After losing eight players from last year’s squad to the NBA draft, graduation or transfer, the Tennessee basketball team will see only two returning players – Josh Richardson and Armani Moore, with any starting experience.
With Donnie Tyndall now at the helm, he will bring an inexperienced team to the court a season after UT made it all the way to the Sweet 16 for the seventh time in program history.
“The main thing we feel like we accomplished in this recruiting class was to add some athleticism and some length,” Tyndall said. “To have those two is very important for our style of play.”
Out of the 15 players on the roster, there are eight new faces that have never seen any experience at the SEC level of play, including four true freshman: Detrick Mostella, Tariq Owens, Jabari McGhee and Willie Carmichael.
The four other new faces are transfers Eric McKnight (Florida Gulf Coast), Kevin Punter (State Fair Community College), Devon Baulkman (Gulf Coast State College) and Ian Chiles (IUPUI).
While the Vols don’t have one of the top recruiting classes in the country for the 2014-15 season, Tyndall has put together a roster that fits his style of play.
“I like to recruit guys that want to play up-tempo,” Tyndall said. “I like to coach a fast-paced, aggressive game. To win a championship every team has to be good at halfcourt. Our style of play is full court pressure on both ends of the floor.”
So far through summer workouts Tyndall has been extremely impressed with the way that Richardson, Moore and Robert Hubbs III have taken to his system, as all three display the size, length and athleticism that prosper in Tyndall’s system.
The Vols will expect to run four guard lineups this season, which is something that Tyndall deployed at Morehead State and Southern Mississippi as well.
Weight gain is something that the team is taking seriously for players like Carmichael, Owens and McGhee who still appear too slender to push around with the bigger players at the D-I level.
McKnight, who is the biggest player on the roster at 6-foot-10 and 230-pounds, should have the upper hand to start at center for the Vols. In each season at Florida Gulf Coast, also known as “Dunk City,” he averaged over a block a game and shot over 60 percent from the field.
Even with the big men on this team, Tyndall loves for even his biggest man on the court to be able to run and keep up with his quick attack mentality on offense.
“Kevin Punter and Devon (Baulkman) can really play and they’ve proven that to us already in a short period of time,” senior point guard Brandon Lopez said. “Jabari rebounds well, Willie has an incredible motor and Detrick is a real talent and I think he will be really good for us.
“Everyone has stood out. They can all score the ball.”
Patrick MacCoon can be followed on Twitter at @PatrickMacCoon.
