Coach spoke on the openings at the latest Big Orange Caravan.
It’s been a whirlwind since Tennessee’s basketball season came to a close in the Elite Eight against Purdue. The Volunteers have said goodbye to veterans like Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James, while sending Dalton Knect to the NBA Draft as a likely lottery pick.
Big men and key contributors Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka have left via the transfer portal, throwing everyone a curveball. Welcome to the portal era.
Reserves Freddie Dilione and DJ Jefferson also hit the portal.
Rick Barnes has fired back by adding three players of his own out of the portal — wing Darlinstone Dubar, forward Igor Milicic and center Felix Okpara. Those three will join incoming four-star freshman guard Bishop Boswell.
Even with those four additions, Tennessee still has three open scholarships available. However, Barnes is in no hurry to fill those spots.
“I think the key is being deliberate and in terms of knowing what you want do when you’re really trying to construct a roster,” Barnes said at a Big Orange Caravan stop. “And I think probably the worst thing you can do is feel like you got to do something quickly without really thinking it through. But we are really happy with where we are right now. We’re going to be really selective with what we have left.”
The obvious target left on the board is Chaz Lanier, who is going through the NBA Draft process and remains in the transfer portal. The former North Florida guard averaged nearly 20 points per game last season, finally exploding into a big-time scorer after three seasons as a rotational player.
Lanier is originally out of Nashville, so drawing the connection to Tennessee isn’t all that hard to do. He’s going through the NBA G-League’s camp this weekend, and could earn an invite to next week’s NBA Combine with a strong performance. Tennessee is clearly fine with playing the long game here, and they’ll let this domino fall before looking anywhere else. Kentucky is also in the mix for Lanier.
“I think what we’re looking for now is the best player we can find,” Barnes said. “And someone that … you’re always looking to add some scoring if you can. And that’s something we look at, whether it’s up front or in the back court. But right now it’s whatever we do, it’s got to be something that we think that we don’t have and something that we know can benefit us.”
Tennessee has also had interest in prep guard Ben Hammond, but a visit this week was called off.
The Volunteers have a solid core of Zeigler-Mashack-Dubar-Milicic-Okpara to start, then can turn to Gainey-Carr-Estrella-Phillips off the bench. As Barnes said, any addition here has to be a selective one, with the core of your roster already set. A guy like Lanier would be a real difference maker, then adding a couple of prep type players with a senior-heavy roster would make a lot of sense looking forward.
If they can’t land Lanier, I’d expect Tennessee to pivot to some sort of backup plan guard via the portal. Although the portal window is closed to enter, teams can still sign players who entered before the May 1st deadline.