Tennessee’s transfer portal scorecard is pretty strong

Unlike some veteran coaches in college basketball Tennessee’s Rick Barnes has seemingly embraced the era of roster building in the transfer portal, or at least it looks like he has made his peace with it.

Tennessee had previously had some modest success in the transfer portal before last season, but Barnes and the Vols hit the jackpot last in 2023-24.

Dalton Knecht wasn’t just the most impactful transfer this past year. The consensus first-team All-American was one of the most impactful transfers we’ve seen since the proliferation of the transfer portal began several years ago in college basketball.

All Knecht did last year was lead Tennessee to just the second Elite Eight appearance in program history while also leading the SEC in scoring.

Tennessee also picked up a valuable reserve in Jordan Gainey from the portal, who averaged 6.8 ppg in 18 minutes per game off the bench.

I don’t think Barnes needed any more reinforcement to believe in the ability to reshape his roster each spring, but this past season should have been all the proof he’ll ever need about how much you can build, or enhance, your team in the portal.

You don’t want to live in the portal, not if you want to have an extended run over multiple seasons at an elite level. Recruiting high school players and developing a core group still feels like it’s going to be vital to long-term success. But you also better be sprinkling in some quality portal additions these days, or you’re going to get left behind.

With Bishop Boswell the only high school player committed in this incoming class, Tennessee was already probably going to be hitting the portal a little harder than usual this spring. But the needs grew even more glaring when Joans Aidoo and Tobe Awaka both entered the transfer portal two weeks ago within days of one another.

Tennessee already had big needs to fill on the perimeter with Knecht gone along with seniors Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James. While you can’t ever assume anything about your roster in today’s environment, Barnes probably didn’t feel like he was going to need to fill two holes in the post while also re-stocking the perimeter coffers.

But here we are.

Replacing that much from an Elite Eight team looks daunting on paper, if not impossible. You just lost an All-American and a walking bucket in Knecht. You lost a first-team All-SEC center to the portal. Two fifth-year seniors who were multiple year starters and a valuable big man who was a capable defender and a rebounding machine off the bench.

(Tennessee also lost D.J. Jefferson and Freddie Dillone to the portal)

If you’re a coach in today’s college basketball climate though, you could be facing that kind of dilemma every spring. You either roll your sleeves up, fire up the zoom calls and jump head first into recruiting transfers or you go looking for TV work.

Rick Barnes has taken on the challenge, and remarkably, the Vols have probably filled their roster holes better than most probably thought possible two weeks ago with one huge potential prize still out there dancing in the portal.

Now, replacing the Knecht-experience almost certainly isn’t happening, that feels like a once-in-a-generation occurrence. But the goal is to replace the production, or at least come close, and amazingly, Tennessee may just have a chance to approach doing that.

Let’s take a look at the Vols’ ‘Portal Scorecard’ at the moment.

Tennessee has hosted four players from the transfer portal on official visits:

Hofstra transfer Darlingstone Dubar (landed)

Belmont transfer Cade Tyson (committed to UNC)

Charlotte transfer Igor Milicic (landed)

Ohio State transfer Felix Okpara (landed)

Tennessee landed a commitment from Dubar shortly after he returned from his official visit. Listed on the Hofstra roster at 6-foot-8, Dubar averaged 17.8 ppg last season while shooting 40% from three-point range and averaging 6.8 rebounds per game.

That was a nice get. He adds the scoring, the three-point shooting and hopefully some rebounding that you’re losing from the combination of Knecht and James and he brings the kind of length on the perimeter that Barnes likes.

That’s a nice box to check off.

Tyson, who is originally from the Charlotte area, always felt like he was going to be tough to pull away from home-state North Carolina, where he committed this week.

At 6-foot-7, he shot 47% from three last season at Belmont and would obviously be a welcome addition.

Tyson seemed to struggle with his decision. Tennessee definitely gave he and his family something to think about on his official visit. The Vols made a strong impression, and frankly, when it comes to playing time and opportunity Tennessee was probably a better fit than the Tar Heels.

But, losing out to UNC on a North Carolina kid is never going to be something to be ashamed about, and in the end the lure of that jersey was too much. Something that most Tennessee fans can probably understand.

