Photo By Andrew Ferguson/ Tennessee Athletics

Last season, Tennessee basketball returned highly recruited guard Cameron Carr for his sophomore season. He appeared in four games, averaging 4.8 points and 1.5 rebounds, before suffering an injury that held him out. Then, in December, Carr decided to step away from the program and enter the transfer portal.

With the timing outside the allotted window for transferring, Carr was ineligible to compete at his next destination that season. Vols head coach Rick Barnes admitted that the move didn’t surprise him, but he didn’t see the upside for Carr.

“Not really,” Barnes said on if there was any upside to leaving in December at the time. “I think they probably didn’t understand the rule. I don’t know that, but that is what I would assume. We were obviously counting on him being part of the team. Surprised his teammates. They were very disappointed. So from here on, there is nothing to really talk about. He made his decision. No reason. It’s baffling to be quite honest with you.”

Ultimately, Carr picked Baylor, but wasn’t able to compete with the team that season. After an offseason of massive turnover for the program, Carr is now in the spotlight.

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Ahead of the regular season, Baylor has competed in two exhibitions. In both, Carr has looked like the player Tennessee coaches said they thought he had the potential to become.

In the first against Grand Canyon, he helped lead the Bears to a 79-74 win. In 26 minutes, he produced 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field and 3-for-5 on 3-pointers. He also contributed three rebounds and a block with no assists and two turnovers.

This Sunday, Carr put together another impressive showing in a 76-74 loss to Indiana in an exhibition. He finished with 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field and 1-for-4 on 3-pointers. He tossed in nine rebounds, one assist, three blocks, two steals and four turnovers to the stat sheet, as well.

Carr’s first real game with Baylor is set for Monday, Nov. 3, against UTRGV. The first big test will be the following Sunday against Washington at home.

Without Carr a year ago, Tennessee was just fine. While they could have used the depth he gave the Vols at times, the team was still good enough to earn a spot in the Elite Eight. This offseason, despite losing multiple key pieces, Tennessee reloaded and is projected to be one of the better teams in the SEC again.