At the end of the day it depends on luck. If Cal hits the jackpot on recruits and get some generational players y'all go along way in dance. If Zeigler doesn't go down last year or we don't foul a 3 pt shooter we go far. Tennessee has a very good team, but a lot of that team will be gone next year 5th year Sr's. So, you can expect UT will not be notable until Barnes builds another team up.
Do you really want to be out of it for a couple of years before you really have a good shot at UK? My point is there are trade offs.
Generational players are too rare, so rare that you would be a fool to design your program around that.
You have Zion, AD, Carmello Anthony, Lebron and Kevin Durant that I would put in that generational category. Like I said, they are extremely rare.
Then you have transcendent guys, but again, there aren't enough of those guys to anchor your program to, especially now that those type guys aren't just flocking to one school.
As far as veteran rosters go, there is no reason why a team like UT should fall off a cliff because the seniors left. No, if you do it right, you should have developed players right behind them that are ready to be the next leaders.
Also, with the transfer portal, you can supplement what you already have with guys like Tre Mitchell, Knecht, Cryer, Love, Antonio Reeves etc… You just don't want to base your whole roster on transfers and freshmen, it is an uphill battle.
