By Jimmy Hyams
When Gary Parrish of CBS Sports ranked Tennessee’s men’s basketball team No. 4 in his way-too-early top 25, he barely heard a whisper.
When he moved UT ahead of Villanova – which might lose Final Four star guard Donte DeVincenzo to the NBA early — into the No. 3 spot recently, bedlam ensued.
“What’s been wild is that I had Tennessee at 4 for basically the past month and it didn’t get nearly as much attention as having Tennessee at 3,’’ Parrish said in a recent interview on Sports Talk, Sports Radio WNML.
“I acknowledge that (UT) is the first school on that list that made me flinch and go, `OK, really, is this where they ought to be?’’’
Maybe. Maybe not.
“You look at a team that returns just about every meaningful piece from an SEC co-champion,’’ Parrish explained.
Parrish said UT’s 35-game sample last year (and 26-9 record) in which Ken Pomroy had the Vols rated in the top 15 on offense and defense suggests the Vols are “really good, obviously much better than what the recruiting rankings suggested they would ever be.’’
And, frankly, coach Rick Barnes has surprised Parrish with his success at Tennessee after his ouster at Texas.
“I don’t say that as an insult to Rick at all,’’ Parrish said. “I’ve known Rick a long time. I like Rick a lot and I have a good relationship with him.’’
But, the way UT has been built – the top seven players last year were all three-star recruits – isn’t the way you succeed at a high level in college hoops.
“That’s why it is such a unique story, what happened to Tennessee, because just go look around the other high-major leagues – championship teams aren’t built the way he built this team,’’ Parrish said. “They’re just not.’’
Not at Kentucky or Duke or North Carolina or Kansas.
In fact, not one player on the UT roster was offered by one of those bluebloods of college basketball.
“So when recruiting (at UT) wasn’t going well,’’ Parrish said, “I just assumed that the results wouldn’t go as well, either, because that’s usually the way it goes.
“He (Barnes) would probably tell you, we’re getting the guys that we want to get. We’re recruiting a certain level of player, and I’m sure that’s true to some degree. But the recruiting hasn’t gone the way high-level recruiting usually goes based on recruiting rankings – which is a pretty good indicator of who is and who isn’t going to be good at a high major level.’’
So to have a preseason top five team is “remarkable,’’ Parrish said. “It’s something that is exceeding most reasonable – if not all reasonable – expectations.’’
Parrish said his preseason poll is based on returning players, the team’s record the previous season, newcomers and what else is happening around the country.
“I don’t think a top three ranking (for UT) is actually too high based on what I just described,’’ Parrish said.
Parrish said his high rating of UT is a compliment to both Barnes and the players.
“I would imagine most of those players, if not all of those players, thought they were better than what they were (ranked) coming out of high school,’’ Parrish said. “But the recruiting analyst do a pretty good job of identifying the elite talent.’’
Parrish said there isn’t much difference in a player ranked 80th or 125th but there is a “massive difference’’ in a player ranked No. 1 v. No. 30.
Most of UT’s players were ranked from 150 to 250. Grant Williams, the SEC player of the year as a sophomore, was ranked in the high 100s and picked Tennessee over an Ivy League school and a mid-major.
“It’s possible that some of these (UT) players were undervalued,’’ Parrish said, “but it seems also undeniable that Rick Barnes and his staff have done a great job with them as individuals and molding them into a truly nationally relevant team.
“It is unique. You won’t find many Power Five co-champions that don’t have a top 100 recruit on the roster. But that’s what Tennessee had last year and if the projections play out the way they should, we could be looking at a back-to-back SEC championship team that is built in an incredibly unique way at a high-major level.’’
Parrish did admit he didn’t see this type success for Barnes.
“I never expected Rick Barnes to have a preseason top five team,’’ he said, “but he is about to have one at Tennessee and I hope all fans are appreciating it and enjoying it because it is a unique situation.’’
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