The Rick Barnes era is set to begin in Knoxville with an exhibition game at Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville Friday night.
After the tumultuous 2014-2015 season under Donnie Tyndall, which was completely overshadowed by the NCAA investigation, which also followed the Cuonzo Martin-Bruce Pearl drama the previous year, it is nice to finally have some stability back with the program.
Tennessee starts this exhibition with almost everybody back from last year except, unfortunately, their best player, Josh Richardson.
Richardson is off to bigger and better things in the NBA as one of the greatest development stories in Tennessee basketball history.