Sitting inside Pratt Pavilion, Ethan Burg leaned forward in his chair, smiled, and shook his head.
“I was wrong,” he said, laughing.
“I thought coming in here at my age is not going to give me a lot to the rest of my career. Like, it won’t help me really develop. I was totally wrong.”
Burg’s basketball story isn’t the typical college journey.
The 23-year-old forward from Israel spent his teenage years playing professionally overseas. This summer he represented his home country of Israel on the international stage, EuroBasket. It’s one of Europe’s most competitive tournaments. He earned minutes and a win against powerhouse France.
Just weeks later, he packed up his life and landed in Knoxville. He stepped into the fast-paced world of SEC basketball under veteran head coach Rick Barnes.
Despite his late arrival, Barnes had a singular message.
“We told him, ‘We’re not waiting. This train started rolling back in the summer.’ I said, ‘You’re going to have to jump on board. We’re not going to be able to slow down.'”
That metaphor has defined Burg’s first months at Tennessee.
The speed of play, the conditioning demands, and even the terminology have all been adjustments.
“I’m still adjusting,” he said. “I’m not there yet. At least not where I’m expecting myself to be.”
Much of Burg’s journey to Knoxville began with assistant coach Gregg Polinsky, the man who recruited him from overseas. Their connection was instant and genuine. Burg speaks about it with visible emotion.
“I love this guy really. He’s in my heart deeply, even before I met him,” Burg said, his voice softening.
“(He) always called, always asking how I feel. Didn’t really put pressure on me, but at the same time really like reeled me in.”
Burg’s sense of belonging deepened when he met Barnes.
“When I came here to visit, I traveled with my girlfriend and I told her immediately like after we left like, ‘I want to be here!‘”
Barnes’ exacting nature, his attention to every inch of movement, was unlike anything Burg had experienced in Europe.
“I think (Coach Barnes), he’s an amazing coach,” Burg said.
“His level of dedication. It’s really the small details that he really pays attention to. I’m not sure I’ve ever witnessed (that).”
“If you’re a couple of feet off, he’ll rewind the play and make you do it again and again until it’s perfect. I respect that a lot about him,” said Burg.
However, one of the biggest hurdles for Burg is a bit off the court: language.
English is his second language and Barnes’ accent sometimes leaves him lost in translation.
“It’s actually so funny,” Burg said laughing. “Coach Barnes, if you see this, I love you. I just sometimes don’t understand what he’s saying! He speaks with this little accent, it’s hard for me to understand!”
“Sometimes when he’s drawing plays, he’s doing it like really really quick. And I’m just always asking him 100 questions after like, ‘Where? I got to be here? I gotta be there? I got to go that way?” Burg said with a laugh.
Barnes, known for his sharp wit, hasn’t missed the chance to joke about it.
“Ethan told me one day, ‘Coach, I don’t understand you sometimes,’” Barnes said with a grin. “I told him, ‘Neither does my wife.’”
Even with the laughs, Burg said Barnes’s patience, as patient as Barnes can be, has made all the difference.
“He’s patient with me and he’s understanding and I appreciate that,” Burg said.
For Polinsky, he sees in Burg a rare mix of maturity and humility.
“I know my role here,” Burg said. “Coach Barnes made sure to tell me that. I called him after the first night of I got here. I asked him like, “What exactly do you need from me? How can I be in the best position to help this team? And he told me he told me exactly what he wants from me.”
“I don’t think you get many freshmen, (like that)it’s just not in their mindset. It’s more what can you do for me a lot of times. But for Ethan, who’s already had success at at a pro level in Israel, I think he was willing to like give of himself for the betterment of this team,” Polinsky said.
As Burg continues to learn the language — of English, of Barnes, of Tennessee basketball — he said he’s right where he’s supposed to be.
“I feel like I’ve been catching up pretty quickly to the system. I feel like my body transformed completely within this month, my mindset, my conditioning is at a much higher level now,” Burg said.
With the train moving and Burg firmly on board, he’s ready to make his mark on Tennessee basketball.
