2026 Vols Transfer Portal Thread

#3,727
#3,727
TheMookieMonster said:
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.
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Here’s a nuance. There is a sentiment among a small (old) set of boosters that Barnes can have anything he wants if he asks. Last year he wanted Ament. He got him. I think the dynamic that has to shift is the willingness to ask. The get Rice/lose Rice moment was about three hours long. We didn’t ask. “He just isn’t worth it” is not the right answer. The great teams will have to be willing to blow up the model on a dime to get there sometimes. We’ll see if we can do that. If we’re shopping in the discount bin in two weeks it doesn’t bode well, but I don’t think we’re there yet.
 
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#3,728
#3,728
VolGee4 said:
It’s not unlike everyone else. It’s unlike Michigan, UNC, and maybe an Indiana and Kentucky. We are going to be top 10 in spending. We just don’t have the resources that a few others have. This isn’t complicated.
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You are right. It’s not complicated. Barnes and our best ever era in basketball is nearing the end. UT wouldn’t even throw in to have a serviceable true SG this past season. I’m not seeing any operational change this offseason by UT, if anything, it appears less prepared. Barnes will not be given a legit opportunity with a competitive final four level budget - simply stated and not complicated. Happy to be shocked and proven wrong.
 
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#3,731
#3,731
MoCo_Vol said:
Where is that info?

The best I could find was that Michigan was paying him "at least 500k more" than our offer. And we didn't offer 3.5mil
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This thread has repeated posts showing the value of top PG’s, shooting guards, and bigs based on a survey of coaches. Puts the bigs at $4-5 million
 
#3,733
#3,733
MoCo_Vol said:
There are more overpaid = underproduced portal stories elsewhere than here.

Team performance/production is all I care about... We just had our 5th straight 25 win season, 4th straight sweet sixteen and 3rd straight elite eight. And 5th straight top 20 team.

But college has no salary cap and it's the wild west out there, TN basketball will never be a top 5 spender under Rick Barnes...and honestly it may never happen. We have more mouths wanting fed (football, baseball, lady vols basketball/softball) and to be good everywhere you're rarely great anywhere.
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My only complaint is all our "insiders" like to say right before portal season every year how we are about to change our spending habits. Every year. And if people say no we won't, they get real pissy. Then we get a good class but a budget class compared to the top teams, we point this out and we get scolded like children by the same insiders who were boasting about a massive budget just a few days prior.

Not a shot at Heup or Barnes they are great coaches who squeeze the most out of what they have.

Not really a shot at anyone, but it is a noticeable pattern.
 
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#3,735
#3,735
Stoerner Fumbles said:
Here’s a nuance. There is a sentiment among a small (old) set of boosters that Barnes can have anything he wants if he asks. Last year he wanted Ament. He got him. I think the dynamic that has to shift is the willingness to ask. The get Rice/lose Rice moment was about three hours long. We didn’t ask. “He just isn’t worth it” is not the right answer. The great teams will have to be willing to blow up the model on a dime to get there sometimes. We’ll see if we can do that. If we’re shopping in the discount bin in two weeks it doesn’t bode well, but I don’t think we’re there yet.
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Good context, thanks for sharing. If the biggest hang up is Barnes needing to ask, hopefully he can move past that as his career starts to wind down. His window is closing, so now is the time to make every ask before he looks back and has regrets once he retires. Clearly he is willing to take risks this year as evidenced by basically pushing the entire roster out the door. Hopefully that means he’ll become a bit more vocal with his wishlist to boosters.
 
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#3,736
#3,736
Millhouse said:
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.
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How else did you want him to state it? Or are you mad that he didn't include "According to VQ..."

Like, nobody else cares how he acquired the information as long as its accurate. The only one who seems to care is you.
 
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#3,742
#3,742
What also always gast my flabbers, the amount of experts that roll up in here with sub 100 post and a fresh UN less than a year old that wanna tell everyone who the -best- portal targets are while continuing to misspell their names or not even know what school they're coming from...

Your personal top 10 list isn't the same as Barnes' no matter how 247, On3, ESPN or whoever else has them rated.
 
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#3,743
#3,743
Stoerner Fumbles said:
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.
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That sounds...bleak
 
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#3,748
#3,748
Stoerner Fumbles said:
I agree. I was responding more to the statement someone made yesterday to “not worry about UNC because they’re a dead program”. As for their involvement with Tanner, I have no insight, nor do I know how he sees roster. Malone can have a conversation with anyone he wants given his relationships in that world.
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FWIW was just told Tanner has decided to stay at Vandy and won’t be entering the portal
 
#3,749
#3,749
walkenvol said:
This thread has repeated posts showing the value of top PG’s, shooting guards, and bigs based on a survey of coaches. Puts the bigs at $4-5 million
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Inflation exist, but last year's highest paid Big was in the 2-3 range. Even if that's raised to 4-5 it is safer to assume only top 5-10 players in the portal will be demanding that. JP is outside top 20 in every list available.
 
#3,750
#3,750
In reality, this whole thing is stupid. Can we fix the making a roster in 2 weeks nonsense? I'm just rooting for a bunch of mercenaries that come and go so fast I don't have time to remember them.
 
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