Aiming for the (Rocky) top

Good morning! How does one replace a consensus All-American who was the key to your offense? Purdue’s not the only team trying to figure that out.

1. Will we see a new-look approach at Tennessee?

Rick Barnes finally had a mini-NCAA Tournament breakthrough last season, reaching his first Elite Eight since 2008 when he coached Texas. And all it took was an elite scorer who was a consensus All-American.

Dalton Knecht solved so many issues for the Vols on offense, it didn’t matter that he wasn’t elite (or even good) on defense. That approach unlocked some things for a program that’s been among the nation’s best defenses under Barnes.

Now, it feels like Barnes is leaning into even more offense.

I'm a huge fan of the Vols’ upside with offensive-centric pieces like Chaz Lanier (18 ppg at North Florida), Igor Milicic (12.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg at Charlotte), and DStone Dubar (17.8 ppg at Hofstra). We're not talking about three 6-2 small guards here. Lanier is 6-4, Dubar is 6-8 and Milicic is 6-11, all the prototypical sizes for their positions. The best part? Each shot 37.6% or better from deep, while Dubar and Lanier earned All-League honors.

Will any of them be Knecht? Probably not, but can the three combine for 40 ppg? Seems reasonable.

Rob Dauster and Terrence Oglesby discuss other aspects those three could unlock.

With the new offensive pieces, the Vols will still rely on Zakai Zeigler running the show and being a terror on defense. With him and Jahmai Mashack in the backcourt, teams will have trouble starting their offensive sets because of the defensive pressure they provide.

The potential concern is that Tennessee lost two go-to bigs in Tobe Awaka and Jonas Aidoo. But is the duo of Felix Okpara and JP Estrella a huge downgrade? Probably not. (Even if Estrella is dealing with a foot injury.)

Okpara overtook Ohio State's starting center spot in his sophomore year with 6.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg, and 2.4 blocks per game. He's a more reliable defender than Aidoo and Awaka. As long as he’s a rim-running, lob threat, that’s all the Vols need from him on offense. Estrella can spell him for 15 minutes a game.

Based on sportsbook pricing, Tennessee is around the fifth-best team in the SEC. They sit at 50-1 odds to win the 2025 national title, behind Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, and Kentucky in the SEC.

Recent history under Barnes tells us that’s a pretty good value — and probably undersells how the Vols will finish.

2. Picking the highlights in ACC, A-10 schedules

You know the season is almost here when you can finally make plans for conference schedules.

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