoxville because we weren’t going to jeopardize anything to go see our kids, or grandkids in Texas. So, we were here. We had a group of guys that we walked a lot with. I got into hunting golf balls. I lost some weight and did all that, but the fact is, I really tried to do what everybody else should have been doing. I took very seriously what was going on. We pretty much stayed here the entire time.”
On what he sees Josiah-Jordan James’ role being this season:
“I would put him in that group of guys that we’re talking about with versatility. Josiah has played a lot of different things here. He is a guy that I think is still scratching the surface to what he can do. As always, he works hard. He’s ready. We’ve done everything we could to make sure that we can get him healthy and keep him healthy. I was impressed with what he did. I told each guy certain things, when they were away from us, that they should do. One with him was his flexibility. I just felt like if he could really improve his flexibility, it could help him in a lot of areas. He took it really seriously. He really did. He got to where he could maybe, sitting on the floor, legs out in front of him, could bend at a 45-degree angle. Now he can put his head between his legs. He really worked at it. He took it very seriously. He’s a guy that I think is going to play all over the court for us.”
On what kind of summer Santiago Vescovi was able to have at home in Uruguay:
“In some ways, he probably had the best summer, because he was able to play. He’s back. He’s in better shape. He looks leaner. We’ve watched him work out and play. I think he’s improved, but the biggest thing a year ago was that he never really had the chance to get himself in the kind of shape that he is now and the kind of shape he will be in by the time we get ready to kick it off. He’s a smart player and understands his game. Everybody likes to play with him. We’ve watched him play a little bit. He’s pretty sharp right now because of what I think he did while he was back home playing.”
On if he thinks this year’s roster has a chance to be his most athletic roster since his time at Tennessee began:
“I think that would be a fair assessment. I think we have a chance to be a terrific defensive team when we get everybody to buy into it. I think we’re going to have the ability to do a lot of different things defensively. Some things that we haven’t done in the past. Offensively, with what we’ve done and where we are, we can be better there too obviously. This group is athletic. I go back and I think of John (Fulkerson) and I think of Yves (Pons). It’s important that they step up and be the leaders because I think that your best teams are going to come when you’ve got great leadership from them. Both of those guys aren’t the most outgoing people on the court, but John has gotten much better and Yves has too. That’s a step that those guys have to take for us and help those young guys understand what we’re up against and help them make that quick adjustment. We’re going to need the young guys as we get into it to play the way we want to play. That’s a lot of pressure from start to finish, both ways. You want to play a 94-foot game both ways and we can.”
On what growth and development has been seen from John Fulkerson this offseason:
“I think what happened a year ago, everything with Lamonté’s (Turner) injury and then Santi (Vescovi) coming in and the fact that we had to make ourselves up and over so many different times. Then, we decided that we’re really going to play through John and Yves. I think that helped him more than anything. For some reason, toward the end of February, the light went off where he became a different person. His approach really changed. I actually asked him about it a couple weeks ago, ‘John how much did that injury in your freshman year set you back?’ He said, ‘A lot more than I thought.’ I could never understand why he was holding back, but I think with the way he finished and if we had another month to the season, I’m not so sure he wouldn’t have been Player of the Year in the league. He carried that over. Even though we weren’t here, we stayed in touch with our guys every day and he worked at it. He’s been back on campus and he’s really working at it. We’ve told him, he’s going to have to expand his shooting ability, to step out further, which he’s capable of doing. He just has never really put the time in to make it a big part of his game, but he’s doing it now. His body, if you look at him, he’s gotten bigger. There’s no rhyme or reason to how that happens. Some guys just take a little bit longer, but he is starting to get the kind of strength that you want to have. He’s very focused. I do think he’s added some things to his game. He’s a guy that we trust with the ball. He’s a guy that we think can make plays with the ball. We’ve just got to keep getting better. That’s what we do with all of them, but he’s hungry for it right now. He and Yves are both guys—and I’d put E.J. (Anosike) and I’d probably put Olivier (Nkamhoua) in that group of guys—that are really after it right now. They really want to make a difference. Josiah, we’ve worked with him on some things, but we’ve got some guys that really want to get after this, so that’s a good thing.”
On Uros Plavsic Development and Consistency:
“Uros came back with a little bit more weight, which I thought was good. You can see his body start to develop too. I think the biggest thing for him is to understand what he is really good at and to play to that. You think about John (Fulkerson), Yves (Pons), EJ (Anosike), Olivier (Nkamhoua) and him. Those guys are going to get to compete every day and that will help him as much as anything. He’s a worker too. He’s in the gym. He came back and he was quarantined for a couple weeks. By the time he got ready to go, everybody was ready to go home for a break. I think he’s going to really learn to play in tight spaces. I think he’s going to have to learn to quit dribbling the ball as much as he likes too. He doesn’t need it. He has to get it out of his game because he’s learned how to start getting the position on the court where he wants to be. He’s going to do his work early and understand that when he gets the ball he has to make a quicker play. He’s got to get lower and learn how to play down a bit. We are all happy with him being back here because he is such a fun guy to be around. He’ll be fine, he will. He’ll be able to do what we need him to do before it’s all said and done.”
On Jaden Springer and what he needs to do to contribute early:
“There’s no doubt it is conditioning. It’s the same thing for Keon (Johnson) and Corey (Walker), it’s all conditioning. They have got to get themselves to a point to where they understand what conditioning really means. Jaden understands what he’s doing and what he’s good at. He knows where to go and what he needs to get done. He’s a worker too. When I say worker, I think you guys know that is what our culture is built on. He’s a guy that has to get better at conditioning. Once he does, that’s going to take him to a whole other level.”
On strategy for starting point guard at the beginning of the season:
“What I would like to do is let the best rebounder play point guard. Whoever gets it goes with it. That’s one thing we are able to do with these guys individually. We did try to teach them all what goes into playing that position. It’s the hardest position on the court to play. Our thoughts are as many as those guys can get it, go with it, and go where we want them to go with it. That’s what we like to see as opposed to just one guy out there that can handle the ball. We do think that we have a chance to be a terrific rebounding team. Whoever is out there that gets ahold of it, that they should go with it.”
On Corey Walker and how to best establish a role as a freshman:
“Getting in shape. I say this for most guys coming in and that’s where our normal summer they would have already been there. They would have had it figured out and we would have gotten a lot further along than they are right now. Corey is a step out guy. He’s got good skill but like those other guys he’s got to get in shape. Before he can do anything, he’s got to get in shape that it takes to play at the level that we want things sustained at.”
On the idea of redshirting a big man this year:
“Yes, I think we do. I think we can look at it and see. I don’t want to waste any of these guys and again, we would never redshirt a guy that we didn’t see have a future. That’s something we would never decide until we got closer to the opener. I do think there are some possibilities that we can do that this year.”
On his coaching staff and transition with the effects of COVID:
“They are the best. I’m blessed that I have the best staff and support around me. They were two years out in front of me on recruiting. They know what they’re doing, they’re experienced, they work well together, they help each other. They have taken advantage of zoom calls. They are on top of the players. I mean they are coaches. In recruiting, whatever they tell me to do, I do. I’ve said it before, those three guys I have right now are ready to head any program in the country. They work at it; they know how to deal with people. They understand players and work hard with players. They like being in the gym. With all that said and done they still put a lot of time in the gym with the guys. In recruiting and the nonstop schedule for them. Believe me, I’m thankful and blessed I have these guys because the chemistry with them is really good.”
-UT Athletics
