Jordan Bone was the third of three Tennessee Volunteers selected Thursday night in the NBA draft.KNOXVILLE - Now that the smoke has cleared from his flirtation with UCLA, Tennessee men's basketball coach Rick Barnes has a lot of work to do as he shapes his roster for next season.
The difficulties lie in that he's missing some information.
What's guaranteed is the Volunteers have lost senior scholarship players Kyle Alexander and Admiral Schofield. They spearheaded the program's turnaround from 31 wins combined in the pair's first two seasons to 31 in their senior year alone, a season that included a 19-game streak of victories, four weeks as the No. 1 team in the country and an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 finish.
The questions come after that. Jordan Bone and Grant Williams, who were juniors this past season, have made themselves available for the NBA draft with the intention of receiving feedback on where each stands. Multiple draft projections have Williams, the Southeastern Conference player of the year the past two seasons and a consensus All-American as a junior, going somewhere late in the first round or early in the second round. Bone has been listed on just one mock projection, going late in the second round to the Los Angeles Clippers at No. 55 overall.
Yet the consensus in Knoxville is that Bone is expected to play professionally in 2019-20, even if it's not in the NBA. It's a risk-reward scenario for him that will be based largely on how he does in individual workouts with pro teams, but considering there's no guarantee that coming back for his senior season will improve his draft stock, it's likely Bone's collegiate career is done.
Williams is more of a wild card because nobody seems to know what he will ultimately do.
Bone and Williams each has until May 28 to withdraw his name from the draft pool, which leaves Tennessee coaches in limbo somewhat. Tennessee has three new players signed for next season - swingman Davonte Gaines, guard Josiah James and forward Drew Pember - but has returned to the recruiting trail to continue to build the roster.
Lately the staff has been in contact with Jalen Cone, a 5-foot-9 point guard from Walkertown, North Carolina, who is a four-star recruit in the 2020 signing class. In what has become a trend in men's college basketball recruiting, the staff has broached the possibility of Cone reclassifying, meaning he would graduate from high school in May and enroll at Tennessee a year earlier than planned.
Cone is expected to visit the Tennessee campus in a few weeks, and his addition, if it happens, would help soften the likely loss of Bone.
Beyond that, there isn't much traction anywhere else for the Vols. A source close to the Times Free Press recently noted Barnes' staff had attempted to reach out to Virginia Tech forward Kerry Blackshear, who announced his intentions to graduate and transfer in the wake of coach Buzz Williams leaving the Hokies for Texas A&M. The source said there wasn't expected to be much mutual interest there.
The Vols are recruiting 6-foot-8 forward Olivier Robinson-Nkamhoua, who is expected to visit campus next week. He currently has offers from Illinois and Pittsburgh, among other programs.
Regardless, Tennessee's staff has a long road ahead. But if nothing else, it knows Barnes will be leading the way.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.