The news came down today that top guard Anfernee Simons would indeed be declaring for the 2018 NBA Draft. Simons, who was rated as a top ten player in the 2018 recruiting class, is eligible to go directly to the league after spending a post-grad season at the IMG Academy.
Simons was Tennessee’s top target to fill their (currently) one open scholarship. The writing seemed to be on the wall here, which is why Rick Barnes and his staff starting pouring their efforts into a few backup plans over the past few days.
With James Daniel heading out, Barnes wants to fill this spot with another point guard.