Tennessee struggling after roster turnover
Tennessee wanted to show this year that it had built a program strong enough to withstand the loss of three draft picks and remain a Southeastern Conference contender.
It hasn’t quite worked out that way as the reconstruction of Tennessee’s roster proved even more dramatic than expected. Not a single guy who started an NCAA Tournament game for Tennessee last season continues to play for the Volunteers.
“From a reality standpoint, we’ve had so many different times we’ve really had to start over and do different things to try to kind of plug the dike,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said.
Tennessee (12-9, 4-4 SEC) has lost three straight games to fall to 70th in the NET rankings, which are used as an evaluation tool in the NCAA Tournament selection process. One year after it owned the No. 1 ranking for nearly a month, Tennessee will need to go on a major late-season run to have any hope of earning a third straight NCAA bid.
Since getting off to a 7-1 start, Tennessee has gone 5-8. The Vols must turn things around quickly because eight of their last 10 games are against teams in the top 50 of the NET, starting with Tuesday’s trip to Alabama (12-9, 4-4).
“We’ve got to get better and we’ve got to understand you have to play really, really hard basketball for 40 minutes,” Barnes said.
“When the intensity level of a game goes up, we have to be able to bring that up. That’s one of the hardest things to get younger teams to understand.”
The Vols entered the season with higher expectations even as they replaced AllAmerica forward Grant Williams — taken by the Celtics with the 22nd overall pick in the draft — as well as second-round selections Admiral Schofield and Jordan Bone.
Bears remain No. 1: Baylor has strengthened its hold on No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
The Bears received 49 first-place votes from the 65-member media panel in Monday’s poll to stay comfortably ahead of Gonzaga and Kansas. That was up from 44 first-place votes from the previous week, with the Bears securing a third straight week atop the rankings.
On the court: Patrick Williams had 14 points and nine rebounds, Trent Forrest also scored 14 and No. 8 Florida State beat visiting North Carolina 65-59. RaiQuan Gray had 10 second-half points as the Seminoles (19-3, 9-3 ACC) moved within a win of their best-ever start in league play. Florida State opened 10-2 in ACC play in 2011-12. Cole Anthony started in his second game back from knee surgery for UNC (10-12, 3-8).