SEC Basketball: 10 key questions looming for the 2021-22 season

4. Can the Tennessee newcomers mesh quickly?

The Tennessee Volunteers were an interesting group this past season as they went 18-9 on the season and 10-7 (4th in SEC action) before losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to 12-seed Oregon State as the No. 5 seed.

They’ll be in search of a new identity with their top two scorers in Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson off to the NBA and a slew of new faces in 2021-22. Rick Barnes will have his hands full building the team chemistry this season.

Tennessee will have seven newcomers on the roster in 2021-22, six of them members of their 2021 recruiting class. Two highly-rated five-star prospects in Kennedy Chandler and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield headline a freshmen class that also features 7-foot versatile threat Jonas Aidoo, 7-footer Handje Tamba as well as Jahmai Mashack and Quentin Eyobo.

Their seventh newcomer, transfer Justin Powell (Auburn) is the wildcard of the group. He’s a 6-foot-6 guard with a knack for filling up the stat sheet. He put up 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game across 10 appearances for the Tigers in 2020-21 before heading into the transfer portal. He’ll look for a fresh start running things with the Volunteers.

Depth shouldn’t be an issue for the Volunteers in 2021-22, that’s for sure., but the Volunteers will need to find their roles quickly. Barnes will have some size and versatility to work with, which given his experience, should be a good thing.