'20 TN SG Keon Johnson (Tennessee commit 8.6.19)

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TheMookieMonster said:
Damn. If Walker, Johnson, and Springer all live up to the hype and are one-and-done players, and Josiah sticks around one more year....2020 could be something special. I’ve never wanted to travel forward in time for a season so badly. Strap in boys and girls, we’re about to have some FUN.
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Ready for a fun couple of years! We may potentially have a large recruiting class for 2021 - with the graduating seniors + the one-and-done players.

More updates from the USAB minicamp:



USA Men's Junior National Team October Minicamp - Day 2 Takeaways:

"*Keon Johnson (6-4, 183lbs, 2020) has played very well. The Tennessee commit has a Ja Morant flare to his game. He is an elite athlete who is a blur on both ends of the court and he had the dunk of the day in the area of Evan Mobley. He could end up one of the kids not ranked in the Top 20 who sneaks into the McDonald's game and ends up SEC Freshman of the year."
 
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TheMookieMonster said:
Damn. If Walker, Johnson, and Springer all live up to the hype and are one-and-done players, and Josiah sticks around one more year....2020 could be something special. I’ve never wanted to travel forward in time for a season so badly. Strap in boys and girls, we’re about to have some FUN.
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Walker is likely not a one-and-done. Most would have said the same of Johnson even as recently as this past spring, too, though. I have a hard time seeing all 3 jumping after one year, personally. Walker needs the most refining of the three, though.
 
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The Dog said:
If he continues to show out at the US, u19(?) Olympic trials, he's going to continue move up, imo
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For Keon to jump Springer, he'd likely have to jump close to the Top 10. Springer is the #15/#16 player in the Rivals/247 rankings. I can't see Keon making that big of a leap. No complaints here if he does though. That would be great.
 
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TheMookieMonster said:
For Keon to jump Springer, he'd likely have to jump close to the Top 10. Springer is the #15/#16 player in the Rivals/247 rankings. I can't see Keon making that big of a leap. No complaints here if he does though. That would be great.
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He might not jump him in the rankings, but this kid will/is the star of the greatest class in UT history. Reminds of a more athletic (and that's saying something) senior-level Josh Richardson. Keon will be UTs lockdown defender the minute he walks on campus. Everything I've read and seen on this kid is how much he continues to improve his game, especially his jumper(3s). I'm afraid he will play himself into the NBA Lottery and will be a one and done. I mean afraid for UTs fans, because we will only get to see it for a year, good for him and our first Final 4 team, in '20-'21
 
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zjcvols said:
Tobias Harris was a consensus top #6 overall player, Keon is not jumping that.
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Right. So let's go with Keon ends up being the highest UT draft pick since Devoe was the coach. Allan Houston, probably unless Dale Ellis was higher.
 
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Nice to have all the optimism. Maybe we should put a little brake on it and just hope we don't get into the Vincent Yarbrough, Scotty hopson, Ramar Smith mode.
 
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orangemadam said:
Nice to have all the optimism. Maybe we should put a little brake on it and just hope we don't get into the Vincent Yarbrough, Scotty hopson, Ramar Smith mode.
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Yarbrough and Hopson are two of the most maligned players of my lifetime by Tennessee fans who expected them to be the saviors of Tennessee basketball.

Yarbrough averaged 18 ppg and 7.5 rpg as a SR, scored 1737 career points, and was a 3x All-SEC player.

Hopson averaged 17 ppg and was All-SEC as a JR, and again would have been as a SR had he not made the mistake of listening to his influences that told him he was God's gift to basketball. He also likely would have passed VY on the all-time school scoring list.

I would be fine with any of these 2020 guys having similar careers. Fans just need to temper their expectations and not expect them to arrive on campus on dominate from day one. If they dominate from day one, that's great, but unrealistic expectations ruined the perception of what were actually pretty nice careers for VY and Hopson.
 
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orangemadam said:
Nice to have all the optimism. Maybe we should put a little brake on it and just hope we don't get into the Vincent Yarbrough, Scotty hopson, Ramar Smith mode.
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Barnes fell into that hole at Texas. I think he learned.
 
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TBrown said:
Wasn’t Hopson consensus top 10 as well?
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He was and maybe my memory is off, but everyone knew Tobias was a first round NBA pick while Scotty’s ranking was more camp based than actual talent (not hating on Scotty, had a good career here).
 
