Tennessee’s Juke Harris reveals what set Rick Barnes apart from Michigan, UNC in recruitment originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball had been aggressively pursuing top transfer portal target Juke Harris for more than a month. Tennessee was extremely high on the transfer guard, and head coach Rick Barnes even visited him multiple times during the recruiting process.
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Several schools were also heavily involved in Harris’ recruitment, including Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball and North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball. However, Michigan appeared to be Tennessee’s biggest competition.
“They (Michigan) are very much in the hunt for Juke Harris,” 247Sports’ Travis Branham said. “That one is evolving pretty quickly. As of this morning, it’s now sounding like his decision will likely come down to Michigan and Tennessee. Both have had him on visits at this point, and that’s going to be a fight to the finish.”
Tennessee ultimately landed Harris earlier this week, giving Barnes and his staff the top transfer portal class in the country.
“Tennessee basketball keeps adding to its star-studded transfer portal haul, adding Wake Forest guard Juke Harris on Monday, May 4. Harris, the No. 2-ranked overall player in the transfer portal in USA TODAY’s rankings, averaged 21.4 points with 6.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game last season on 44.4% shooting. He chose the Vols over Michigan, which he visited, and North Carolina, among others. Harris’ commitment lifts Tennessee’s portal haul to No. 1 in USA TODAY Sports’ class rankings,” USA Today’s Austin Curtright wrote.
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On Thursday, Harris detailed what made Barnes different from the other coaches recruiting him. In typical Barnes fashion, it came down to honesty and transparency.
“Another thing that he did that separated himself from everybody else is he came in and told me how good I was, but he also got on me about some stuff they can see that I need to work on. … I feel like I’ll be more of a complete player going into Tennessee next year,” Harris said.
In today’s era of college athletics, it is easy for players to gravitate toward hearing only what they want to hear. Harris’ comments speak volumes about his character and his willingness to embrace honest coaching and development.
That is not to say the other schools were not honest with him, but Barnes clearly approached the process differently. Harris and his family appeared to have a great deal of respect for Barnes’ transparency throughout the recruitment. Now that Harris understands what areas he needs to improve, Tennessee could see a major leap from him during his junior season.
