Reassessing Preseason Tennessee Basketball Questions And Predictions

Tennessee basketball’s 2025-26 season came to an end Sunday as the Vols fell in the Elite Eight for a third straight season. Before the season began, we took a look at questions we had about this team and made some predictions.

How did Tennessee answer those questions? How did we fare in our preseason predictions? Taking a look here.

More From RTI: What Rick Barnes Believes Tennessee Basketball Needs To Break Through

Questions

Just How Good Will Ja’Kobi Gillespie And Nate Ament Be?

They were pretty darn good. Tennessee was putting a lot on both of them this season and they mostly delivered. Here’s a snippet from the story on Sept. 23.

“From watching them this summer and talking to be around the Tennessee program, I’m pretty bullish on both. I think they both have the potential to be 16-18 point a night guys. The Vols need to find answers to other questions, but these two playing like All-SEC, and even All-Americans, is what can make this team a legit SEC Championship contender.”

Gillespie averaged 18.4 points per game this season. Ament averaged 16.7 points per game. They were both All-SEC good but not All-American good. Both could have been more efficient offensive players. There were worlds where they could have been better than they ended up being.

But Tennessee certainly doesn’t have buyers remorse with either. They were two really good players who led the Vols the way they needed to be led.

Can Tennessee Space The Floor Enough?

I guess it depends on how you’d define enough. Tennessee’s offense still finished the season 31st in offensive efficiency. They weren’t a bad offensive team. But they were not good enough offensively to make the Final Four.

The Vols got 59 total made three-pointers from Bishop Boswell, Amaree Abram and Ethan Burg at the two-spot. Again, that wasn’t horrific but also wasn’t very good— even if they were pretty efficient on their attempts.

Rick Barnes ended the season saying Tennessee needs to add more shooting next season. That seems like a good final say that the Vols did not space the floor enough last season.

How Will Tennessee Use Front Court Versatility?

This became a bit more simple because Cade Phillips had season-ending shoulder surgery, forcing Tennessee to role with just Felix Okpara, J.P. Estrella, Jaylen Carey and DeWayne Brown. Phillips never played any small forward when he was healthy and I don’t think they would have done much with that summer experiment even if he was healthy.

For the front court as a whole, Tennessee did not get enough offense from this group as they needed over the course of the season. It’s no coincidence to me that this group player really well against Virginia and Iowa State and that those were two of the better wins all season.

Another snippet from the Sept. 23 article:

“I’m high on Tennessee’s front court. Finding a legit shooting threat makes them potential to be elite.”

Tennessee never allowed J.P. Estrella or Felix Okpara the chance to prove themselves as shooting threats which did not help the spacing issue previously mentioned. The Vols not having any front court member emerge as a consistent offensive threat also hurt them.

More From RTI: Belmont Transfer Sharpshooter Visiting Tennessee Basketball Monday

Accolades And Predictions

Leading Scorer

Prediction: Ja’Kobi Gillespie

Result: Ja’Kobi Gillespie

This one was either going to be Ja’Kobi Gillespie or Nate Ament. Gillespie ended up edging Ament by 1.7 points per game.

Leading Rebounder

Prediction: Felix Okpara

Result: Felix Okpara, Nate Ament, Jaylen Carey

This is pretty wild. All three of Okpara, Carey and Ament ended the season with 222 rebounds. Okpara and Ament did it in two fewer games, averaging 6.3 rebounds per game to Carey’s six rebounds per game. Carey was a force on the offensive glass. Ament was really strong on the defensive glass. Okpara did both.

Leading Assister

Prediction: Ja’Kobi Gillespie

Result: Ja’Kobi Gillespie

There was really no world where this was going to be anyone but Gillespie. He finished the season with 201 assists for a 5.4 assist per game rate. Gillespie became the first player in SEC history to total 100-plus made three-pointers and 200-plus assists in a single season.

Starting Five

Prediction: Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Ethan Burg, Nate Ament, J.P. Estrella, Felix Okpara

Result: Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Bishop Boswell, Nate Ament, J.P. Estrella, Felix Okpara

This prediction looked real rough in the middle of SEC play when Burg was out of the rotation. But he steadied himself and contributed down the stretch. But still, Boswell was the clear starting shooting guard and someone I did not give near enough respect to last offseason. Tennessee started a number of different players beside Okpara in the front court with Estrella ending up winning that job.

X-Factor

Prediction: J.P. Estrella

There’s no way to definitively declare who Tennessee’s x-factor was, but I think this was a pretty good prediction. Estrella had flashes where he looked like an All-SEC big man but they were not super consistent. That isn’t surprising given it was his first collegiate season playing a major role.

A Bold Prediction

This Is The Best Offensive Rebounding Team Of Barnes’ Tenure

I undersold them with my bold prediction! Tennessee’s previous Barnes-era best offensive rebound rate was 36.4% back in 2022-23. Tennessee rebounded 44.6% of its misses this season.

Not only was this the best offensive rebounding team in Barnes’ tenure but also the best offensive rebounding team in the country.