Tennessee basketball has put together one of the top transfer portal classes in the country, and national pundits are taking notice. On Thursday, NCAA.com writer Andy Katz revealed his top-44 power rankings ahead of the 2026-27 season. On his list, he has the Vols as the No. 5 team in the nation.
This leaves Tennessee behind just No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Illinois. It also means he has the Vols as the second-best team in the SEC this upcoming year.
Other SEC squads listed in his rankings include No. 8 Arkansas, No. 9 Texas, No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 16 Alabama, No. 25 Missouri, No. 32 Texas A&M, No. 37 Auburn, No. 39 Ole Miss and No. 42 Kentucky.
🚨 The FIRST-EVER #Power44 from @TheAndyKatz is in 🚨
1. Duke
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. Illinois
5. Tennessee
6. UConn
7. Arizona
8. Arkansas
9. Texas
10. Michigan State pic.twitter.com/awqFok4o37— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) May 7, 2026
More From RTI: Where Tennessee Basketball Projects in Expanded 76-Team Field After Massive Portal Haul
Most recently, Tennessee reeled in the commitment of the top-ranked transfer in the country, Juke Harris. He is coming off a sophomore season in which he averaged 21.4 points on 44.4% shooting from the field and 33.3% shooting from three-point range. He made 87 three-pointers during the year, as well.
“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,” Harris said about Vols head coach Rick Barnes. “Like turning my body more when I come off screen, turning my body facing the goal.
“Different things that I need to do on the defensive side, fighting over screens, making sure I’m closing out. So they showed me little stuff like that. And I seen some stuff that I needed to work on that I didn’t even know, that they had seen. So I feel like I’ll be more of a complete player going into Tennessee next year.”
Harris is the seventh portal pickup for Tennessee. He joins Belmont guard Tyler Lundblade, Cal guard Dai Dai Ames, Loyola (Chicago) forward Miles Rubin, Notre Dame forward Jalen Haralson, VCU guard Terrence Hill Jr. and Kennesaw State forward Braden Lue as additions.
