Ready or not, Tennessee launches the basketball season tonight (11/3/26) against Wofford at Food City Center (6 o’clock, SEC Network).

For lack of positive evidence, I’m guessing the Volunteers aren’t really ready. They lost exhibition games against Xavier and Duke. They looked awful against the Blue Devils. They edged Davidson in a private practice.

Rick Barnes was previously waving both arms in frustration about lack of focus and even a shortage of effort. He now reports progress. History says the coach will eventually straighten out the tangles but acceptable defense may take time, maybe weeks.

The root problems are 13 newcomers, more than enough shooters and not enough warriors. The deficiency shows in rebounding. Physical teams (think Florida) may beat up the Vols on the boards. And the Vols may never be strong enough on inside defense.

Barnes, famous for defense, five seasons of top five in the country, experienced three abrupt conclusions in NCAA Elite Eights. He adjusted his thinking and invested big money in perimeter scorers and playmaking guards. It seemed everybody else was bidding on big power players.

Just guessing at who you’ll see for the opening tipoff:

6-2 Terrence Hill (Virginia Commonwealth transfer); 6-2 Dai Dai Ames (California transfer); 6-7 Juke Harris 6-7 (Wake Forest transfer); 6-7 Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame transfer) or maybe 6-6 Tyler Lundblade (Belmont transfer); 6-8 DeWayne Brown (returning Vol) or maybe 6-10 Miles Rubin (Loyola-Chicago transfer).

Maybe Hill will develop into the point guard – if, if, if. Whether he is the pit bull out front on defense remains to be seen. Maybe Troy Henderson and Ames can challenge.

Harris projects as the scoring leader. He averaged 21 for Wake. Lundblade is the veteran three-point marksman and a potential team leader who just made it back from offseason repairs.

Brown did not have great October practices but Barnes still believes in his big-time potential. Rubin had his best day against Davidson.

Tennessee doesn’t have a genuine rim protector. The missing link is transfer Jalen Washington. He is 6-10 and 245. He was tough enough on behalf of Vanderbilt last season (177 rebounds, 10 against Tennessee in one game, eight in the other).

Before Vandy, he spent three seasons growing up at North Carolina.

Jalen is not eligible. He may never be. He is among fifth-year hopefuls from the recruiting class of 2022. He is caught in the margin between what NCAA rules once were and what they might become, if all the lawsuits ever end.

If you are having lunch with powerful judges, tell them this Washington really matters to Tennessee basketball welfare.

Months ago, this was a Final Four team or bust – on the drawing board.

After 11 years at Tennessee, 17 at Texas, four at Clemson, six at Providence and one at George Mason – going for 40 as a head coach, Barnes, 72, is still not old.

He is keenly aware of what he has and expectations. Tennessee was No. 8 in the Associated Press preseason poll. Elite media types said the Vols will finish fourth in Southeastern Conference standings.

Final four in the league is not Final Four in the country.

“I don’t care what other people think. We know what our expectations are, and believe it or not, ours are higher than the others. I can assure you of that, because we live with it every day.

“I have expectations that we’re going to get better as a basketball team … my expectations are to get a little bit better each and every day.”

The coach admitted there were disappointments in preparations, that there were days when he had no idea what to expect “because we’d been so up and down in practice.”

That was then. It is now time to get with it.

“Physically, our guys have done everything we’ve asked them to do. Mentally is where we’re still searching. The great thing about it is we know we’ve got the ability to be a lot better basketball team.”

Marvin West welcomes comments and questions from readers at marvinwest75@gmail.com Read more westwords. Follow KnoxTNToday on Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn. Get all KnoxTNToday articles in one place with our free newsletter.