The past, present and future of Vols hoops

GoVols247’s Wes Rucker (from Fort Rucker Studio) and Grant Ramey (from GoVols247's Blount County Satellite Office in Maryville) convened via the magic of Al Gore’s Internets to put a bow on Tennessee's 2019-20 basketball season and look forward to what could be a fantastic 2020-21 season.This past season was never a dull one for Rick Barnes and his Vols, who were dealt a crushing blow when fifth-year senior point guard and unquestioned team leader Lamonte Turner went down with a season-ending shoulder injury. Tennessee took a while to adjust to Turner's absence, and despite the emergence of junior forward John Fulkerson as a star and the remarkable impact from mid-year enrollee point guard Santiago Vescovi, the Vols remained an erratic bunch most of the season and were a longshot — not impossible, but a longshot — to make the NCAA Tournament before the postseason was cancelled because of the worldwide novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.What did we learn about the Vols this season? What went right, what we wrong and what was somewhere in between? That's the focus of the first segment of this episode. The future is the focus of the second segment of this episode, though, and the future for these Vols is expected to be bright. Tennessee seems to be a consensus top-15 team heading into next season, because most of the current roster returns and it will be bolstered by arguably the best signing class in program history — and that's not including the addition of Sacred Heart all-conference forward E.J. Anosike as a grad transfer, and the addition of Victor Bailey Jr., a versatile, ultra-athletic guard who sat out this season while transferring from Oregon. Why are people so excited about this team? Well, there are many legitimate reasons for that, and those reasons are discussed in detail in this episode.Past. Present. Future. All of them are discussed in this episode.The next GoVols247 Podcast episode will be released Thursday, unless breaking news occurs before that point.