By SAM LANCE
Top-80 prospect Dante Allen took an official visit to Tennessee this past weekend from Aug. 23-25. The Volunteers are one of the schools in Allen’s final four along with Georgia, Notre Dame and Villanova.
Allen — the 6-foot-3, 210-pound guard out of Montverde Academy (FL) and the Nightrydas Elite AAU program — said the visit went well.
“We were able to tour the school and the facilities and stuff,” Allen told ZAGSBLOG. “I was able to spend a lot of time with the team, the coaches. Kind of get a feel of me playing basketball a lot, but also like the time we’re not playing basketball. Am I going to enjoy the team I’m with, enjoy the people I’m around? And that right there was probably my favorite part. Being with those guys. I had a lot of fun with them.”
The guard said he especially vibed with sophomore big man JP Estrella, sophomore guard Cameron Carr and freshman guard Bishop Boswell.
“They were helping out a lot,” Allen said. “And I was really enjoying being with them.”
Allen also appreciated watching small group workouts and assistant coach Gregg Polinsky’s NBA presentation.
“They break down their guys, show them like, ‘We have you going here right now. These are your best traits. These are the things you need to work on. These are some things that pro scouts want to see from you,'” Allen said. “And they kind of evaluate you on the things you need to do and things that will help you kind of reach that next level.”
In addition to Polinsky, Allen was able to speak to head coach Rick Barnes.
“It was good to be around him, not just as a coach, because obviously he’s a great hall of fame coach,” Allen said of Barnes. “But off the court he’s a great person too. I think the thing he wanted me to know is they’re losing some of their guards. Zakai Zeigler, he’ll be gone after this year. So they want other guards to come in there and play that role. And that’s where he thinks I can come in and have an impact. Play hard, play within their system. Just kind of be able to come in and easily be able to play a role with them.”
While Allen said his role won’t be coming in and dropping 25 points every night, Barnes has outlined what he will need the versatile guard to provide.
“Being able to like kind of play in their system,” Allen said. “Be able to move around a lot, kind of play on the ball a little bit. Play off the ball a little bit. Just kind of wherever they see me. Obviously, I’ll develop as the time goes on, but kind of seeing what I’m best at. Kind of putting me in the best positions to help myself and the other guys.”
Besides the basketball facilities, Allen was able to explore Knoxville. He said Tennessee’s campus is the first really big campus he’s been to.
“I really liked it,” Allen said. “They have a lot of school spirit up there. Everybody who I talked to said they really love the place. They love the area that they’re in. They love the campus. They love the town around it.”
The most jaw-dropping part of Knoxville for Allen was Neyland Stadium.
“Walking in there and seeing it empty, you can only imagine what the place would look like when it’s filled,” Allen said. “But it looked like — completely enormous. It looked like a really, really cool place.”
Next up for Allen will be an official visit to Georgia from Aug. 30-Sept. 1. Allen also has an official visit scheduled with Villanova on Sept. 21 and he visited his other finalist, Notre Dame, in late June.
“I really look forward to going there,” Allen said of his upcoming Georgia visit. “And also for the team, from what I’ve heard from them, they like to run in transition. They like to run a lot of ball screens. And they have a lot of lob threats, so they can set them up. They just have a lot of smart guards that know how to make the right reads.”
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