2026 Vols Transfer Portal Thread

[TrapVol]

Dude definitely played us or has a grudge against us

I will def die on that hill

Disagree with your conclusions, but thank goodness we can finally move on.

 

[Skooter]

I’m don’t know. The info I got was we reached out again but not multiple calls back and forth. I believe Tennessee made a compelling pitch. I never heard anything about Tanner’s agent reaching out though.

In the end, I feel like the money is probably similar and his other social and family factors, that tipped the scales. I go to lots of Vandy basketball games each year and his family are first class folks.

His mom was a Vandy ER doctor before going to Murfreesboro.

 

[Ttucke11]

We will shot a higher percentage from all spots on the court. Inside defense may be better because most of the new guys are faster a foot, seem to be more athletic, and handle the ballot the dribble than teams in the pst except for zz. We may never find another ZZ type player. Two-three Freshmen will play a lot of minutes and we have a couple of studs from the portal. I believe we will run the break better than last year and probably play better zone defense. I see an upgrade from last year, but we will have to see how much better they shoot free throws.

I like Hill a lot. But I'm not going to crown him over Gillespie. Being generous I'd call that a wash. Okpara to Rubin is another generous wash and I like Rubin as well.

PG Gillespie - Hill Wash
SG Boswell - Ames Upgrade
SF Ament - Lunblade Downgrade
PF Estrella - Haralson Upgrade/Wash?
C Okpara - Rubin Wash

Then we have to fill 3 rotation spots with Brown taking back his 4th:

Carey - Washington?
Evans - Green
Burg - Clark
Brown - Brown

Right now I would say the teams are quite similar talent wise, but very differently constructed. If this is the Barnes push you're still missing 2 pretty good players imo.

And this is a team that yes made a great run but was also a 6 seed. We need some more if you want to really make a F4. But it seems we aren't done so hopefully that happens.

 

[Franklin_Vol09]

I think some folks on here got played judging by page after page of fretting and guessing and relying on so called “insiders” who knew nothing. I don’t believe he ever had any intention of entering the portal.

And yet a reporter, decided to tweet about a player NOT entering the portal? Makes sense right?

Joey is a solid guy and his tweet didn’t come out of nowhere.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

Exactly. If it were so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?

Going by memory here but I’m pretty sure his fg% was 60%

So if he was expected to make more “layups” to meet whatever quota will make people happy here, he’d have been a 15+ ppg player with close to 70+ fg% and that’s INSANE. You’d be in Zion Williamson territory.

So I think people just talk out their ass without actually putting in real thought into what they are saying. Because my interpretation of it is “oh you aren’t one of the 5 or 6 best college players of the last decade? Well, you were very replaceable”. Which, they don’t realize that’s what they are saying, but that’s what the numbers would tell us if he actualized all those blown layups they speak of.

It’s silly. And I’m not even some big JP guy. I’m just not dumb, is all.

JP's at the rim %'age was ~65% if I recall correctly based on BtO's post which was only behind Felix I believe. Also, many of these posters aren't excluding the one-handed tip attempts and are calling these missed "layups".

 

[VOLINVONORE]

I like Hill a lot. But I'm not going to crown him over Gillespie. Being generous I'd call that a wash. Okpara to Rubin is another generous wash and I like Rubin as well.

PG Gillespie - Hill Wash
SG Boswell - Ames Upgrade
SF Ament - Lunblade Downgrade
PF Estrella - Haralson Upgrade/Wash?
C Okpara - Rubin Wash

Then we have to fill 3 rotation spots with Brown taking back his 4th:

Carey - Washington?
Evans - Green
Burg - Clark
Brown - Brown

Right now I would say the teams are quite similar talent wise, but very differently constructed. If this is the Barnes push you're still missing 2 pretty good players imo.

And this is a team that yes made a great run but was also a 6 seed. We need some more if you want to really make a F4. But it seems we aren't done so hopefully that happens.

From what I have seen of Washington, it appears to me that he is much better handling the ball, has better hops, plays better defense without fouling as much. and can run the floor much better than Carey.

 

[VolsNetClippers2025]

Hill is the 25th overall player per On3 rankings
Ja'Kobi was the 11th overall player last year
Chaz was the 4th overall player the year before
Dalton was the 20th overall player the year he came in

I think Hill a great addition not sure I'd agree he is on the same level, at least based on On3 ratings as Chaz or Ja'Kobi. But this class of portal additions includes far more help around Hill than any of the other 3 had gotten.

Fair on rankings! Think Hill has a lot of upside to keep improving, and agree that regardless the help will help.

 

[Franklin_Vol09]

Not to pick on FranklinVol as he seems to be solid but this is a typical pattern from the insiders on here. They all hate Tony B but they do the same kind of stuff Rev it up, then when they're wrong act like they didn't push the very narrative they are now critical of.

I’m no insider at all. I have connections based on nothing more than my father and the respect he had throughout the mid state and my current job and business I own. I’ve never listened to Tony B and wouldn’t recognize him if he was sitting in front of me. I will happily admit that I believed TT would come to TN. Based on money and roster. I was wrong on his decision but correct in the fact that there was a great pitch made and it wasn’t an immediate no in response.

There are many others in here that have great connections in Knoxville and on campus. What we do is try to piece together a narrative based on multiple sources and particularly from different points of view. You will never see or hear me say I’m an insider on anything unless I have direct first hand knowledge.

 

[AllVols3]

Add

I like Hill a lot. But I'm not going to crown him over Gillespie. Being generous I'd call that a wash. Okpara to Rubin is another generous wash and I like Rubin as well.

