Exhibition games are interesting and fun for fans, but since they don’t count, they typically don’t mean much. But there are exceptions. Look at some games from this past weekend, for instance:
- Indiana (featuring former Blue Devil Darren Harris) beat UNC 76-58
- NC State beat Mississippi State, 77-73
- Maryland beat West Virginia 90-81 (OT)
- Baylor beat Florida 82-76 (OT)
- And most extraordinarily St. John’s beat Rutgers, 104-99 (4 OT)
So none of these games count, but for UNC to get hammered by IU? That means something. NC State taking out Mississippi State? That also means something. Baylor knocking off Florida in OT? That’ll raise some eyebrows. And Rutgers playing a 60-minute game vs. the Johnnies? You know that meant something.
No one much cares about Maryland vs. West Virginia, but you can’t have everything.
Duke vs. Tennessee? Now that’s likely to carry some weight.
We believe this will be UT’s first visit to Cameron since 1975, when the Ernie and Bernie show flew in and dazzled the Cameron faithful with a spectacular warm-up routine before narrowly nipping the Blue Devils, 86-80.
Bernie was Bernard King, if you didn’t know, and Ernie was Ernie Grunfeld.
Tennessee is now coached by Rick Barnes, and since at least his Clemson days, Barnes has liked to put together big, bruising teams. Well, this one is going to be a bit different.
Barnes took a deep portal dive this year and emerged with nine new players: Tyler Lundblade (Belmont), Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame), Juke Harris (Wake Forest), Terrence Hill Jr. (VCU), Dai Dai Ames (California), Miles Rubin (Loyola Chicago), Christian Fermin (VCU), Braedan Lue (Kennesaw State), and Jalen Washington (Vanderbilt/UNC) are all Volunteers now. Freshmen Manny Green, Marquis Clark, Ralph Scott, Chris Washington Jr., also arrive.
Only DeWayne Brown, Gavin Paull, Campbell Duncan, and Troy Henderson return.
To be clear, Barnes still has some bruisers. Brown is 6-8/248, Washington is 6-10/244, Lue is 6-8/243, and Fermin is 6-10/234.
Brown got 14.7 minutes per game last year for the Vols. Washington got 8.9 ppg for Vandy last year, along with 5.6 rebounds. Lue played 26.7 minutes for Kennesaw State last year, and his stats were roughly comparable to Washington’s (10.9 ppg and 5.3 rebounds). Fermin played 3.3 minutes for VCU last season, so basically garbage time, and hit just 33.3 percent of his shots. The two years prior to that, though, he was much better. However, he had hand surgery in July.
Other than Brown, who got the nod against Xavier, none of them are expected to start, and it looks like Jalen Washington may still be trying to get eligible.
In that game, Brown, Harris, Ames, Rubin, and Henderson started. Just to underscore the point, Harris is 6-7/205, Ames is 6-2/199, Rubin is 6-10/224, and Henderson is 6-1/188.
However, Barnes has a lot more offensive talent than we’re used to seeing from his teams.
Obviously, Duke has seen plenty of Harris, Ames, Haralson, and Washington, all of whom spent time in the ACC. Harris averaged 21.4 ppg for Wake as he emerged as one of the better players in the league last season. Ames, who left Virginia for Cal, had a solid season for the Bears. Haralson was a bright spot for Notre Dame as a freshman, while Washington was, at a minimum, useful for the Commodores.
Hill was really good for VCU, which has long since emerged as a dangerous program. He averaged 15.0 points, 2.8 assists per game, and was the A-10’s Sixth Man of the year and also A-10 Tournament MVP.
At this point, like just about everyone, we’re not 100 percent sure what to expect from the Vols, but at a minimum, this is a dangerous team, and it’s probably going to be much better than that.
However, Tennessee has a lot to deal with against Duke. Six-foot-eleven Patrick Ngongba is back, and he’s joined up front by 7-2 JoJo Boumtje Boumtje, 7-0 Cameron Williams, and 7-1 Maxime Meyer.
Duke also has 6-8 Dame Sarr and 6-8 Sebastian Wilkins.
In the backcourt, the Blue Devils feature 6-5 John Blackwell, 6-4 Bryson Howard, 6-4 Deron Rippey, and 6-3 Cayden Boozer.
We don’t expect to see either Caleb Foster or Drew Scharnowski Tuesday night as both have been injured.
Still, it’s a lot to deal with.
In many ways, Tennessee is an ideal early opponent for Duke. Barnes has always taught a physical defense, and young players like Boumtje Boumtje, Williams, and Rippey may struggle. Ngongba has at times let his emotions get the best of him, so that’s a possible concern.
Worth noting: Harris scored 23 against Duke last year, Ames had 8, while Haralson was out with an ankle injury.
Also worth noting: Tennessee lost someone else we didn’t mention: Justin Gainey.
Now the head coach at his alma mater, NC State, Gainey helped design UT’s crushing defense. We’re not sure who will take over that responsibility, but our guess is it will be former BC coach Earl Grant. His teams struggled to compete in the ACC, but they always played hard.
Duke will be favored, of course, but we can imagine scenarios where Tennessee could shock the Blue Devils, starting with a poor game/foul trouble from Ngongba.
In other words, this is not like the old days, where Duke would play a D-II team or an international touring team for exhibitions.
It should be an interesting, exciting game, but the goal for the coaches is to stress-test their teams. Winning is a goal, but not the only one. We’ll add links as we find them.
- Vols to Visit Duke for Oct. 20 Exhibition Matchup
- Duke basketball exhibition game vs Tennessee contract details
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