🏀 Tennessee marches on

The Vols are one win away from another Sweet 16 appearance

Josh Ward
March 21, 2025

Hello. This is the Josh and Swain Newsletter, a quick roundup of the week’s top stories and topics involving Tennessee and the sports world.

Here’s what we have for you today:

Tennessee’s guards lead the way vs Wofford… as a Blue Blood awaits in Round 2
A newcomer who could have a big impact on Tennessee’s football team this fall
Will Wade’s comments remind us how different the world of college sports is now
What Tennessee fans should think about Rick Barnes and the retirement talk

ONE DOWN…

Chaz Lanier filled it up in his NCAA tournament debut

Tennessee’s basketball team took care of business in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Vols beat Wofford 77-62 and never had to sweat the game once UT took control in the first half.

The star of the show: Chaz Lanier, who scored 29 points.

He also made six three-pointers, tying a school record for an NCAA tournament game.

Zakai Zeigler more than stepped up, too.

Zeigler recorded 12 assists with no turnovers — and he passed Johnny Darden to become Tennessee’s all-time assists leader.

Johnny Darden — who has held Tennessee's all-time assists record since 1978 — was on hand to congratulate Z postgame 🧡
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops)
1:49 AM • Mar 21, 2025

Tennessee advances to the second round to take on No. 7 seed UCLA.

UT and UCLA will play the final game of the day on Saturday.

📍 Food City Center
⏰ 9:40 p.m. ET
📺 TBS/TruTV
📻 99.1 The Sports Animal | 107.7 WIVK

UCLA beat Utah State 72-47 on Thursday night.

UCLA’s strength: its defense.

The Bruins rank No. 15 in the nation in defensive efficiency and No. 7 in the country in forced-turnover percentage.

Rick Barnes and his coaching staff will emphasize taking care of the ball against UCLA.

The Bruins also have size.

Starters Tyler Bilodeau and Eric Dailey Jr. are 6-9 and 6-8, respectively.

And reserve center Aday Mara is 7-3.

The Vols’ big men will need to be ready.

On the line for Tennessee: a third straight trip to the Sweet 16 and fourth trip with Barnes as head coach.

This is all part of the Vols’ bigger goal, of course.

Tennessee has Final Four (and national title) hopes.

The Vols were a popular pick to reach the Final Four this week.

David Cobb of CBS Sports picked Tennessee to win the Midwest Region and explained why on Josh and Swain.

“UCLA and Houston, two teams that you might see in this draw, two teams I think Tennessee matches up pretty well with. If (the Vols) end up seeing Kentucky a third time, Kentucky’s banged up. It’s hard to beat the same team three times in a season.

And then we’ve seen (Tennessee) beat Illinois on the road already this season. So I think there’s a decent amount to like about this draw for Tennessee.”

Saturday’s game won’t be easy for Tennessee (UT’s favored by 4.5 points as of this writing).

But we’ve seen Tennessee beat higher ranked teams already this season.

The Vols’ recent level of play should create confidence heading into Saturday.

UCLA once tried to hire Barnes away from Tennessee.

He ended up staying at UT, leading the Vols to great success in the last five years.

Will Barnes and Tennessee knock off UCLA on the path to greater success this season?

We’ll see this weekend.

TENNESSEE’S INTERIOR REDESIGN

Tennessee might feel better about replacing Javontez Spraggins and the interior OL

The University of Tennessee is on spring break this week — and so is UT’s football team.

The Vols will return to practice next week.

While off, a newcomer to Tennessee’s football team earned some national praise this week.

ESPN analyst Cole Cubelic highlighted five transfer offensive linemen to watch in the SEC.

The first player he discussed: Tennessee guard Wendell Moe Jr., who transferred to UT from Arizona.

Moe’s expected to start at left guard for Tennessee.

Cubelic explained why he likes Moe on The Cube Show:

“When he gets latched on, he’s going to move people the other direction against their will. He has that ability. So for Tennessee getting this young man in, I think you get a little bit more pop, a little bit more umph, than maybe what you had at guard last year.

It’s a guy that plays with a low center of gravity. He plays low to the ground. So being in a two-point stance a lot, I don’t think is going to hurt his leverage and hurt kind of who he is and how he plays. I think it’s a really nice get for Josh Heupel, Glen Elarbee, and that Tennessee offense. I’m looking forward to watching him play.”

Interior offensive linemen don’t receive the attention they deserve.

But when the O-line struggles, the need for good guard play becomes a talking point.

Tennessee likes Moe and Sam Pendleton, who will likely start at right guard.

William Satterwhite projects to be the starting center.

He has big shoes to fill with the departure of four-year starter Cooper Mays.

How will Tennessee’s interior offensive linemen play this fall?

That’s to be determined.

But no one should dismiss their importance.

