Tennessee basketball: Starting lineup options for next season

Tennessee basketball: Starting lineup options for 2019-2020

COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 24: Luka Garza #55 of the Iowa Hawkeyes fights for a rebound against Jordan Bowden #23 and Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament held at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) /

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LOUISVILLE, KY – MARCH 28: Jordan Bone #0 of the Tennessee Volunteers attempts a past past Eric Hunter Jr. #2 of the Purdue Boilermakers during the second half in the third round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament held at KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Robbins/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) /

Next-best scenario

Point Guard: Jordan Bone
Shooting Guard: Lamonte Turner
Small Forward: Josiah James
Power Forward: Jordan Bowden
Center: John Fulkerson

The main difference between this scenario and the one on the previous slide is that Williams opts to stay in the NBA Draft and take his career to the next level. Considering that he has a great chance to be a first round pick and has little to gain from returning to school, it’s likely Williams stays in the draft.

That isn’t the case for Bone, who is rarely seen on mock drafts at this point. Unless Bone is ready to start a professional career overseas, his best move would be to return to Knoxville and build on his breakout junior season.

Bone would be the leader of this version of the Volunteers, who would also use Turner, Bowden, and Fulkerson in their starting five. The loss of Williams would lead to a more small ball approach for Tennessee, with Bowden playing a small ball four.

This would create a new opening in the starting lineup that would be filled by Tennessee’s top recruit, five-star point guard Josiah James. He could play off the ball with Bone in town and be poised to take over at the point in 2020.

This lineup would also be nice for Tennessee because they would have two point guards on the floor a majority of the game, allowing them to be more creative on the offensive end.