Subscribe
Follow Us
The Tennessee basketball team made another deep run in the NCAA Tournament this season as they made it to the Elite 8, but they still weren't able to end the Final Four drought. The Volunteers ended up losing to Houston with a spot in the Final Four on the line. Now, it's back to the drawing board for head coach Rick Barnes. He has had a lot of success coaching Tennessee, but he has to find a way to get over the hump. The college basketball transfer portal will come in handy.
In today's era, the college basketball transfer portal is crucial. Unless a team had a phenomenal season and is bringing back all of their starters, there is reason for every squad to go shopping during the offseason. There is a lot of experienced talent in the transfer portal, and it gives any team the opportunity to build something special ahead of the season.
The Tennessee basketball team has already been busy in the transfer portal as it opened up back in March, and they have landed some nice commitments. The Volunteers only lost one player to the portal, and they brought in two.
Who Tennessee has already landed
Tennessee has picked up two transfer portal commitments so far, and they should both be big contributors next year. Vanderbilt transfer Jaylen Carey and Maryland transfer Ja'Kobi Gillespie are two players coming to play for the Volunteers, but there is still a lot of good talent in the portal. Here are a couple more players that the Volunteers should take a look at:
Cedric Coward, G, Washington State
A lot of top Tennessee targets are committed elsewhere now, but the Volunteers were interested in guard play primarly. One guard that could be a good option for the Tennessee basketball team is Washington State transfer Cedric Coward. This is Coward's third time entering the college basketball transfer portal. He played just one season with the Cougars, and it was a big one. Coward averaged over 17 PPG this past season, and he shot 40% from deep. He has good size as well as he averaged seven rebounds per game. All in all, Coward is a very versatile player who should be able to find a home on a power five roster.
Don McHenry, G, Western Kentucky
Another intriguing transfer portal guard is Western Kentucky transfer Don McHenry. McHenry has spent the last two years with the Hilltoppers, and he is a fantastic scorer. He averaged 17 PPG last year, but he does have room to improve with his shooting as he shot just 31.1% from deep last year. Still, he found ways to make up for it, and he is good enough to be make an impact at the power five level.
Transfer portal overview
The college basketball transfer portal opened up on March 24th, and it was open for about a month as it closed on April 22nd. The final game of the season took place on April 7th as Florida won the national title over Houston, and the portal opening up before then does create issues for teams that are still dancing.
First of all, players that want to transfer had to make a difficult decision. They could either finish up their season with their current team and miss out on potential opportunities, or they can skip the NCAA Tournament so they can find their next home. We saw this happen during the tournament as Michigan freshman Justin Pippen left the program before the Sweet 16.
This also creates an issue for coaches as they are trying to devote 100% of their time to tournament preparation. A lot of coaches want to wait until their season is over before they explore the transfer portal. All in all, the opening date creates some issues.
The college basketball transfer portal is only open during this initial window, unlike football, which has two different windows. There will be a lot of transfer portal news in the college basketball world even with the portal closed as there are still a lot players without homes yet.
