2026 Vols Transfer Portal Thread

#3,754
#3,754
MrAtkins said:
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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The numbers keep going up, so the program always needs more. I do believe in the sentiment that the time is now. But, geez, give it a chance. We will spend more this year than ever.

But if you think we can go toe to toe with a couple of these schools every year with booster money, you are misguided. That’s why they use analytics.
 
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#3,761
#3,761
Ttucke11 said:
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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Multiple outlets have our basketball program in top 10 for basketball budgets though, so we are spending more.

The biggest question is how are these other programs that consistently seem to have a bottomless pit (UNC, Michigan, Indiana, UK) keep buying talent but not showing up on these same list...They've found a loophole somewhere that is still keep it off the books to avoid tipping their hand for their available budgets each year.
 
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#3,764
#3,764
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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We seem to take a disciplined & analytical approach to the market. Maybe Barnes thinks the best of everyone and expects them to operate rationally also. Or maybe we're not "caught off guard" as much as Barnes refuses to operate via a process that isn't rational and disciplined.

Either way, we wind up being reactive versus proactive. I'm not criticizing. Culturally Barnes is the odd duck in the sport. He's not a gunslinger when it comes to recruiting or personality. He's not a part of basketball pop culture. So the playing field won't ever be level in that regard. But Barnes obviously thinks his approach is the right one for the long run and that's probably got more to do with his desire to help young men develop being greater than his desire to get to a Final Four.

Then there's DW, whose handling of TV indicates he's more comfortable with Barnes's approach than an aggressive gunslinger, so the institutional apparatus isn't built to think and operate outside of the box. It thinks market inflation every year, not market recreation (which is what's happening). Lastly we apparently suffer from a lack of irrational billionaire boosters filled with hubris and vicarious ambition.

A Barnes-led UT is a welcome fringe addition to the NCAA basketball blue bloods, because it poses no real threat to the remainder of the group. They all know he'll do things the right way and isn't a threat to their power structure.
 
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#3,765
#3,765
Wash rinse repeat every portal season with our staff smh. We always are behind and seem to be evaluating / unsure of what to do while other teams have a clear cut plan?? I will never understand. This is the same reason we ended up with Amaree Abram and Bishop Boswell at the 2 guard. Tanner staying at Vandy is just the final kick to the nuts

Don’t worry tho boys, i’m just over reacting. we are building a final 4 roster and going all in!
 
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#3,766
#3,766
Same thing every year. Some Todd Kirk type character riles everyone up into believing a story that nobody real is reporting and then everyone gets mad when it doesn't happen.

Similar deal with "Tennessee is ready to spend big this year." We adjust for inflation, but it doesn't seem like much more. Yeah, we probably have a couple more million to spend than last year, but the market has inflated that much, if not more. And what's worrying is that our boosters/coaches seem to be surprised by that each time.
 
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#3,767
#3,767
bleedingTNorange said:
It’s not portal season until @RyanWalkerPGH @CamVol8 & @TrippieRedd declare it a disaster and say Barnes is washed up, we’re almost there!
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FWIW, I don't blame Barnes in this at all. And certainly, there's time to fix it, but the wagon was hitched to Juke & Tanner. The goal was a roster that could push for a Final Four and that effort falls very short without either of those guys.
 
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#3,771
#3,771
if tanner is staying put and we know it now, that’s fine. We pivot quickly while the PG pool is still deep. Tanner was the best available but there are some very, very good ones. I think we can be OK here.

Juke is the bigger problem (if we are out). I’m not seeing many comparables to Juke at his position in the portal.
 
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#3,774
#3,774
MoCo_Vol said:
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.
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There’s one list that was posted on here that had him at #3? I’m not a basketball scout nor a portal insider so I don’t have a clue exactly what Michigan paid JP. How r u so certain that it was $3million? We’ve obviously entered crazy season with runaway portal numbers by some at least.
 
#3,775
#3,775
bleedingTNorange said:
Do I need to bump the 2025 portal thread? Lol. You have varying stages of portal emotions Trippie
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You were just talking about this year and now you’re talking about last year?

Are you retarded? Stroke perhaps??

Here you go though!
 

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