Tennessee basketball entered its second commitment into the transfer portal Thursday morning at the Ohio State Center Felix Okpara commits to Vol. Less than a week after entering the transfer portal.
The Vols now have four scholarships remaining as they look to fill out their roster ahead of the 2023-24 season. Tennessee will likely fill a spot or two with project prep players, but there are still two or three spots available for Rick Barnes and his staff to use in the transfer portal.
What are the most important names to know for Tennessee?
charlotte transfer igor milicic He is close to a decision after visiting Nebraska, Tennessee and Baylor after entering the portal.
The 6-foot-10, 225-pound quarterback has one year of eligibility remaining after playing his freshman season at Virginia and his next two seasons at Charlotte. As a junior at Charlotte, Milicic averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
The versatile forward is a plus-defender and can do a myriad of things on the offensive end of the court. He’s best as a perimeter shooter, where he made 56 three-pointers at a 37.6% clip last season.
After all his travels, Milicic is probably close to a decision. Tennessee is a great place for a Croatia native.
Another player who has visited Tennessee basketball and not made a decision is Belmont cade tyson, The best shooter in the transfer portal, Tyson shot 47% from three-point range as a sophomore with the Bruins, while adding 16.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
The Monroe, North Carolina, native visited Tennessee two weekends ago and North Carolina last weekend. North Carolina is Tyson’s dream school and it feels like the Vols are fighting an uphill battle here. But the fact that Tyson still hasn’t committed to the Tar Heels is worth noting.
How will the 6-foot-7 Tyson fit into a roster that already added a wing transfer from Hofstra Darlinstone Dauber And Milicic could be another addition, which makes Tyson’s potential an intriguing one.
More than RTI: How Ohio State transfer Felix Okpara compares to Jonas Adu and Tobe Awka
A new name for Tennessee basketball emerged in the transfer portal Wednesday afternoon in the form of North Florida’s Chaz Lanier. Perhaps the best scorer in Portal, Lanier averaged 19.7 points on 51% shooting from the field and 44% from three-point range a season ago.
The 6-foot-4 shooting guard added 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game last season and would be a great addition to the Vols’ backcourt alongside Zakai Ziegler.
There are some interesting points of interest with graduate transfers who only have one year of eligibility remaining. He is currently going through the NBA Draft process and while there was originally no deadline for graduate transfers to enter the portal, that changed earlier this week and allows them to enter the transfer portal by the May 1st deadline. Must enter.
Lanier did not enter the portal until after the rule change, indicating he will not be making a decision anytime soon as he continues to go through the draft process. College players have until May 29 to withdraw their names from the NBA Draft while maintaining their college eligibility.
Another detail of note on Lanier is that he reportedly entered the portal with a “no contact tag”. This means that despite the fact that he is in the transfer portal, no team is currently allowed to contact him. This could be a good sign for Tennessee. Lanier is a Nashville native who played his prep basketball at Ainsworth School.
Lanier has a good relationship with former Tennessee guards Jordan and Josh Bone. This relationship is something that is working to the Vols’ advantage as they look to pursue an elite transfer guard.
Any contact tag may have no meaning. If he decides to withdraw from the NBA Draft, he may decide to remove the tag and go through the normal recruiting process.
Another team to keep an eye on Lanier is Maryland. Lanier is in a relationship with fellow Tennessee commit Ja’Coby Gillespie who is transferring from Belmont to Maryland.
Milicic, Tyson and Lanier are currently the top names for Tennessee basketball in the transfer portal.
But the Walls also have reportedly contacted Minnesota’s Elijah Hawkins entered the transfer portal earlier this week. Hawkins, a 5-foot-11 point guard, averaged 9.5 points and 7.5 assists per game as a junior last season.
Hawkins landing at Tennessee seems unlikely as he is a point guard and the Vols already have one of the top point guards in the country in Zakai Ziegler.
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