NCAA Basketball: Buy or Sell preseason top 25 teams of 2021-22 after a month

18. Tennessee Volunteers

It’s hard not to compare this year’s Volunteers to last season’s, as there are starting to be some striking similarities. The first being the up and down play of the frontcourt, including junior Olivier Nkamhoua starting off strong but since scoring a combined 14 points in four games. Five-star freshman Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is playing just 15 mpg, while 5th-year senior John Fulkerson is playing the best at 7.9 ppg and 6.3 apg.

The backcourt will once again decide the fate of Tennessee Basketball, led by five-star freshman and leading scorer Kennedy Chandler (14.6 ppg and 4.9 apg). He’s been spectacular at times but also has had some sporadic play once opposing defenses really focus on him. Junior Santiago Vescovi (13.9 ppg) is shooting 37% from deep on nearly eight attempts. They’re the only double-digit scorers on the roster, which has shown against the top competition.

The Vols did drop 89 on a UNC squad still finding itself defensively, but only had just 53 and 52 points respectively against Villanova and Texas Tech. The frontcourt did little in those games, as well as veteran guards, Victor Bailey, Justin Powell, and Josian Jordan-James. In fact, three-star freshman backup guard Zakai Zeigler seems to have overtaken them in the rotation, thanks to his toughness and passing ability to allow Chandler to play off the ball.

Tennessee has a real star in Chandler and good depth overall but that also was the case last season with Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer leading the way. If the Auburn transfer Powell doesn’t become more of a factor somehow, then the offense will become too one-dimensional to be a real Final four threat.

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