Tennessee coach Rick Barnes (Jeff Houchin Photo)
Blue Ribbon College Basketball publisher Chris Dortch says the Southeastern Conference is going to be a “bear of a league” this basketball season.
“We ranked Alabama (in the top 25) and everybody outside of Alabama thinks we had gone bunkers. But that team is constructed for what (coach) Nate Oats likes to do. He doesn’t like to use a lot of bigs, so he signed a bunch of 6-5 to 6-7 wings that can fill it up and play defense like he likes.”
Dortch said Yale transfer Jordan Bruner passes like a point guard despite being 6-9 and can also shoot the 3.
“This is just going to be a monster of a league. Florida, Auburn, Arkansas are all going to be good. LSU probably deserved to be ranked but with the NCAA stuff hanging over them we did not rank them,” Dortch said. “Mississippi State and Ole Miss will be better. South Carolina is as deep a team as (coach) Frank Martin has ever had.”
Then there is Tennessee, the team Blue Ribbon and others picked to finish ahead of UK in the SEC. Dortch said the last three national championship teams — Villanova and Virginia — were both “old” teams.
“Coaches want teams to get old and stay out. Tennessee has that,” Dortch said.
He noted that 6-9 John Fulkerson is a fifth-year player. Senior E.J. Anosike, a Sacred Heart transfer, is a tenacious rebounder despite being only 6-7 and is a similar player to former Vol star Grant Williams.
“Rebounding transfers and he wants to rebound. He averaged 16 points (per game) at Sacred Heart and is much more gifted offensively than even the Tennessee staff realized.”
Senior Yves Pons could have gone to the NBA and earning SEC defensive player of the year honors last season.
“He’s only 6-6 but he can guard every position on the floor and improved as a scorer last year,” Dortch said.
Dortch said five-star sophomore guard Josiah-Jordan James is now healthy and a terrific talent while Santiago Vescovi, another sophomore guard, is in “great shape” for this season.
“Then Tennessee has a Kentucky-like recruiting class. It still can’t match one of Cal’s classes but it is close,” Dortch said.
Oregon transfer Victor Bailey, a 6-4 junior guard, has athletic genes. His mother was an Olympic sprinter and his father a NFL receiver. “He’s super athletic and shot 40 percent from 3 and 90 percent from the foul line at Oregon,” Dortch said.
Freshman Jaden Springer is a five-star recruit.
“This is easily Rick Barnes’ best team at Tennessee. They are deep, they are athletic,” Dortch said. “It is his best defensive team. They can run, they can rebound.
“I think Kentucky is really going to be good, especially with (Olivier) Sarr now eligible. But Tennessee is older and looks even deeper. That’s how good the SEC is going to be.”
