8. Tennessee (9-1)
It was 34-17 at halftime of Tennessee’s Barclays Center matchup with
Maryland last Sunday. Maryland was 3-of-24 from the field. It was the kind of dominant, brutal defensive performance against a surprising Maryland outfit that started to get us wondering about at least a couple of things: Maybe Tennessee is the best team in the country? Or, maybe, Maryland is coming back to Earth? Or both? Possibly both.
And then the second half started and the Terrapins rallied — while Tennessee’s offense disappeared down a deep, dark psychological prison of the mind.
This could become an issue. There is every reason to expect Tennessee will be one of, if not the best, defensive team in the country. The numbers are already there, and it would make sense: The Volunteers have been a top-five defensive team for the past two full seasons under Rick Barnes, who has traditionally coached some pretty damn good defense. But the offense? Woof. Tennessee is shooting 46.0 percent from 2 and 32.4 percent from 3 while turning the ball over on a fifth of its possessions. This is a good offensive rebounding team, one that generates free throws and moves the ball well and runs good stuff and all of that — but it is not, as of yet, a team that can reliably shoot.
Josiah-Jordan James getting healthy will help, but this appears to be the key area for Tennessee to monitor most of the year. If the Vols really figure it out offensively, they’ll be scary. If they don’t, they’ll still be a very tough out, albeit one with a limited ceiling. We’ll see.
