Rick Barnes talks dealing with expectations, offseason work and getting better

For the first time in several years, the Tennessee men’s basketball program is dealing with big time expectations. Rick Barnes has built this thing from the ground up, slowly but surely establishing a culture in Knoxville.

All of that progress began to show last season when the Vols split the regular season SEC title with Auburn, earning a trip to the SEC tournament final and a three seed in the NCAA Tournament.

That group is back for more, outside of reserve point guard James Daniel. How do you move on after a disappointing finish to the season? According to Barnes, you just start over like any other team.

“We really started that process a week and a half after the season ended,” Barnes said…