SPORTS NUGGETS

🏈 Who will be Tennessee’s breakout player in 2025? Here’s a look at UT + every other team in ESPN’s way-too-early top 25.

🏈 How does this keep happening? Two more Georgia football players were arrested this week on driving-related charges. They’ve both been suspended indefinitely.

🏈 Another college athlete has sued the NCAA, this time Rutgers DB Jett Elad. He’s seeking a seventh year of eligibility and citing the Diego Pavia ruling.

🏈 The health of Florida QB DJ Lagway has been a major talking point during the Gators’ spring practice.

🏀 Here’s the full schedule for Day 2 of the second round of the NCAA tournament.

🏀 One of the highlights from Thursday: we get a Calipari-Pitino matchup in Round 2.

⚾ Tennessee lost to Alabama on Thursday, dropping UT’s record to 20-2. The Vols will try to even the series tonight at 7 ET.

⚾ The MLB’s Opening Day is less than a week away (for everyone but the Cubs and Dodgers). Here’s info on the schedule + Opening Day pitchers.

WADE’S WORLD

Will Wade appears ready to return to major college hoops

McNeese State basketball coach Will Wade has had quite a week.

Reports came out on Wednesday that he was set to become the next head coach at North Carolina State.

The timing of that was a bit odd as his McNeese State team was set to play in the NCAA tournament on Thursday.

That would have to make things awkward, right?

Not at all.

Wade addressed the reports at his Wednesday press conference.

He said he had already told his team what was going on prior to the media reports.

“I talked to (the players) on Saturday about it. I said, ‘Here’s where it is. Here’s where we are.’ They talked about some of their portal stuff with me. We sat in a room. It was just me and our players and we all talked about it.

So, I’m aware of what they’ve got going on; they’re aware of what we (the coaches) have going on. You just hit it head on. We’re all on the same page with everything.”

And then McNeese State went out and upset Clemson (Wade’s alma mater) on Thursday.

So much for a distraction from the NC State talk, huh?

Wade discussed the subject again following McNeese State’s upset over Clemson.

He stressed the importance of being honest with his players — and his players being honest with him.

Wade also said his players will benefit from McNeese State’s success.

“Our guys, this is great for them,” Wade told Field of 68. “They’ve got a lot of schools in their DMs tonight, too, looking to pick them up and pay them.”

What a difference some rule changes can make.

Wade was fired by LSU in 2022 following an NCAA investigation that found Wade helped provide payments, including cash payments, to at least 11 prospective men’s basketball players.

But times — and rules — have changed.

Wade has offered a new way of looking at the portal and pay-for-play era.

His team’s success has created new opportunities for him, his staff and his players.

He’s encouraging his players to take advantage of those opportunities… after the season ends.

Because McNeese State has another game on Saturday against Purdue.

RICK BARNES’ FUTURE

Rick Barnes’ future remains a topic at the start of the NCAA tournament

Rick Barnes’ future became a subject again this week following an ESPN article to preview the NCAA tournament.

Myron Medcalf provided a breakdown of all 68 teams in this year’s tourney.

Here’s what he wrote about Tennessee:

“At its worst this season, Tennessee lost by 30 points to Florida. But at its best, it beat that same Florida team by 20 a month later. For a fifth straight year, the Vols will enter the tournament with an elite defense. Ranked first in adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom, they've held 12 regular-season opponents to under 60 points. The team that lost Dalton Knecht, last season's SEC Player of the Year who led UT to the Elite Eight, found a way to bounce back thanks to Zakai Zeigler’s improved performance (13.1 PPG, 7.5 APG, 1.9 SPG) and the addition of transfers Chaz Lanier (17.9 PPG, 41% from beyond the arc) and Igor Milicic Jr. (10.2 PPG, 7.3 RPG). There are retirement rumors floating around about coach Rick Barnes. If this is the end for him, he could author a magical finish with this group.”

Could Rick Barnes retire after this season?

Of course he could.

Barnes will turn 71 in July.

No one should be surprised whenever he decides to walk away.

But Barnes could also coach two or three more seasons.

Barnes and his coaching staff are making plans for next year’s roster, which will have to replace six seniors.

That will be a difficult group to replace, especially Zeigler.

Barnes has discussed several times how much coaching Zeigler has meant.

“I don’t know what I’d do without him,” Barnes said in January.

Barnes will have to figure that out soon.

But don’t worry about that now.

Enjoy this ride while it lasts — and hope it has a few more laps to go before it ends.

NEVER miss an episode of Josh and Swain. Here are a few ways to listen to the podcast:

And watch on YouTube!

If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter, please do so below to receive a free weekly email.

If you ARE subscribed and enjoy the newsletter, please share it with someone else you think might enjoy it, too.

Thank you for reading!