After three straight trips to the Elite Eight without one breakthrough to the Final Four, Tennessee Basketball overhauled its roster this offseason with the intent of getting more offensive firepower. And with eight new incoming transfers and four additional high school signees, the Vols have seemingly done just that.
Tennessee signed six Top 100 players from 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings, including 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). Five of Tennessee’s incoming portal players averaged 15.0 points or more per game last season at their previous schools. Ultimately, the Vols brought in the 2nd-ranked transfer class and the 4th-ranked high school class.
While these new players will still need to figure out how to gel on the court, Tennessee’s roster comes with high expectations. It’s a talented group, and Rick Barnes is hoping this is the unit that he can finally take to the final weekend of the season.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello is high on Tennessee’s roster. In new way-too-early power rankings on Monday, Borzello tagged Tennessee as the No. 6 team in the nation. The Vols are the second-highest SEC team on the list, behind only No. 1 Florida. Tennessee’s listing is a five-spot increase from its previous rank.
“Over the past six seasons, Tennessee has ranked in the top five nationally in defensive efficiency five times,” Borzello writes. “The highest the Vols ranked in offensive efficiency at KenPom during that stretch? No. 17. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see those roles reversed next season. Rick Barnes has amassed an alarming amount of offensive talent from the portal, headlined by Juke Harris (Wake Forest), Terrence Hill Jr. (VCU), Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame), Tyler Lundblade (Belmont) and Dai Dai Ames (California). If he can instill some level of defensive intensity in this group, the ceiling is incredibly high.”
Borzello projects Tennessee’s starting lineup to be G Terrence Hill Jr, G Tyler Lundblade, G/F Juke Harris, F Jalen Haralson, and F Miles Rubin.
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Other SEC teams in Borzello’s Top 25 way-too-early rankings include No. 9 Texas, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 15 Alabama, No. 18 Vanderbilt, and No. 20 Missouri.
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes spoke about UT’s transfer portal mindset during a recent episode of The RTI Low-Down with Bob Baskerville and Chris Low:
“This year we knew that we wanted more offense,” Barnes said. “We didn’t want to really rely on two or three guys. We felt like we needed to get some guys that, as it gets down to the end of the shot clock – what it really gets down to, we don’t want to coach these guys on every play. We don’t. We want some guys that can go create offense, some guys that can break down defenses for you, and get things done. We’ve never been a staff that wants to joystick the game. We like to teach basketball, we want to see flow on dead balls. You certainly have a chance to call guys numbers, those type things within the flow of the game. We wanted to be more lethal, and set out knowing it.”
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