Vol hoops makes 2025 4-star PF Sadiq White, Jr.’s top-7, plus some notes on 4-star SF Shon Abaev and the future roster outlook

A few possible additions to the ‘25 recruiting class

Per Joe Tipton of On3, Sadiq White, Jr., trimmed down the group of schools he’s considering to seven, and Tennessee made the list. Listed at 6-foot-8, 180 pounds, 247’s composite rankings has White, Jr., listed as the No. 1-rated player in North Carolina, the country’s 8th-best power forward and the 28th overall prospect in the nation.

White’s recruiting appears to be a bit like a puzzle with some pieces either missing or used so often that they now have grizzled edges that just don’t quite fit in where you think they should. It’s not like that’s hugely surprising, since there are so many intertwining circumstances in recruiting, and plenty of the relative dynamics in a player’s recruitment look more like multiple puzzles with a considerable number of pieces just flat-out in the wrong box.

247 has a timeline of his offers, and the Vols are notably listed as a year behind Alabama’s first, listed offer and three-to-four months behind Syracuse’s first, listed offer:

247Sports

The teams listed on the Charlotte native’s current top-seven list are: LSU. Bama, Arkansas, Syracuse, Georgetown, Texas and Tennessee per Tipton’s graphic/ story, and there are two schools conspicuously missing from his offer lists: Duke and North Carolina.

247Sports

Duke is absolutely loaded with the No. 1 class for next year, with long-time Duke commit and the No. 1 player in the 2024 cycle Cooper Flagg leading the way. The Blue Devils have five players signed, with four of the five signees inside the top 20 and all five in the country’s top-50 prospects. They also have the class of ‘24’s No. 1 center, Khaman Maluach from NBA Academy Africa, committed but not yet signed.

But who knows how many of those players will still be there when the 2025 class arrives? Flagg most certainly will be gone, but I don’t know enough to make any other definitive predications.

Jon Scheyer’s 2025 class is currently empty, so one would think the No. 1 player in North Carolina would at least be on his radar, right?

But I found nothing official about Duke pursuing White in any capacity, though that doesn’t mean it happened or is happening and either I missed it or there’s just nothing official about it out there.

Now, there are plenty of articles from 2023 about North Carolina having interest in White and making him a priority, but that chatter seems to have quieted.

North Carolina’s 2024 class has two five-stars, rated nine and 10 overall in the country, and one three-star, which has the Tarheels sitting with the 8th-ranked class. UNC also has zero commitments for the 2025 class.

White’s discussed each of the seven schools on his list is behind On3’s paywall, so I don’t have any quotes that may or may not reveal anything about the relative remaining programs.

Now, on to the Vols’ possible chances— White is teammates with UT’s lone class of 2024 signee, four-star guard and the No. 8-rated player in North Carolina, Bishop Boswell. That can’t hurt, right?

Per Tiption, White has taken an official visit to Tennessee, and I think that happened on January 20th against Alabama, though I didn’t find any info about how the visit went. From what I understand, he visited with EJ Walker, who trimmed the Vols from his list on March 1st, and 6-foot-7, 4-star SF Shon Abaev.

While we’re here — some info on Abaev, who seems to dig the Vols and would be a great piece playing next to White.

Abaev, who’s from Fort Lauderdale, FL., hasn’t sent out a recent list of schools he’s considering lately, but On3 has him at a 47 percent chance of coming to UT with Oregon as the only real competition, coming in with a 40-ish percent chance of landing in Eugene.

247 lists Abaev as the No. 8-ranked player in the sunshine state, the 12th-ranked small forward and the No. 62 player overall in the country. I did manage to dig up some positive reviews from Abaev regarding Tennessee from On3’s Jamie Shaw:

“They have a great coaching staff,” Abaev told Shaw in an interview updating his recruitment. “They love their players, it is like a family over there. Their coaches always check in on me and they treat me well. I like the way they play. This season they are playing a fast style, giving freedom to their shot-makers.”

Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinksy is the primary recruiter for Abaev.

“Our relationship isn’t really even like coach and player right now,” Abaev said of his communication with the Vols, “it’s more like a mentor. At this point, we already have gotten to the point where if I ever have anything I need to ask, I can just call and we can talk.”

