2026 Vols Transfer Portal Thread

[Ttucke11]

This team has reached the Elite Eight the last three seasons. They have lost by an average of 19.3 points per game. What has been shown that they will do something bigger this offseason to build further and reach an entirely new level. They're investing more money reportedly and they probably will, but are they bringing in an entire new level of talent? What if Tanner doesn't enter the portal? What is actually changing. To be clear, Barnes is great and has done an elite job and he needs to be the coach here right now, no doubt about that. He's hiding the $$$ gap from hitting the court, until it's impossible to do that. I just don't want to keep being patronized by being told it will be different with investment this year and then they can't/won't pay all their top targets beside 1-2 again and the exact same result happens.

Football was the same way until they made actionable cause to believe something would change. They hired a top 5 DC who brought over an entire analytics department to add to the scouting staff. Heupel went external to steal Inge from Alabama. They brought in an elite strength coach and gave him free reign as well to build his own staff, no matter how big and wide-ranging. The offensive playbook has adapted to use the middle of the field. Heupel and NIL are getting involved with OL recruiting. There is a reason to believe something will change there.

What has been actually shown in basketball for there to be a potential for change? I know people will say I am overreacting and raising the bar, but the program raised the bar itself when you have the people around the program saying it's going to be bigger and better each year. That's all

That's a great post that will ruffle feathers.

 

[Millhouse]

I'm on VQ and I can confirm that you are FOS.... not sure what "e-cred" you thought you'd gain by doing this, but it didn't work

Not looking for e-cred…just trying to make sure @bleedingTNorange doesn’t take credit for others info. He even admitted it. His last post about Dowd’s gf going to Auburn was lifted straight off of VQ.

 

[McGeesPub]

Not hard to do when it’s verbatim. Just another copy & paste TemuVQ “insider”

I mean let’s be real, as a member of both you are going to get way more info on basketball here than VQ. I like the guys who cover it, but whenever they put something out it’s old news if you read here.

 

[Ttucke11]

I got on this morning expecting some good news and the sky is falling

Doesnt seem like the donors are ponying up for Barnes. He's such a good coach he will put out a good team regardless, but I've seen this song and dance enough to know we always fall a little short on the money side no matter what the new narrative is.

 

[Millhouse]

I mean let’s be real, as a member of both you are going to get way more info on basketball here than VQ. I like the guys who cover it, but whenever they put something out it’s old news if you read here.

I agree. There’s great info in here. When SF speaks, everyone listens because he truly has connections.

 

[walkenvol]

Wish we would have valued him as much as Michigan

 

[joevols89]

Perhaps Barnes feels that Burg will progress enough to handle pg duties and Tanner will just be icing on the
cake if we can get him late. Just have to trust the staff but I really have reservations in our doing to the pg position
the same thing that we did last season with the 2 position. Could come back to bite us.

If Burg is our starting PG next year Barnes will retire before the season.

 

[walkenvol]

Hard not to hate Dusty May. He sucks.

Why hate on DM? JP told us what the market was offering him and we didn’t want him at that price. The choice was ours and we said no. Why anyone wouldn’t just wish him the best of luck is beyond me?

 

[bleedingTNorange]

FWIW, Jon Reed said last night that UNC & Mike Malone are now involved with Tanner and that they are an equal threat to Tennessee.

So he is entering the portal now? FWIW UNC has the #1 PG in the class committed to them in Mingo, and his brother a sophomore PG is expected to transfer to UNC from Penn State to play with his brother.

 

[Jimmy Football]

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

This team has reached the Elite Eight the last three seasons. They have lost by an average of 19.3 points per game. What has been shown that they will do something bigger this offseason to build further and reach an entirely new level. They're investing more money reportedly and they probably will, but are they bringing in an entire new level of talent? What if Tanner doesn't enter the portal? What is actually changing. To be clear, Barnes is great and has done an elite job and he needs to be the coach here right now, no doubt about that. He's hiding the $$$ gap from hitting the court, until it's impossible to do that. I just don't want to keep being patronized by being told it will be different with investment this year and then they can't/won't pay all their top targets beside 1-2 again and the exact same result happens.

Football was the same way until they made actionable cause to believe something would change. They hired a top 5 DC who brought over an entire analytics department to add to the scouting staff. Heupel went external to steal Inge from Alabama. They brought in an elite strength coach and gave him free reign as well to build his own staff, no matter how big and wide-ranging. The offensive playbook has adapted to use the middle of the field. Heupel and NIL are getting involved with OL recruiting. There is a reason to believe something will change there.

