The Tennessee Volunteers were one of the top college basketball teams in the country this past season, earning a No. 2 seed and reaching the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by Houston. And on Sunday, they received huge offseason news. Five-star forward Nate Ament announced his decision to commit to Tennessee, and the Kevin Durant reason for doing so, as per Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

Kevin Durant did not go to Tennessee, he played one season for Texas before declaring for the NBA Draft. But Rick Barnes, who is the current Volunteers head coach, was the head coach at Texas when Durant played there. Nate Ament told Givony that Barnes' work with Durant during that lone season was a big reason why he chose to commit to Tennessee.

“Coach [Rick] Barnes sees me as a one-and-done type player,” Ament said. “He has done it before with Kevin Durant. He sees me as that kind of guy for his program. I built a great relationship with the coaching staff. I trust them a lot, and they have big goals for me. I think they'll do a great job of developing me as a player and a young man. I trust the coaches to help me get to the next level.”

Ament had interest from other top Power 4 Division 1 programs such as Duke, Louisville, Arkansas and Kentucky before selecting Tennessee. He is projected to be a top five pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. He will join Tennessee for the 2025-26 season coming off a McDonald's All-American selection as well as winning the Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year.

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Ament is Tennessee's first commit for the class of 2026. They have a few offers out to other top prospects. As far as other potential newcomers to the team, the Volunteers have been active in the transfer portal in order to boost their roster for the 2025-26 season. To this point, they have not had any players enter the transfer portal.

Tennessee got a huge commitment out of the transfer portal a few weeks ago with former Maryland guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie. Gillespie had been one of the top available guards in the portal. Around the same time, they landed another transfer portal commitment from former Vanderbilt forward Jaylen Carey.

This past season was Barnes' tenth season at the helm as head coach. Tennessee finished with an overall record of 30-8 and 12-6 in SEC play. During his time as head coach, Barnes has led the Volunteers to seven NCAA Tournament appearances with two Elite Eight appearances and four Sweet 16 appearances. Prior to that, Barnes had been the head coach at Texas from 1998-2015.