The NET rankings were released this week, so the below rankings reflect what's in the NET as of today (12/17/19). NET rankings early on change drastically week over week as we get into conference play, so expect things to look really different a few weeks from now overall.

(#37) (8-4) LSU
Quad 1 = 0-2
Quad 2 = 2-3
Quad 3 = 1-0
Quad 4 = 5-0
W 74-57 (#38) Liberty
W 96-83 (#90) Rhode Island (Neutral)
W 73-58 (#130) Missouri St.
W 88-79 (#161) Bowling Green
W 76-65 (#206) Nicholls St.
W 77-50 (#267) UMBC
W 109-59 (#327) Northwestern St.
W 90-54 (#342) New Orleans
L 82-84 (#43) @ VCU
L 68-70 (#57) USCw (Neutral)
L 63-74 (#61) ETSU
L 78-80 (#73) Utah State (Neutral)

(#71) (8-4) Tennessee
Quad 1 = 2-3
Quad 2 = 0-1
Quad 3 = 1-0
Quad 4 = 5-0
W 72-69 (#43) VCU (Neutral)
W 75-62 (#74) Washington (Neutral)
W 82-63 (#182) Murray St.
W 58-46 (#187) Chattanooga
W 78-63 (#190) UNC-Asheville
W 75-53 (#239) Jacksonville St.
W 72-43 (#245) Florida A&M
W 76-41 (#341) Alabama St.
L 47-51 (#13) Memphis
L 57-60 (#25) Florida St. (Neutral)
L 48-68 (#29) Wisconsin
L 66-78 (#80) @ Cincinnati

LSU as of recent
LSU is coming into this contest picking up a poor 2 game stretch OOC against ETSU and USC with a win over a previously undefeated Liberty team in what was a pretty dominating win. LSU finished up most of the OOC play (Texas still to come end of month) a little disappointing 8-4 with 3 2 point losses all away from home (@ USC, @ VCU, Utah St neutral) then the very disappointing home loss to ETSU in which we never were really in it in 2nd half. Marlon Taylor is finally back, but really hasn't been a factor since coming back against ETSU. He will provide much better depth than we've been used to seeing this year though.

Tennessee as of recent
Tennessee started off the year well at 5-0 then slipped a bit as struggling offense has been their theme the latter part of OOC play scoring less than 60 points 4 of their last 8 games. What's devastating for them is Lamonte Turner just got hurt and is out for their season and was arguably one of their best players and only true PG. With him out, they also only have 8 scholarship players available to play now on the season. Kenpom ranks Tennessee's offense 9th in the SEC but 6th in defense. They play a glacially slow pace which ranks last in the conference and 312th in the country...that wont get any quicker probably with Turner out for the season now either.

Tennessee projected starters
C (6'9, 212) rJR. John Fulkerson
PF (6'6, 215) JR. Yves Pons
SF (6'7, 178) FR. Davonte Gaines
SG (6'5, 193) SR. Jordan Bowdon
PG (6'6, 208) FR. Josiah-Jordan James

John Fulkerson was a bit of a journeyman at Tennessee who finally his 4th year is starting and is doing a solid job. He's averaging 11.6 points and 5 boards a game. He's put on a ton of weight this year as previously he was listed under 200 pounds as Tennessee wants him being the pseudo-center for the team really. Fulkerson leads Tennessee with a 23.5 PER on the season. Efficient player and a massively improved one from a year ago. He is no 3 point thread, so he is easier to guard on defense in that respect.

Yves Pons they list as a guard/forward but he's basically play a stretch 4 type at Tennessee this year and Barnes calls him a forward although he will shoot a decent bit of 2's. He's another massively improved player at Tennessee from last year averaging 11 points and 5 boards game with an amazing 2.3 blocks for a guy only 6'6. He's a tough matchup on defense. Pons' PER on the season is 17.5.

Davonte Gaines is the new starter in place of Turner as Tennessee will move their previous wing James to PG. Gaines is a freshman and just isnt quite ready for this increased role he will now be getting. In his first start against Wisconsin last week he 6 points, 4 boards on 2 of 8 shooting in 26 minutes. He is only shooting 33% from the floor this season but still has a PER of 19.8.

Jordan Bowdown now has a monumentally tough role with Turner out for the season as he will probably have to be jacking up even more 3's than he ever has before to keep Tennessee's offense from going archaic. About half of Bowdon's shot come from 3 and he's 34% shooter from there. The senior's PER is at 14.1 on the season.

Josiah-Jordan James got moved to PG with Turner being out for the season now. He is Tennessee's 5-star freshman and has had an ok season. He did not have a great start at PG for Tennessee against Wisconsin with Turner out scoring 4 on 1 of 6 shooting with 5 assists and 3 turnovers. His PEr on the season is just 9.4 and he's only a 36% guy from the floor. The PG role will be really tough for James to assume this season, and probably wont bring out his best qualities.

Tennessee top bench players
PF (6'8,224) FR. Oliver Nkamhoua
SG (6'6, 196) rJR. Jalen Johnson
PF (6'9, 207) FR. Drew Pember

This is not a strong bench by any shape of the imagination for Tennessee with 2 freshmen being 2 primary guys on it now with a struggling junior. Nkamhoua has done a decent job rotating in as a big for Fulkerson mostly as he's averaging 5 points and 5 boards in 16 minutes a game. Johnson just hasnt been much of a factor in 11 minutes a game this year with 2.6 points and 31.6% from 3 as a SG. Pember isn't a guy they want to play much, but he will have to play more now as an 8th guy. He had 9 minutes against Wisconsin and had just 1 made shot with no rebounds, so not particularly effective.

Tennessee presents a couple challenges for us, but 1 is definitely not their offense with Turner out now. We can really frustrate them offensively especially if we press them without a PG, although they are built to break a press overall with the height they play. We probably want to try it early to see what results we get, and if they get a few easy buckets, it's not worth it. Definitely want to speed them up with a wing play PG right now though. The Williams on Fulkerson matchup will be interesting down low. Kenpom is predicting a close win for TN right now, but that also might be taking Turner's stats into account this year. I think this is one we SHOULD win on the road, but we have just not been able to squeak out games away from home often this year, so I expect it will be a battle.

Projected LSU Starting 5
PF (6'6, 230) SO. Emmitt Williams - #5
PF (6'6, 240) SO. Darius Days - #0
SF (6'9, 235) FR. Trendon Watford - #2
SG (6'4, 205) SR. Skylar Mays - #4
PG (6'4, 205) SO. Javonte Smart - #1

Main rotational players
SF (6'5, 200) JR. Charles Manning Jr. - #11
SF (6'5, 210) SR. Marlon Taylor - #14
PG (6'2, 190) FR. James Bishop - #10
SF (6'5, 225) rFR. Aundre Hyatt - #15

Kenpom's Prediction: LSU 68 Tennessee 71

This post was edited on 1/3/20 at 10:43 am