Move over, Kevin Durant.
Tennessee’s Rick Barnes captured his first top-five recruit since the ‘Slim Reaper’ in Nate Ament on Sunday, nearly two decades after he got the former’s commitment at Texas.
Of course, the knock on Barnes has always been that he can recruit and coach great talent, but has a lot of trouble getting them to the Final Four. He’s only done it once – way back in 2003 – and couldn’t do it with Durant or a host of other talented Longhorn and Volunteer teams in the 22 years since.
The list of talent Barnes has had at his disposal is long, but he’s had only three “one-and-done” lottery picks – and each of them are from his Texas days: Durant, Tristan Thompson and Myles Turner.