Editor’s Note: The Insider is a recurring entertainment feature built around publicly available information, informed analysis and educated speculation. It does not claim access to confidential sources inside the Tennessee basketball program, nor should any predictions be interpreted as factual reporting of non-public information.
Everybody is talking about Tennessee’s new guards, as they should. Terrence Hill Jr. has the keys to the offense, Dai Dai Ames can score in bunches, Juke Harris has the kind of talent that makes people lean forward, and Jalen Haralson is going to be in the middle of just about everything.
My sources tell me there is another name inside Pratt Pavilion that keeps coming up when the conversation turns to who can actually get stops: Braedan Lue.
The Kennesaw State transfer did not arrive with the same headline treatment as some of Tennessee’s other portal additions. He is not supposed to be the guy taking 18 shots, and nobody is putting him on a preseason award watch list just yet. But the early buzz is that Lue has been one of the Vols’ best defenders during summer work—and that he has looked comfortable handling a much wider range of assignments than a 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward ought to.
That does not mean he is the next Josiah-Jordan James. It means Tennessee may have found a bigger-bodied version of the lineup flexibility it once got from JJJ: a forward who can stay on the floor when opponents start hunting switches and trying to create a weak spot.
One person close to the program put it simply: Lue is difficult to target. Bigger bodies do not simply move him around, while smaller wings do not get to relax just because they drew a forward on a switch.
That is a pretty valuable card to have in a league where every team seems to have two matchup problems and a guard who wants to find the slowest defender on the floor.
Lue already has the résumé for the part. He made Conference USA’s All-Defensive Team last season after averaging 10.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks for Kennesaw State. Barnes called him “fast and twitchy,” pointed to his sturdy frame and elite wingspan, and said he is willing to play whatever role helps the team win.
That last part matters more than it sounds. Tennessee does not need Lue to become a 16-point scorer overnight. It needs somebody who can guard the four, survive a stretch at the five, switch when the game gets weird, rebound in traffic and turn one deflection into the kind of possession that gets the whole building going.
The frontcourt will have its share of questions, especially with so many new pieces learning Barnes’ defensive demands at once. But Lue may be the guy who quietly helps connect the whole thing. He can play beside a true center, cover for a smaller lineup, and make life easier for the guards Tennessee expects to carry a lot of offensive weight.
Nobody is hanging banners for winning August practices. Still, the people around the program have noticed.
The Insider prediction: By SEC play, Lue will not be “the Kennesaw State transfer” anymore. He will be the guy Barnes puts on the floor when Tennessee absolutely has to get one stop.
– The Insider