After a commitment from former VCU center Christian Fermin on Thursday afternoon, Tennessee Basketball has now brought in eight players from the transfer portal this offseason. The Vols lost six players to the portal from last year’s Elite Eight squad, but have juiced the roster with some talented prospects from around the nation.
Six of those players are in 247Sports’ Top 100 player rankings, including three in the Top 25: Juke Harris (No. 8), Terrence Hill Jr. (No. 19), Jalen Haralson (No. 25), Dai Dai Ames (No. 53), Tyler Lundblade (No. 59), and Miles Rubin (No. 95). Center Christian Fermin and small forward Braeden Lue round out Tennessee’s eight-man class.
Rick Barnes’ portal class is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation behind Louisville, according to 247. The Vols sit ahead of No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Indiana, and No. 5 Miami (FL) in the Top 5. Other notable SEC teams in 247Sports’ portal rankings include No. 9 Texas A&M, T-No. 12 Missouri, T-No. 12 Kentucky, No. 20 Vanderbilt, and No. 22 Alabama.
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Tennessee reached the Elite Eight for the third straight season this past March, but the Vols haven’t been able to break through and reach the final weekend of the tournament yet. Perhaps Tennessee’s new method of choosing portal production over retention will help the Volunteers reach new heights with the Final Four next year.
“We were looking for production over retention, and I think we’ve done that,” Barnes said in April. “But these guys are, they’ll build their own team. You got to do it every year anyway. It doesn’t matter if you got guys coming back, a bunch of guys, you still have to build a new team every year.”
Tennessee’s outgoing portal players include SG Amari Evans (Texas), PF Jaylen Carey (Missouri), CG Bishop Boswell (Maryland), PF J.P. Estrella (Michigan), PF Cade Phillips (Texas A&M), and CG Clarence Massamba (UC Davis). The Vols also lost Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Nate Ament, and Felix Okpara to the NBA Draft, while Amaree Abram is out of eligibility.