What has been actually shown in basketball for there to be a potential for change? I know people will say I am overreacting and raising the bar, but the program raised the bar itself when you have the people around the program saying it's going to be bigger and better each year. That's all

As much as I love the coach and the team, this is directionally correct. The movement to get to the level of X team in budget and process is typically impaired by the reality that our budget is catching up to last year’s market in this year’s reality. UNC and Michigan have already stretched well beyond the offers against projected spend in week one, and inserted themselves into conversations we’ve been cultivating for months. Barnes’ need to carefully vet players for character, commitment and fit evolves to move faster every year, but perhaps not as fast as staffs with more nimble models. I have to admit that seeing a man in his seventies blend his knowledge and system with a changing game and shifting talent acquisition ecosystem is impressive. That said, we are hitting some friction in pushing through to the next level. The timing of losing Gainey on top of the portal opening, player leaving etc. makes it harder. I’m not a doubter. Barnes has a way of finding kids hiding behind a shed in Uruguay or Belmont and assembling a roster when all have lost hope. Unfortunately there was a moment last year when we missed with Rice and Burg and Massamba emerged that the sinking feeling set in. We went from a team with the horses to go far to a team with two scorers, a pool of developing talent, and a few guys that can hold space on the floor. It was impressive, but not enough to break through. Hoping for some breakthroughs in the next two weeks. We’ve been in on the right guys with the right support, but the market is already ratcheting up in front of our eyes. I think we’ll have to be fast and smart to get the right guys.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

He was a grad transfer.

Yep. Grad transfers aren't bound to the normal portal transfer rules

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Not hard to do when it’s verbatim. Just another copy & paste TemuVQ “insider”

Welp, my cover is blown guys, guess I’ll delete my account now

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Not looking for e-cred…just trying to make sure @bleedingTNorange doesn’t take credit for others info. He even admitted it. His last post about Dowd’s gf going to Auburn was lifted straight off of VQ.

Sorry you can’t read sarcasm…I didn’t pull anything from them, check my post history and you’ll see me credit VQ if it’s something I’ve shared from their board. While you’re checking my post history though you can also check the hundreds of examples of me dropping info here WELL BEFORE it ever finds its way to VQ.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

So he is entering the portal now? FWIW UNC has the #1 PG in the class committed to them in Mingo, and his brother a sophomore PG is expected to transfer to UNC from Penn State to play with his brother.

Factually you’re right and no Tanner isn’t in (yet). Ryan is right that Malone knows every agent and he’s been giving ( close to) unlimited resources to get the players he needs. The people on the board who said “don’t worry about UNC” are wrong. Having an NBA coach come into that program with their resources is going to shift the power dynamics in the ACC and the larger market. Players with sophisticated agents will get a look at the best opportunities.

 

[2EastTnVols]

Really? He has to be in his 50s by now

Grandmama could ball

 

[Ryanvols24]

As much as I love the coach and the team, this is directionally correct. The movement to get to the level of X team in budget and process is typically impaired by the reality that our budget is catching up to last year’s market in this year’s reality. UNC and Michigan have already stretched well beyond the offers against projected spend in week one, and inserted themselves into conversations we’ve been cultivating for months. Barnes’ need to carefully vet players for character, commitment and fit evolves to move faster every year, but perhaps not as fast as staffs with more nimble models. I have to admit that seeing a man in his seventies blend his knowledge and system with a changing game and shifting talent acquisition ecosystem is impressive. That said, we are hitting some friction in pushing through to the next level. The timing of losing Gainey on top of the portal opening, player leaving etc. makes it harder. I’m not a doubter. Barnes has a way of finding kids hiding behind a shed in Uruguay or Belmont and assembling a roster when all have lost hope. Unfortunately there was a moment last year when we missed with Rice and Burg and Massamba emerged that the sinking feeling set in. We went from a team with the horses to go far to a team with two scorers, a pool of developing talent, and a few guys that can hold space on the floor. It was impressive, but not enough to break through. Hoping for some breakthroughs in the next two weeks. We’ve been in on the right guys with the right support, but the market is already ratcheting up in front of our eyes. I think we’ll have to be fast and smart to get the right guys.

And here we go the let down of how we are behind money wise yet again ***** retarded we are not winning no championships with this nil era ****.. we are not willing too buy one like these other schools... and that's not changing it is what it is

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Welp, my cover is blown guys, guess I’ll delete my account now

Whatever you say... Todd Kirk

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

And here we go the let down of how we are behind money wise yet again ***** retarded we are not winning no championships with this nil era ****.. we are not willing too buy one like these other schools... and that's not changing it is what it is

To be clear, I’m not there yet. No one thought we’d get Ament or Rice and everyone was tossing the towel in last year. We were one player away in my assessment. I’m not writing us off. I just think our will and resources are being tested. Barnes has big support for getting the right roster this year. Let’s see if he can.