PG Gillespie - Hill Wash
SG Boswell - Ames Upgrade
SF Ament - Lunblade Downgrade
PF Estrella - Haralson Upgrade/Wash?
C Okpara - Rubin Wash

Then we have to fill 3 rotation spots with Brown taking back his 4th:

Carey - Washington?
Evans - Green
Burg - Clark
Brown - Brown

Right now I would say the teams are quite similar talent wise, but very differently constructed. If this is the Barnes push you're still missing 2 pretty good players imo.

And this is a team that yes made a great run but was also a 6 seed. We need some more if you want to really make a F4. But it seems we aren't done so hopefully that happens.

Juke vs Nate ?

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Speaking of. I also recently looked at those old rankings and it didn’t match with my memory. Specifically Chaz and Dalton.

I could be wrong. I haven’t put in the effort to verify my suspicions. But I feel like Dalton especially wasn’t ranked nearly that high at the time.

But as they say, I’ve slept since then

Oddly enough Chaz being 4th was the one I didn't recall being that high...but I do believe with withdrawn names the rankings get retroactively adjusted. I know Ja'Kobi was around 10th and I remembered Dalton was top 20-25 range.

 

[Namorto1]

Hill is the 25th overall player per On3 rankings
Ja'Kobi was the 11th overall player last year
Chaz was the 4th overall player the year before
Dalton was the 20th overall player the year he came in

I think Hill a great addition not sure I'd agree he is on the same level, at least based on On3 ratings as Chaz or Ja'Kobi. But this class of portal additions includes far more help around Hill than any of the other 3 had gotten.

I think many look at Hill’s stats comparatively to Gillespie. Problem is Hill only played 25 minutes per game to Gillespie’s 35 minutes per game. Hill is going to be superb for UT. Frankly I think he is undervalued on all these rating services.

 

[DeepSpringsVol]

Brown isn’t a great defending 5, he’s kind of caught in between, Rubin is solid but how does it translate? There’s much more of a need for a high end defensive 5 than there is for a bad defensive 5 with a solid offensive game.

Random but Rubin reminds me of Brandon Crump. I wish we could get a player with his teammate that ultimately soured to put it mildly with Crump getting his jaw broken, but Elgrace Wilborn type would be a great complimentary build to go with Rubin.

Oh the Buzz Peterson days.

 

[Franklin_Vol09]

I think many look at Hill’s stats comparatively to Gillespie. Problem is Hill only played 25 minutes per game to Gillespie’s 35 minutes per game. Hill is going to be superb for UT. Frankly I think he is undervalued on all these rating services.

JG is a better overall athlete than Hill IMO.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Fair on rankings! Think Hill has a lot of upside to keep improving, and agree that regardless the help will help.

Was going to add that the one really big bright spot for Hill is he's only played 2 seasons... Chaz/Dalton both were 5th year guys and Ja'Kobi was entering his 4th. Lots of upside for Hill to get even better year 2 to 3.

 

[Namorto1]

JG is a better overall athlete than Hill IMO.

Perhaps. But the better athlete isn’t always the better basketball player. Time will tell. Gillespie was a godsend this year and will always be grateful. He had entirely too much pressure on him with only 2 legit scorers on the team. Hill will be surrounded potentially with another 4 scorers besides himself. I like the approach.

 

[i2amavol]

SIAP

 

[creativevol]

Perhaps. But the better athlete isn’t always the better basketball player. Time will tell. Gillespie was a godsend this year and will always be grateful. He had entirely too much pressure on him with only 2 legit scorers on the team. Hill will be surrounded potentially with another 4 scorers besides himself. I like the approach.

gillespie was the best finisher at the rim than any other guard ive seen at tennessee .just saying

 

[landscapingvol]

And yet a reporter, decided to tweet about a player NOT entering the portal? Makes sense right?

Joey is a solid guy and his tweet didn’t come out of nowhere.

A LOT of reporters make assumptions based off of message board rumors including Basilio then report them as facts

 

[MoCo_Vol]

I think many look at Hill’s stats comparatively to Gillespie. Problem is Hill only played 25 minutes per game to Gillespie’s 35 minutes per game. Hill is going to be superb for UT. Frankly I think he is undervalued on all these rating services.

Not sure about everyone else...but I was looking at Ja'Kobi coming from Maryland not what he did here.

I do also agree that Hill's ratings is lower than it should be...I think some of these rating services are overrated Bigs that have yet to really do anything to earn it.

 

[Ttucke11]

Add
Juke vs Nate ?

Not counting that chicken before it hatches.

 

[berryvol]

The Ament thing keeps sounding more real but I’m afraid to get my hopes up again

 

[VolsSportsFan]

SIAP

 

[MoCo_Vol]

gillespie was the best finisher at the rim than any other guard ive seen at tennessee .just saying

So you've only been a fan for a season or two?

Kennedy was an over 50% 2PT shooter and very lethal at finishing at the rim (just didn't dunk often).
Punter was an over 52% 2PT shooter here, also great at finishing at the rim
J-Rich in his last season was a beast too 50.9% 2PT shooter while taking 8.5 shots there
McRae was a career 49.2% 2PT shooter and his last 2 seasons when he took over 7 attempts from 2

 

[Luke Joiner]

If Nate returns, does that run Juke off or would we be able to sell Juke on them playing together?

 

[BbwVol]

If Nate returns, does that run Juke off or would we be able to sell Juke on them playing together?

Cg vs sf. So I dont see how