KNOXVILLE — Taking over a program as late as new Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes and his assistants did is hardly a good measuring stick for a staff’s recruiting process.
That’s even more true in the Volunteers’ case, given the limited number of official visits and evaluation days Barnes and his staff inherited from their predecessors.
Through the coaching transition, Tennessee was able to hold onto the two inherited signees and secure three crucial additions to a roster badly in need of size and help at point guard. And they have one scholarship available if there’s a good find in the summer.
“We’ll see what it means, but certainly any time in recruiting you get guys that you want, it’s always good,” assistant coach Rob Lanier said earlier this month. “When you set out to get a couple of guys, and those are the guys you end up getting, it’s a good start. Now the question is did you want the right guys, and you’ll find that out at some point.
“We’ll bet on ourselves in that regard, and we think we’ve done a good job evaluating over the years. The guys that we got are guys that we believe we would have taken in November. We’re excited about them.”