Milicic was the third prospect to hit Knoxville for an official visit and also saw Baylor and Nebraska.

Things were trending strongly for Tennessee with Milicic after his visit, and the Vols held on through the Baylor trip to land the versatile big man.

Milicic is an intriguing prospect at 6-foot-10. He averaged 13 ppg and a team high 8.5 rebounds at Charlotte last year shot 38% from three-point range.

He’s not the ‘burliest’ guy but he shouldn’t be pigeon-holed last a ‘pick-and-pop’ four. Milicic doesn’t exactly ‘bristle’ at being described as just a ‘big guy who can shot,’ but he’s very intent on being known for more than that.

Milicic’s father is coach of the Polish national team and he plays like a guy who has grown up around the game. He has solid fundamentals and to say he isn’t shy about physicality is an understatement. With his background, Milicic seems like an excellent cultural fit at Tennessee.

Milicic probably won’t be an exact trade off for what either Aidoo or Awaka brought to the table, but he looks like he would be a nice blend of both.

Similarly, Okpara, who shut down his recruitment and committed shortly after his official visit, probably couldn’t be viewed as an exact replacement for either of the departing bigs, but he would bring a welcome skill set, starting with rim protection.

Okparo started 35 games for the Buckeyes last season and had 82 blocks. He also averaged 6.8 ppg to go along with 6.2 rebounds. The 82 blocks are the 8th most in a single season at Ohio State.

This is a ready-made, plug-and-play big man with two years of high-major experience in one of the toughest leagues in college basketball. Adding Okpara, after losing Awaka and Aidoo, might even have been a trade Barnes would have made on his own if given the chance.

He doesn’t have Aidoo’s offensive ceiling, not really close at this stage but he’s more physical, more of a ‘quick-twitch’ athlete with just as much length. And I don’t mean to pick at scabs, but you wonder how Tennessee would have fared in the Elite Eight with Okpara defending Zach Edey.

Okara played his high school basketball in Chattanooga at Hamilton Heights and his family remains the area.

In short, there were a lot of signs in Okpara’s recruitment that he would end up at Tennessee and the Vols were fortunate for the pre-existing ties.

Tennessee is still waiting to hear from one of the biggest prizes in this year’s transfer portal. North Florida’s Chaz Lanier is a high scoring, sharp-shooting two guard that would be a huge addition to any college roster.

He averaged 19.7 ppg last season while shooting a smoldering 44% from three-point range. He’s also from Nashville, which gives Tennessee a potentially tantalizing tie to Lanier.

However, while Lanier entered the transfer portal last week he has yet to withdraw from the NBA draft and is still in the process of gathering feedback from teams. He has until May 29th to withdraw from that process, or of course, could do so at any time.

Tennessee is expected to pursue Lanier heavily if he opts for one more year of college and takes visits.

Regardless of Lanier’s impending decision, if ‘all that Tennessee ends up with’ from the portal is Dubar, Milicic and Okpara after using just four official visits, that would simply be outstanding.

You’re adding help at spots you where you needed it and you might have even gotten better at a couple of spots with your bigs, or at least you have probably gotten more versatile.

Pulling hose three guys in two weeks of recruiting in April, that’s a huge testament to this staff and not just their abilities as recruiters. It’s also a statement about what kind of program they have built in Knoxville.

Transfers with options—like the guys Tennessee is invariably involved with—are primarily probably looking for minutes. But having already been in a college program, they also know what they’re looking for off the court as well and they know that there’s more to fulfillment than playin time.

Veteran players have also probably learned the value of a supportive environment with a coaching staff that has proven it can develop players, an environment with a positive player culture where coaches are transparent about expectations and standards.

Tennessee had minutes to offer qualified candidates out of the portal this spring. But the Vols’ program also has a lot of attractive elements—starting with its coaches—that players and their families are often looking for when going through the process for the second time.

As a result, the Vols transfer portal scorecard looks pretty strong. Going three for four on portal visitors? It may not be perfect, but that’s pretty strong ladies and gentlemen.

The post Tennessee’s transfer portal scorecard is pretty strong appeared first on On3.