With Michigan’s victory over UConn in the National Championship game on Monday night, the 2025-2026 college basketball season is officially in the books. But with the transfer portal officially opening on Tuesday morning, it isn’t taking long at all for the basketball world to turn the page to the next season and begin work on new roster construction.
Tennessee Basketball finished the season with a 25-12 record and a trip to the Elite Eight for the third straight year. The Vols defeated Miami (OH), Virginia, and Iowa State in the first three rounds, but ran into the buzzsaw that was the eventual National Champion in the Elite Eight.
With all the transfer portal activity in the early stages of Tuesday, Tennessee will have a fairly rebuilt team on its hands for next season. But as On3’s Chris Low reported over the weekend, Tennessee and Rick Barnes are set for an “aggressive” portal run in the near future. We’ll see what that looks like as the transfer window unfolds.
In the immediate aftermath of Monday’s championship contest, Fanduel Sportsbook released new 2027 championship odds for the men’s college basketball landscape. These are sure to change over the next few months, but it is interesting to see the starting positions out of the gate.
Fanduel has Tennessee Basketball with +5000 odds to win the 2027 tournament title. These are the same odds as Purdue, Miami, Louisville, and BYU, all of which were tournament teams this past season. These teams are tied for the 20th-best odds in the nation.
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Other notable teams from the SEC include Florida (+1300), Arkansas (+2000), Vanderbilt (+2500), Kentucky (+3000), and Alabama (+3000).
The trio of LSU, Missouri, and Texas all land at +6500 odds. Steven Pearl’s Auburn Tigers are at +8000 off of their NIT Tournament championship. The SEC team with the worst odds on the list is Mississippi State, with the Bulldogs coming in at +25000.
The transfer portal is obviously wreaking havoc on teams’ rosters after its official opening on Tuesday. Tennessee is included in that bunch, with players such as Bishop Boswell, JP Estrella, Amari Evans, Jaylen Carey, Cade Phillips, Troy Henderson, and Clarence Massamba all departing the program. That’s also not including players out of eligibility, such as Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Felix Okpara. Tennessee did get some positive news on Tuesday, though, which is that freshman big man DeWayne Brown II is returning to Knoxville for his sophomore season.
For a full look at Tennessee’s roster outlook with the transfer portal, click here.