Abaev told Shaw that Illinois, LSU and UCF are other possible visit destinations and that he’s also hearing from Virginia Tech, Virginia and Texas “and some blue bloods too.”

“I’m poised and calm,” Abaev told Shaw, breaking down his game. “I don’t let people rush me and I let the game come to me, but if my team needs me to score, I’m going to go get a bucket. I’m playing with a consistent motor this season and I’m focusing more on getting my teammates involved. I can see that has expanded my game, being a leader on the court.”

Abaev told Shaw he feels like he would be a natural fit in Tennessee’s style of play.

“I like to get in transition and to play fast,” he said, “get up and down the floor. But they can make it a half-court game, attack matchups, and I feel like I am good at that too.

Abaev also told Shaw that the obvious goal is to make it to the NBA and he is “going to look at whatever situation is the best case for me to make it to my end goal.”

“That has been my dream since I was a little kid,” Abaev said, “so I’m going to go to the situation that I think will get me there and get me prepared. I want to go somewhere that treats me like family. Not just on the court, but loves me as a human as well.

“I can adapt to any play style, I’ve always had to adjust my style and adapt to different situations. But mainly, I want to go somewhere that feels like home.”

Abaev took his official visit to Oregon in March, so we’ll see if anything changes post his trip to the Pacific Northwest.

Abaev and White seem to complement each other’s games well and both have traits that fit what Rick Barnes looks for in his players. Abaev is more likely to play on the wing with the more advanced offensive skill set from the outside. He’s got a pretty jumper and gets good height on his release with his long arms. He’s also a willing and active defender and rebounder, which gives him some positional versatility — these all things we know Barnes loves.

White does most of his work inside where he’s comfortable using his length and athleticism to attack the rim. During his junior year, he shot just four 3s but drilled nearly 70 percent of his FG attempts. He averaged nearly 17 points per-game, 5.4 rebounds and four combined steals/ blocks. He’s tall, rangy and is good at getting his hands on the ball, whether it’s in passing lanes or stripping it from opposing players.

Even hough both guys are listed as forwards, one can see the variance in their games just in these two clips and how they would fit well on the floor together.

I can see how his style might not fit with Duke or North Carolina, and perhaps that part of the seeming lack-of-interest equation. 2025 doesn’t appear to be loaded with top-end prospects for the ‘25 cycle, so that could be a variable, too. Duke and UNC took none of the top-10 players in North Carolina in 2023, and might not take any in the ‘25 class, either.

Most seem to think White is headed to Syracuse or Georgetown, so it may not matter, but the Vols have had some luck in North Carolina lately, even through mitigating circumstances with, by landing No. 1 player in NC Jonas Aidoo via the Justin Gainey hire (Gainey was an assistant at Marquette, where Aidoo had been previously committed) or when Julian Phillips landed at Tennessee out of North Carolina thanks to Will Wade being fired at LSU, where Phillips had been committed.

Roster outlook: This is so hard to predict these days with the transfer portal, but Tennessee took three freshman in the 2023 class — guard Cameron Carr and post players JP Estrella and Cade Phillips, while class-of-2022 guard Freddie Dilione hit the floor this season after reclassifying to join the team for the ‘22 season but took a redshirt to get acclimated to college before shifting his focus to basketball.

This offseason, the Vols certainly will lose seniors Dalton Knecht, Santiago Vescovi, Josiah-Jordan James, as they’re out of college eligibility, but Dilione, Carr, Phillips and DJ Jefferson are all possibilities to look for other opportunities, considering each has played in fewer than 15 games, while Jefferson saw time in just one. This team also has four juniors, so that’s at least 6-7 spots that will open up before the ‘25 class arrives.

It’s tough to gauge, as who knows which players are happy with their relative situations and which ones aren’t, and then the other side of that coin is what the staff feels they need to add and if they’d rather have a portal guy come in and contribute immediately rather than wait on somebody like Jefferson to find his way. It’s really too many factors to do anything but speculate.

Regardless, it’s always a plus to see highly-rated players considering the Vols, and White looks like he could fit in well on a Rick Barnes coached Tennessee team.