By CHRIS DORTCH
Less than 24 hours after getting the bar bouncer treatment from Michigan in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and his staff had stuffed that 96-62 defeat into the junk closet of history and were hard at work building for the 2026-27 season. They had the advantage of an NCAA compliance staff that was aware of a rule some schools might not have been. Players who have already earned their degrees—in other words, grad transfers—didn’t have to wait until after the national championship game to put their names in the transfer portal. They were free to come and go as they pleased.
It just so happened the best shooter in the country had already graduated, seen his former coach take another job, and had the Vols in his sights even before the Vols had their sights on him. Tyler Lundblade, the 6-5, sixth-year player whose college basketball journey has been as circuitous as it’s been inspirational, wanted to play for a coach with a proven record of helping his players get to the NBA. On March 30, Lundblade was in Knoxville on an official visit. Two days later, he was signed, sealed and delivered.
That gave Tennessee a head start and Barnes and his staff capitalized. During the next 10 days, the Vols added four other transfers and a consensus Top 50 high school player. The fourth transfer, VCU combo guard Terrence Hill, Jr., didn’t announce his decision until April 19, but in less than two weeks, Tennessee had traded up after a mass roster exodus that had fans wondering why seven players would transfer from an Elite Eight team?
The answer is that college basketball has become just like the NBA. The key word among Barnes and his staff was valuation. Was the value of a current player, based on stats and injury history, equal to their agents’ NIL demands? When the answer was no, the two parties cut ties. The players who left are gone, but some of them won’t be forgotten because they’re sprinkled around the Southeastern Conference—Jaylen Carey signed with Missouri, Amari Evans with Texas, and Cade Phillips is now a part of Bucky Ball at Texas A&M. Two others, both former starters—power forward J.P. Estrella and guard Bishop Boswell—will be playing in the Big Ten next season at Michigan and Maryland, respectively.
In return, the five transfers Tennessee signed all have a history of efficient scoring, a commodity the Vols have sorely missed as of late, despite their three consecutive trips to the Elite Eight.
Securing Lundblade was a great start. The Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, Lundblade led the league with 115 made 3s and 283 attempts and Division I in free-throw percentage (93.4). Barnes encouraged his staff to find players with similar offensive efficiency. The next to sign was 6-1 guard Dai Dai Ames, who, last season while playing for California, averaged 16.9 points on 46.4% shooting from the floor, 37.6 from 3, and 85.0 from the free throw line. Right behind Ames was Loyola Chicago’s Miles Rubin, an athletic 6-10 junior who immediately filled two holes in Barnes’ roster: he’s a shot blocker and converts at the rim at a high level.
A week after signing Ames and Rubin, the Vols landed one of the portal’s most highly rated players—6-7 Notre Dame freshman Jalen Haralson, who averaged 16.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists. The next day, the Vols signed Tennessee’s top-rated high school player, Chris Washington, Jr., who averaged 19 points and nearly 10 boards while leading Murfreesboro’s Providence Christian Academy to its second consecutive Division II-A state championship.
The next piece was critical—the VCU combo guard Hill. Though he started just two times, Hill led the Rams in scoring and assists. He’s deadly from 3, has an effective midrange game and is a mid-80% free-throw shooter. Hill, who was voted first-team All-Atlantic 10 and won the league’s sixth man and most improved awards, will take over the point.
The Vols have three other scholarships at their disposal and still await the NBA decision of Nate Ament. Some pundits believe there’s a chance he can come back. But Barnes is operating on the assumption he won’t. So, look for Tennessee to shore up its frontcourt, probably with more rim protectors in the mold of Rubin.
The rest of the SEC… so far
- Despite that haul, the Vols’ portal class ranks second in the SEC behind Barnes’ former school Texas, now coached by Sean Miller. Miller and his staff added one of the top point guards in the portal, Colorado freshman Isaiah Johnson, and a highly-rated mismatch problem power forward—6-7, 245-pound David Punch from TCU. The Longhorns also cherry-picked other SEC teams, taking Evans off Tennessee’s hands and signing Auburn transfer Elyjah Freeman, a 6-8 small forward.
- Missouri has also put together a strong portal class, though Tennessee fans might wonder if Carey has more weaknesses than strengths. The Tigers’ biggest get so far is 6-10, 240-pound Kansas power forward Bryson Tiller. They also signed 6-6 small forward Jamier Jones of Providence.
- After losing seasons in 2025-26, South Carolina and Ole Miss needed to beef up their talent and so far, have top 20-ranked portal classes. The Gamecocks’ prized get is 6-10, 235-pound Aleksas Bieliauskas of Wisconsin. His freshman numbers were modest (4.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg), but he’s got stretch four potential; last season he made 28 of 81 3-pointers (34.6%).
- Ole Miss raided the Big East for 5-10 Seton Hall guard Adam Clark (12.7 ppg 4.9 apg, 2.0 spg), and the Atlantic Coast Conference for 6-6 Pittsburgh combo forward Roman Siulepa (10.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg).
- After losing seven players in the portal and getting off to a slow start in replacing them, Kentucky landed former Washington point guard Zoom Diallo (15.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.5 apg) and former Furman combo guard Alex Wilkins (17.8 ppg).
- Alabama took a couple of key players off their SEC playmates’ hands—6-10, 245-pound Brandon Garrison from Kentucky and 6-10, 240-pound Jamarion Davis-Fleming from Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide’s weakness last season was rim protection. Garrison (0.8 bpg) and Davis-Fleming (1.3 bpg) will fix that. Alabama also got the stretch four type that coach Nate Oats loves—6-11, 225-pound Drew Fielder from Boise State, and a big wing in former NC State player Cole Cloer. Last season Fielder led the Mountain West Conference in field goal percentage (54.7) and shot 41% from 3. Cloer enrolled at State in January but didn’t play. He was described by 247Sports as a “big-time shooter … he has a high and compact release, gets beautiful loft and rotation on his ball, and is a threat to make all different types of shots.”
Next time, the portal picture will have been sorted out considerably and we’ll evaluate the SEC’s winners and losers.