BRISTOL, Tenn. - Rick Barnes has been a college basketball coach long enough that he's experienced pretty much everything, so the roster filled with newcomers for his second season at Tennessee is nothing new.
This time, though, Barnes won't have a future NBA superstar among the group of incoming freshmen.
The Volunteers this season will have seven new players - eight counting redshirt freshman Lamonte Turner, who sat out last season after he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA - and six true freshmen as Barnes and his staff quickly flip the roster.
At the Big Orange Caravan stop at Bristol Motor Speedway last week, Barnes recalled the last time he had that many new players to ingrain into his program.
"It was probably the year (at Texas) that we signed Kevin Durant," he said. "I think we signed seven new players that year."
The Longhorns' 2006 signing class included Durant, five-star forward Damion James, four-star guards Justin Mason and D.J. Augustin and three-star center Dexter Pittman.
The star-studded class was ranked third by Rivals.com, trailing only the North Carolina class that included Ty Lawson, Brandan Wright and Wayne Ellington and Ohio State's class with Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequon Cook.
Texas needed a larger class that cycle to replace NBA draft early entrants LaMarcus Aldridge, P.J. Tucker and Daniel Gibson and senior Kenton Paulino.
During the 2006-07 season Barnes often started four freshmen with sophomore A.J. Abrams, and the recruiting class comprised the core of that team.
Tennessee's 2016 recruiting class - guards Jordan Bone and Jordan Bowden, wings Kwe Parker and Jalen Johnson and forwards John Fulkerson and Grant Williams - was ranked 34th by Rivals and 37th by 247Sports, but Barnes has reiterated his belief that it'll turn out much better than those rankings.
Those rankings also don't include Utah State graduate transfer Lew Evans, who will provide experience and frontcourt presence to a team lacking in both of those categories.
"We're really excited about this class," Barnes said. "We just think it's a foundation that reminds us very much of the class that we signed our second year at Texas that really became the core guys that led us to the Final Four."
Once the newcomers arrive later this week, the key will be getting a young team filled with new bodies and new personalities to jell quickly.
While Barnes is appreciative that the NCAA now allows for more on-court interaction between players and coaches in the summer, he'll rely on his returning players to help the newcomers adjust to the program. Those players were vital to the culture Barnes believes was established in his first season, and he wants the group of Turner, Admiral Schofield, Shembari Phillips, Kyle Alexander, Detrick Mostella and Robert Hubbs III to imprint that style onto their new teammates.
"A year ago it was new to everybody," Barnes said. "Now we've got a group of guys that have been with us for a year. We're counting on our upperclassmen to help us with things. Like last year, we had more early-morning runs than you'd want to have for guys being a little bit late here or a little bit later there and not doing what they're supposed to do.
"One of the conversations we've had with our players when they were leaving was telling them when they get back this summer that we shouldn't have any of those, but it's up to you guys to let those guys know that when we say you're going to be on time and do what you're supposed to do, there's a certain conduct and a certain way we expect to represent the University of Tennessee.
"We're expecting those returning guys to help us set that tone, whereas a year ago we went through some growing pains. That's what you want to eliminate right now so that doesn't get in the way of us moving forward with the things that we need to do basketball-wise and what they need to do in the classroom."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.