Where Rick Barnes Lands in National Coach of the Year Projections

Rick Barnes
Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes landed a spot in the Top 15 of ESPN’s midseason coach of the year projections on Friday morning.

Barnes is a one-time Naismith Coach of the Year award winner back during the 2018-2019 season.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf believe that Barnes will once again be among the top 15 candidates for the award in the spring.

Borzello and Medcalf have Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes as the No. 14 candidate in their COTY rankings.

“Had we done this three weeks ago, Barnes might have been No. 1,” Borzello wrote. “The Volunteers were the nation’s final unbeaten team, winning their first 14 games before losing by 30 at Florida on Jan. 7. They’ve bounced back, though, winning three of their past four games entering this Saturday’s game at Auburn. All Barnes did was replace the nation’s best transfer of last season in Dalton Knecht with perhaps the nation’s best transfer of this season in Chaz Lanier, all while maintaining the Vols’ typical elite defense and carrying over their offensive improvements from last season.

“Now the question is: After falling one game short last season, can Barnes lead Tennessee to the program’s first Final Four?”

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The SEC’s tough competition on the court translates to the coach of the year projections, too. Despite being one of the top 15 candidates for the award, Barnes is just the sixth highest-ranked coach representing the Southeastern Conference. Barnes lands behind No. 1 Bruce Pearl (Auburn), No. 4 Todd Golden (Florida), No. 5 Dennis Gates (Missouri), No. 10 Mark Pope (Kentucky), and No. 11 Chris Jans (Mississippi State).

Barnes tackled a challenge last offseason that he hasn’t often faced before. While Barnes hasn’t shied away from using the transfer portal in the new modern era of college athletics, Tennessee really rebuilt its team using the portal this season. The Vols added four contributors through the portal, three of whom are starting (Chaz Lanier, Igor Milicic Jr., Felix Okpara) with one being a rotational piece off the bench (Darlinstone Dubar).

Tennessee has leaned on those players, too. Lanier leads Tennessee in points per game (18.4), Milicic and Okpara are No. 1 and No. 2 in rebounding, and Okpara leads the team in blocks per game. Those three are also in the six most-played Tennessee players this season.

Barnes has been able to get offensive production out of his transfers this season, which isn’t a surprise considering their offensive talent at their previous stops. What’s been most impressive about Tennessee’s transfers is how much they have bought into Rick Barnes’ defensive mentality.

For Barnes to take in four new contributors including three starting players and keep the defensive DNA he is known for, that’s an impressive job this season. Especially considering the Vols have been in the Top 7 for the last nine straight weeks now. We’ll just have to wait and see how everything unfolds in the second half of the season.

To see Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf’s full midseason coach of the year projections, click here.

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