Roster building is a never ending process in modern college basketball. Instant eligibility transfers and the addition of the transfer portal has changed how college coaches build their teams.
This can be a negative — like at LSU where every single scholarship player has declared for the NBA Draft or entered the portal — or a positive with schools like Iowa State making the Sweet 16 the year after winning two games.
Good or bad, it is the reality of the sport and Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes has taken it in stride.
“We accept where it is and what it is.” Barnes said of the portal. “I think you embrace the portal, you do. It can work both ways too.”
So, where is Tennessee looking to improve in the transfer portal?
“I think our biggest needs is we’d like to get the very best players that we could get that we think can help us,” Barnes said. “We want versatility, we really do. We want as many guys that can play as many different positions as they possibly can. We want all the intangibles that you talk about that comes with — we talk about the DNA of certain players. We think we can get better defensively. We know that we want the biggest improvements that we still think will come from the players within our program right now. We’re looking at a number of different guys. We’re excited about them, but we’ll wait and see how that shakes out.”
The philosophy makes sense for Tennessee. The Vols don’t have any glaring needs to be filled on the roster after losing just two main contributors from last season’s team — point guard Kennedy Chandler and power forward John Fulkerson.
Zeigler will likely slide into Chandler’s role as starting point guard and the Vols have an abundance of interior bodies— including Olivier Nkamhoua who will return from the ankle injury that ended his 2022 season.
While Zeigler is ready to slide into the starting role, point guard depth is one of the few noticeable weaknesses on Tennessee’s roster.
Do the Vols need to bring in another point guard? That’s dependent on how productive B.J. Edwards can be as a freshman. The four-star point guard is the only signee in Tennessee’s 2023 signing class, but how much he can be relied upon as a freshman is still to be determined.
“B.J. we certainly think has a terrific future ahead of him,” Barnes said. “He does have a really good feel for the game. He understands how to play basketball. Like all freshman coming in, he’s going to have to get his body in the kind of shape he needs to to compete at this level. Not one part of his game does he not need to improve on but I’d have said the same thing about Kennedy Chandler and those guys a year ago. We’re excited about him because we think he gives us some versatility. He can really play anywhere at the three perimeter spots on the court.”
Barnes’ comment about Edwards playing any of the three guard spots is a compliment, but could also hint that the Vols may not be comfortable with Edwards running the show extensively at point guard as a freshman.
Tennessee — as well as everyone else across the country — is heavily pursuing Kansas State transfer point guard Nijel Pack. Pack is one of the most talented scorers in the portal, averaging 17.4 points per game on 44% perimeter shooting last season.
Pack appears to be the only point guard Tennessee is going hard after in the transfer portal or prep ranks right now.
The Vols are going hard after LSU transfer guard Brandon Murray — who is in Knoxville for a visit Thursday — but the 6-foot-5 freshman played the vast majority of his minutes off the ball in Baton Rouge last season.
With its current roster movement and Edwards signing with the Vols in November, Tennessee has only two scholarships available.
However, that could soon change with Barnes saying Quentin Diboundje could enter the transfer portal soon.
“Quentin wants to play,” Barnes said. “With that said, we’ve had some talks about it with him. There is a possibility that he’s going to leave. Which I think if he does I think he’ll end up going to East Carolina with coach Schwartz because coach is going to hire a great friend of ours from France that really helped us recruit Yves (Pons), Quentin and some other guys. We all really respect Quentin a great deal, but he looks at our roster right now and he feels like for him to grow, but I think that’s what’s going to happen to be quite honest with you. It hasn’t become official but it’s going to happen.”
The one curveball that could get tossed in Tennessee’s plans is if Santiago Vescovi or Josiah-Jordan James leave Knoxville for professional opportunities.
Vescovi is testing the waters in the NBA Draft without hiring an agent and Barnes suggested Thursday that James will do the same. Still, both guys are projected to go undrafted.
Tennessee has been patient when pursuing players in the transfer portal and the portal is still open until the end of April.
Who Tennessee pursues aggressively in the portal will be dependent on how its pursuit of five-star forward Julian Phillips shapes up, but the Vols are looking for the best players and fit available. Barnes made that much clear Thursday.