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cncchris33 said:
Yarbrough and Hopson are two of the most maligned players of my lifetime by Tennessee fans who expected them to be the saviors of Tennessee basketball.

Yarbrough averaged 18 ppg and 7.5 rpg as a SR, scored 1737 career points, and was a 3x All-SEC player.

Hopson averaged 17 ppg and was All-SEC as a JR, and again would have been as a SR had he not made the mistake of listening to his influences that told him he was God's gift to basketball. He also likely would have passed VY on the all-time school scoring list.

I would be fine with any of these 2020 guys having similar careers. Fans just need to temper their expectations and not expect them to arrive on campus on dominate from day one. If they dominate from day one, that's great, but unrealistic expectations ruined the perception of what were actually pretty nice careers for VY and Hopson.
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Plus his junior year that team was derailed by the Pearl investigation. That team was a top ten team until they saw the writing on the wall. Remember what he did to top 10 Pitt?
 
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cncchris33 said:
Yarbrough and Hopson are two of the most maligned players of my lifetime by Tennessee fans who expected them to be the saviors of Tennessee basketball.

Yarbrough averaged 18 ppg and 7.5 rpg as a SR, scored 1737 career points, and was a 3x All-SEC player.

Hopson averaged 17 ppg and was All-SEC as a JR, and again would have been as a SR had he not made the mistake of listening to his influences that told him he was God's gift to basketball. He also likely would have passed VY on the all-time school scoring list.

I would be fine with any of these 2020 guys having similar careers. Fans just need to temper their expectations and not expect them to arrive on campus on dominate from day one. If they dominate from day one, that's great, but unrealistic expectations ruined the perception of what were actually pretty nice careers for VY and Hopson.
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Thank you. If any of these guys leave UT with a career as good as Hopson or VY we should consider ourselves blessed. Lumping VY and Hopson in with Ramar is odd, but Ramar's problem was not on the court.
 
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From Eric Bossi of Rivals - Starting Five: Schools feeling good after USA Basketball

"Tennessee fans are going to absolutely love committed shooting guard Keon Johnson.

This kid impacts winning on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor and his transformation from a hard-playing athlete into a skilled wing has been impressive to watch. He keeps getting better and better as a ball-handler, passer and scorer and could be an All-SEC level defender the moment he hits the floor in Knoxville.

Additionally, the Volunteers still look to be in a good spot for five-star guard Jaden Springer (who was in attendance but shut things down early as he's still coming back from a broken foot). He's not set an official commitment date just yet, but he shouldn't be too far away from ending things."
 
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I really like the fact we are getting a lot of two way players. JJJ or VB, Springer, Johnson, Pons or ORN, and Cardwell (yes, I know Hall is Barnes first option , but he is a positional defender like Uros and Kent) could be an elite defensive lineup.
 
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Vols All Day said:
I really like the fact we are getting a lot of two way players. JJJ or VB, Springer, Johnson, Pons or ORN, and Cardwell (yes, I know Hall is Barnes first option , but he is a positional defender like Uros and Kent) could be an elite defensive lineup.
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I like it too, and we know that Coach Barnes has high expectations of his players on the defensive side.
 
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zjcvols said:
Plus his junior year that team was derailed by the Pearl investigation. That team was a top ten team until they saw the writing on the wall. Remember what he did to top 10 Pitt?
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Yeah, and the coaching change probably aided Hopson's early departure, as well. But he was really good as a JR in a year that is more remembered for what happened off the court than on it.
 
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wtmvol said:
Thank you. If any of these guys leave UT with a career as good as Hopson or VY we should consider ourselves blessed. Lumping VY and Hopson in with Ramar is odd, but Ramar's problem was not on the court.
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I put Ramar in because he was the 5 star PG that was the only missing peace to supposedly get UT to the final four. Extremely overrated and expectations way overblown by our fanbase. Complete dud relatively speaking.
 
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orangemadam said:
I put Ramar in because he was the 5 star PG that was the only missing peace to supposedly get UT to the final four. Extremely overrated and expectations way overblown by our fanbase. Complete dud relatively speaking.
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I wouldn't say he was completely overrated. From an athletic standpoint, the Rondo comparisons weren't far off base. He was a terrific defender and facilitator with a workable jumper. If you go back and watch the 07' Xavier game, you will see what I'm talking about. If you are talking about off the court stuff, that's a completely different story. Complete waste of talent.
 
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