The Bench Players
Tennessee had one of the deeper benches in college basketball this season, but there were three players who came off the bench more than anyone else that will be returning next year. Lamonte Turner was the Sixth Man of the Year in the SEC, and only James Daniel III will be departing from this group.
Lamonte Turner, PG – Defensive Intensity
Turner actually played more minutes per game (25.3) than two of Tennessee’s starters (Bone and Alexander). He was also third on the team in scoring, averaging 10.9 points per game. He was the offensive spark off the bench, and he always had intensity on offense. Now he needs to find a way to have that same intensity on defense. The Vols didn’t have a great defensive guard outside of Bowden this past year, but Turner was slightly better than Bone and Daniel on that front. He was far from exceptional, however. Turner doesn’t need to become a lockdown guard on defense, but if he can guard shooters better and make up for his smaller 6-foot-1 frame with intensity and effort, he’ll go a long way in rounding out his game.
John Fulkerson, F – Get Stronger
Fulkerson suffered a season-ending injury in his freshman year a season ago, and he still didn’t look fully recovered this year from a strength and physicality standpoint. When Fulkerson was “on” this season, he was a solid reserve and contributed good minutes. But when he was “off,” which was more often the case, he was a liability on offense. Fulkerson can snatch a few rebounds and can scrap with bigs, but he maybe more than anyone else this offseason needs to hit the weight room. He still has technical things to work on as well, but he needs to get bigger before he worries about that.
Derrick Walker, F – Develop More Touch and Tenacity
As a true freshman, Walker showed flashes of a post player with a really high ceiling. Not only is he big and strong, but he actually has a fairly solid offensive repertoire to pull from as well. Walker went from averaging just under eight minutes a game for the first 12 games of the year to 9.3 minutes per game over the last 23 games. Walker is still fairly raw, but he has the potential to be a great post player for UT. If he can develop some finesse moves on offense to go along with his stronger moves and work on his defensive tenacity, he could be a big contributor off the bench next season.