 

[walkenvol]

Highly doubt Barnes is “undervaluing” him considering it was reported that he was offered around the 2.5 million range.

However, don’t think he’s worth more than that considering his injury with his foot and not able to stay out of foul trouble.

Barnes has a plan and is sticking to it.

I don’t think a new F250 is worth $75K+ but the market disagrees. Tennessee’s staff and fans don’t get to decide a player’s worth in the market, only whether we want to pay market price for the player.

 

[VOLED]

I don’t think a new F250 is worth $75K+ but the market disagrees. Tennessee’s staff and fans don’t get to decide a player’s worth in the market, only whether we want to pay market price for the player.

Capitalism at it's finest.

 

[walkenvol]

He was not a top priority don’t know what else to say. Nice player but plenty in portal with more upside. He averaged 18 minutes a game.

Why keep harping on the “18 minutes” for a player returning from injury. What were his minutes averaged late in the season? Folks are paying for what they project him to be next year, not what he was at the start of this past season anyway.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

As much as I love the coach and the team, this is directionally correct. The movement to get to the level of X team in budget and process is typically impaired by the reality that our budget is catching up to last year’s market in this year’s reality. UNC and Michigan have already stretched well beyond the offers against projected spend in week one, and inserted themselves into conversations we’ve been cultivating for months. Barnes’ need to carefully vet players for character, commitment and fit evolves to move faster every year, but perhaps not as fast as staffs with more nimble models. I have to admit that seeing a man in his seventies blend his knowledge and system with a changing game and shifting talent acquisition ecosystem is impressive. That said, we are hitting some friction in pushing through to the next level. The timing of losing Gainey on top of the portal opening, player leaving etc. makes it harder. I’m not a doubter. Barnes has a way of finding kids hiding behind a shed in Uruguay or Belmont and assembling a roster when all have lost hope. Unfortunately there was a moment last year when we missed with Rice and Burg and Massamba emerged that the sinking feeling set in. We went from a team with the horses to go far to a team with two scorers, a pool of developing talent, and a few guys that can hold space on the floor. It was impressive, but not enough to break through. Hoping for some breakthroughs in the next two weeks. We’ve been in on the right guys with the right support, but the market is already ratcheting up in front of our eyes. I think we’ll have to be fast and smart to get the right guys.

Well, this is certainly not the post I was hoping to read on the first day of the non-dead period. The bold part is particularly worrying because I’m not sure how we, yet again, have been caught off guard by how much money certain programs are willing to spend on players.

It just goes back to my thoughts from right after the Elite 8 loss about how I love this team and coach but I don’t think the money actually exists at the University of Tennessee to compete for a Final Four in this “no rules” era of basketball.

It doesn’t help when you have reporters like Chris Low and Trey Wallace and Dan Wolken all publicly talking about how they had conversations with UT boosters who told them they were ready to spend and we’d be big players in the market.

I’m a Red Sox fan, so it reminds me of the ill-advised and stupid own goal of John Henry in 2024 saying the front office was about to go “full throttle” in the offseason to acquire talent and then did quite literally nothing when they saw how expensive the contracts were getting.

I have no doubt Barnes will field a good team and we’ll win games next year; however, I do have concerns about jettisoning the entire roster without a clear and realistic plan to upgrade to the next tier. Doesn’t seem we’re capable of actually doing that.

 

[Ryanvols24]

To be clear, I’m not there yet. No one thought we’d get Ament or Rice and everyone was tossing the towel in last year. We were one player away in my assessment. I’m not writing us off. I just think our will and resources are being tested. Barnes has big support for getting the right roster this year. Let’s see if he can.

I just don't get how we are always a year behind on portal prices... thats wild too me

 

[joevols89]

And here we go the let down of how we are behind money wise yet again ***** retarded we are not winning no championships with this nil era ****.. we are not willing too buy one like these other schools... and that's not changing it is what it is

Well, we simply don’t have the alumni base of a Michigan or Indiana. And unlike UNC, we care about football. So don’t think it’s we aren’t willing, the resources just aren’t on the same level.

Can’t expect Jim Haslam and Pratt to fund all of NIL for all sports. Some of our richest alumni don’t care about athletics enough (or at all) to get involved in NIL. Once big Jim is gone, there will be a big void if Jimmy is still busy running a dumpster fire in Cleveland.