2023-24 Tennessee basketball preview: frontcourt

The Masters of Mud

PREVIOUSLY: Backcourt.

“Tennessee Volunteers basketball players building a house of bricks in front of a basketball goal, impressionism”

Yesterday we talked about a thing that everyone is collectively very confident about. Today we discuss a thing that people are less confident about! What a delight.

In actuality I do not think Tennessee’s frontcourt is bad or even close to bad. It’s probably good, but the thing is it might only be good. Compare that to the backcourt, which looks pretty awesome, and you can understand fans and/or media being a little hesitant to crown these guys. Below you’re going to find a wide collection of options. There’s fifth-year seniors, true freshmen, and transfers.

At the 4, you most likely have a surprising returner more known for his defense than anything he does offensively paired with said transfer who isn’t known for defense at all. At center, you have an extraordinary rim protector and an extraordinary rebounder. If Tennessee were able to stitch one of the two together, they would have a star player and another reason to believe. Until then, there’s a reasonable floor that’s lower than the backcourt’s but with room for upside.

This could easily be a top-20 frontcourt to go with a top-10 backcourt…or it could be a frontcourt that holds Tennessee back a bit. The hope pretty obviously lies in the former coming to fruition.

EDITOR’S NOTE! The remainder of this post, and most Tennessee-related content, is behind a paywall. It’s $30 a year, or $20 if you have an email ending in .edu. I think it’s worth your time.