The 2020 class should be very nice but the season after next when they get here will be a very young UT team, most likely. 30 win seasons don't grow on trees and this team was the culmination of a 3-4 year project. I don't think we'll see as good of one as this year for a while. Maybe we'll have better luck in the tournament with these guys, though.
The class for the 2019-20 season is pretty much closed unless we go after a grad transfer, which I think would be a good idea if we have the space available (not sure whether or not we do--might depend on whether we have Williams/Bone go pro or whether a guy who's not really in the rotation transfers). The 2020 class will be on campus for the 2020-21 season, and Walker is our only commit right now. I don't know who else we're recruiting in that class, but given that we'll have to replace Williams, Bowden, Turner, and Bone, we need to have 3-4 guys who can really play. Walker is a good start, but if it ends up being him and a bunch of three-stars, that's not a good class. But I'm not really a basketball recruitnik and I don't know who else we're after.
Yeah, I imagine it'll be a while before we see 30 wins again, but if we're getting younger and more talented over the next 2-3 years, we certainly could have one of those seasons where it's up and down but then they're on fire going into March. Probably not anything as extreme as the 2009-10 season, which is about as perfect as you can get as an example of a team that's up-and-down but then gets hot (obviously the thing that sticks out in memory are the arrests and then the home wins over #1 and #2 and the Elite Eight run, but that team got housed in Los Angeles by a bad Southern Cal team when they were at full-strength. They were a mess, until they weren't). But maybe something like this year's Purdue team, which lost all but one of their best players from last year and started 6-5 before figuring it out in conference play.
Not confident in anyone at the 5 or anyone replacing Admiral's production. I think we caught lightning in a bottle the last year or two and failed to capitalize. Maybe James comes in and replaces Admiral's production on his own, but that's big shoes to fill for a freshman. If Bowden can fix his inconsistency, maybe he could be the guy to step into that roll. A lot will be riding on Burns, Walker, and James.
This nails it IMO. Next season's success will depend on the development of Walker, Johnson, Fulkerson, Pons. We have to get something out of those players. The encouraging thing for me is the 2020 class. High caliber kids are really responding to Barnes' pitch of "come to UT and develop like Grant and Admiral". In the most realistic scenario, I think we're a borderline top 25 team next year that gets a 5/6 seed. However, I think this group of guys really did change the trajectory of the basketball program.
Yeah I shouldn't have lumped him in with the others, but it would be awesome if he developed his game a little bit. He's good at his current bench role, though.
The other thing is, we keep saying we don't have a 5 for next year, but can there really be that much of a drop off from Alexander? He felt like a liability for most of the season. Obviously replacing Admiral is tough, especially from a leadership standpoint, but we still likely have Bone, Turner, and Bowden. The James kid doesn't necessarily have to completely fill the production void left by Admiral if the other 3 all pick up some of the slack. The biggest key, obviously, is Grant. If he comes back, I think we have the opportunity to be very good next season. If he's gone, we will obviously struggle.
Grant, Bone, Turner, Bowden, new kid. fulk, pons, walker, johnson would be a fun group to watch next year. Hope it happens.
My concern at the 5 is that Walker wasn't able to take any minutes away from Fulkerson or Alexander when he was struggling down the stretch. Not sure if that was more because of Barnes not wanting to rotate that many guys or an indictment on Walker's ability. So, it may be worse or we may have a noticeable upgrade next year that leaves us us all wondering why he was buried on the bench.
I'd almost rather throw the Burns kid in there and baptize him by fire. There's no possible way he can play softer than Alexander. And I'll take a less skilled guy that plays more aggressive down there any day of the week.
Johnson, Pons and Burns will determine next season. Fulkerson is what he is. James will likely be a rotation player behind Bone and Turner. Johnson has to be a 3 point threat. Pons has to give something on offense. Anything. Walker is just going to beat people up for 15-20 minutes a game and grab 7-8 rebounds.