Vols getting 'immediate impact' player in James
Rick Barnes incredible rebuilding job has largely been done through the efforts of the head coach and his staff taking unheralded prospects and molding them into a formidable unit. That strategy changed this morning with the announcement from five-star point guard Josiah James that he was committing to Tennessee.
James (6-foot-6, 190), the No. 14 overall player in the Class of 2019, instantly becomes the highest rated recruit Barnes & Co. have brought to Knoxville.
A member of the World Champion USA Basketball 18-u team this summer, James has led his Porter Gaud squad to three straight South Carolina high school state championships.
A pure ‘pass-first’ point guard James relishes the role of running his team and creating shots for his teammates. He can get into the paint and go get his team a bucket when they need it, but his primary drive is to facilitate offense and he excels at it.
Unlike many players his age James embraces the defensive end of the floor and with his length and basketball IQ he’s a terror on the perimeter. He can frustrate smaller, quicker players with his enormous wing span and he’s sound enough fundamentally that he normally doesn’t get caught in bad spots while defending smaller guards.
Rivals national analyst Eric Bossi was one of the first to the party on James, designating him as a five star prospect after the spring evaluation and bumping him all the way up to No. 14 in the Class of 2019 player rankings.
“Everyone talks about the game moving in the direction of ‘positoinless basketball’ like you see with so many teams in the NBA these days,” Bossi said of what he saw in James’ game. “As soon as we saw Josiah we saw someone with a skill set that really translated into that style and that direction.
“He obviously excels as a point guard, but unlike a lot of guys who talk about being able to play, or guard, multiple positions, James can actually do it if you need him to.
“So you take that versatility and combine with someone who’s a good athlete, a hard worker, an excellent teammate who cares about winning and defense and you have an elite prospect.”
Rivals’ analyst Dan McDonald has had the opportunity to see James on multiple occasions and doesn’t hold back in what he thinks the commitment could mean for the Vols. He raves about James’ defensive prowess and sees some early returns for the Vols here.
“I'm a huge fan of Josiah. I think he'll be a terrific fit at Tennessee. He makes everybody around him better with his playmaking ability,” McDonald said.
"What he probably doesn't get enough attention for is his defensive prowess. He's probably the most versatile defender in the 2019 class. I see him making an immediate impact at Tennessee and being one of the top players in the SEC as long as he's there. This is probably the most important commitment so far in the country in the 2019 class.”
In James Barnes and his staff have landed what could be a foundational player. Prior to his commitment Barnes had not landed a player ranked inside the top-100.
Despite that, Barnes has engineered an incredible turnaround in just three seasons. The veteran head coach cobbled together a roster packed with players who virtually no one else in the SEC wanted, coached them up and watched as they took their lumps for two seasons.
In year three Barnes guided that unheralded group of nobodies—which included SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams—to 26 wins and a conference championship.
James commitment today suggests the Vols’ success has catapulted them into a different stratosphere as far as recruiting goes. Prior to this cycle Barnes and his staff hadn’t even gotten a top-50 national prospect on campus for a visit. Since April the staff has hosted three prospects ranked in the top-30, all point guards, the position identified as the biggest need in this class, and walked away with the highest ranked, most sought after player in the bunch.
Consider what Tennessee, whose recruiting efforts were led by assistant coach Mike Schwartz pulled off here in landing James. The Vols not only beat out in-state school Clemson, who seemingly everyone presumed was going to be the pick in the last 48 hours, but also outlasted the bluest of the blue-bloods in Duke as well as Michigan State, where his father played college basketball.
The degree of difficulty there is off the charts.
This is the kind of thing that Barnes routinely did at Texas, but only after building a winner. It looks like he may now be following the same blueprint in Knoxville.
“Obviously at Texas Rick Barnes showed the ability to get high level guys, but the question when he first got to Tennessee was would he be able to build a strong enough foundation to be able to attract that kind of talent,” Bossi said.
“What he’s done by taking hard working guys who maybe weren’t sexy, but we’re willing to be coached, has been really impressive. You hope that leads to success with higher ranked guys, and here we are with Tennessee landing a huge one in Josiah James.
“This is a huge deal and proves that Tennessee is becoming nationally credible again as a basketball program.”