NCAA Basketball: 4 teams who could make their first Final Four in 2020-21

1. Tennessee Volunteers

If only one team is going to make their first Final Four in 2020-21, it’s going to be the Tennessee Volunteers. This, despite the big losses the Vols are dealing with entering the year, including Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden.

The biggest reason the Vols are up here is John Fulkerson. His Vols career had been unexceptional until last year, when he became a strong SEC big man who averaged 13.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game; he may be one of the best big men in the conference this season.

Tennessee is also going to be loaded in the backcourt thanks to their freshmen. Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson are the two best commits of the Rick Barnes era – they’re commitments propelled Tennessee to a top five class in 2020. There will be growing pains, but they could quickly become the best backcourt in the conference.

Then, there’s Yves Pons. The SEC Defensive Player of the Year (he averaged 2.4 blocks per game) declared for the 2020 NBA Draft. But he hasn’t locked in that decision yet, making it one of the most important outstanding draft decisions in the country.

The Vols have made the Elite Eight once, in 2010. But Barnes has a Final Four trip on his resume, going there with his Texas Longhorns in 2003. He has the right team to break Tennessee’s program-long absence from the biggest stage in college basketball.