The portal giveth, and the portal taketh away. While the Tennessee Vols benefitted from the former last year with the arrival of Dalton Knecht, the latter has reared its ugly head twice this week.
This time, it’s center Jonas Aidoo, who is reportedly entering the transfer portal and declaring for the NBA Draft, per multiple outlets. It’s the second major portal loss this week, with forward Tobe Awaka announcing his intent to transfer on Tuesday.
There’s no other way to say it. That’s just a massive loss for the Vols. Forget the recency bias that some fans have for Aidoo’s dud in the Elite Eight against Purdue. Aidoo was a member of the SEC all defensive team last year and was a force in the paint. One of the best rim protectors in college basketball, and his offensive game – while still with plenty of room to improve – had gotten better this season.
Aidoo averaged 11.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game in 24.8 minutes per game last year. His points per game total more than doubled from 2022-23.
With both of their most physical players in the paint leaving town, Rick Barnes has a major task ahead of him in trying to rebuild and shape the roster for 2024-25. The brass ring of brass rings as far as big men in the transfer portal is former Arizona Wildcat Oumar Ballo, a 7-foot center from Mali who announced his intent to enter the transfer portal earlier this week. He averaged 12.9 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game. However, every major program will certainly be lining up for his services, so the Vols will have to get in line.
But that’s the nature of college athletics nowadays. Free agency, whether fans like it or not, is in full swing, and players will be leaving every offseason looking for what they believe to be better situations.
We’ll see if Barnes can use that to try to land some quality replacements in the near future. Because Tennessee has some very big shoes to fill now.