2024 TRANSFER TRACKER

[volnationnj]

People need to get off social media, message boards, and actually watch sports. These arguments are so irrelevant to the new staff it’s sad. Coach Caldwell situation is nothing like Coach Harper. First off all, Coach Caldwell, Coach Tubner, and Coach Lazo just recruited the best portal class in the SEC. I don’t need to wait for ESPNU or Twitter folks to give me a list. I’m going off production and experience of the players that CKC recruited that fit her system. Players that have had success on the P5 level in two of the toughest conferences.

People are so naive they talked about Marshall losing to Virginia Tech, but are too narrow minded to sit down and watch film of Alyssa Latham clutch shots against ND, NC State, UConn, and making clutch blocks against Alabama, Louisville, and UConn as just a freshman. Lazaria Spearman having big games against Duke, UNC, and Mississippi State. Ruby Whitehorn being on of the top two way players in WBB. Samara Spencer being a former SEC FOY and one of the most experienced players in the league.

CKC situation is nothing like CKH and so certainly doesn’t have less and will get more out of her players because they were recruited as fits to her system. Jewel Spear came back because she a player that has averaged double figures for four seasons stated the system fits her style of play.

The last four years injuries played a role but the game should’ve never been as hard it as for Tennessee. That brand of basketball was not translated to modern basketball. And the roster just didn’t have many players that complimented each other like this roster.

And as I said about high school recruiting, the arguments being made right now are ridiculous when you look at the roster and the accolades of the players currently on this team. Whether they were sign via the portal or from high school the roster is as talented as any team they will play in the SEC.

If the "roster is as talented as any team they will play in the SEC", than they should finish among the top 3 or 4 teams in the SEC this year. And if they don't, will it be CKC's fault ?

 

[Coach Jumper]

People need to get off social media, message boards, and actually watch sports. . . And as I said about high school recruiting, the arguments being made right now are ridiculous when you look at the roster and the accolades of the players currently on this team. Whether they were sign via the portal or from high school the roster is as talented as any team they will play in the SEC.

take your own advice,,,lets look at the KY men's team which built a dynasty through their HS recruiting and lost it playing the portal sweepstakes,,,they lost their foundation players.

Or in our own forum, Women's BB,,,lets look at the ones in the top four yearly,,,SC, LSU, the Connies, etc,,,they win the HS recruiting year after year,,,this is their salt, portal acquisitions are their pepper

Take your own advice and watch some present-day perennial winners

You could lead the way off message boards . . .

. . . Straight to the "WinnersCircle"

 

[House|RockyTop]

If the "roster is as talented as any team they will play in the SEC", than they should finish among the top 3 or 4 teams in the SEC this year. And if they don't, will it be CKC's fault ?

Why wouldn’t they finish in the top 3 or 4 with a healthy roster?

Chemistry will be the deciding factor. And as I said, sports media is a joke right now.

Tennessee beat Oklahoma last season without Rickea Jackson. Oklahoma roster is not better than Tennessee roster.

Beat Alabama twice. Alabama roster is not better than Tennessee roster.

Beat Auburn, Ole Miss, and Kentucky routinely. Ole Miss has beat Tennessee like once in several seasons.

Auburn, Ole Miss, and Kentucky rosters are not better than Tennessee roster.

Several returners have experience playing against these programs and the newcomers are familiar also but simply because of a coaching change all of sudden Tennessee is supposedly going to fall behind a handful of these teams that they have experience playing against?

If that is expected by some people, why isn’t the upside of the team being successful possible?

 

[madtownvol]

take your own advice,,,lets look at the KY men's team which built a dynasty through their HS recruiting and lost it playing the portal sweepstakes,,,they lost their foundation players.

Or in our own forum, Women's BB,,,lets look at the ones in the top four yearly,,,SC, LSU, the Connies, etc,,,they win the HS recruiting year after year,,,this is their salt, portal acquisitions are their pepper

Take your own advice and watch some present-day perennial winners


. . . Straight to the "WinnersCircle"

For the record, the KYs men, under Calipari, excelled at High school recruiting but most were one and done players.

 

[Coach Jumper]

we all want to see the LV's back to the successful ranks,,,but to get there you have to do what the teams that ARE there are doing

None of the recent perennial top 4-5 teams stay there without foundational recruiting,,,And foundational players are not portal players.

HS top recruits/players are essential in today's teams,,,but unless someone can correct me (and I hope someone does),,,I can't think of a perennial top 5 team in the last 5-10 years that has relied more heavily on portal players than they did on HS recruits

 

[Coach Jumper]

For the record, the KYs men, under Calipari, excelled at High school recruiting but most were one and done players.

correct and they were most often beat by teams with lesser ranked 4-year players

 

[House|RockyTop]

Back to the topic, the “2024 transfer portal thread” word is the team is set to arrive on campus soon.

I am looking forward to hearing about the upcoming workouts.
Exciting times on Rocky Top!

I remember not too long ago a fanatic that lives through VN said they were worried about Ruby Whitehorn going to Mississippi State because a former coach was hired despite Coach Caldwell and the new staff signing three P5 commits in a matter of weeks before eventually signing their fourth in Ruby Whitehorn lol.

As I said, I just don’t take certain folks serious and I genuinely hope people get on YouTube to stream some actual games.

This new roster is talented and will be fun to watch.

GBO.

 

[Brawlvol]

Build it and they (high school talent) will come

Go Vols

 

[madtownvol]

we all want to see the LV's back to the successful ranks,,,but to get there you have to do what the teams that ARE there are doing

None of the recent perennial top 4-5 teams stay there without foundational recruiting,,,And foundational players are not portal players.

HS top recruits/players are essential in today's teams,,,but unless someone can correct me (and I hope someone does),,,I can't think of a perennial top 5 team in the last 5-10 years that has relied more heavily on portal players than they did on HS recruits

The transfer portal launched in 2018 but more importantly the transfer rules changed in 2021 to allow transfers to have immediate eligibility.

 

[VOLPAT]

take your own advice,,,lets look at the KY men's team which built a dynasty through their HS recruiting and lost it playing the portal sweepstakes,,,they lost their foundation players.

Or in our own forum, Women's BB,,,lets look at the ones in the top four yearly,,,SC, LSU, the Connies, etc,,,they win the HS recruiting year after year,,,this is their salt, portal acquisitions are their pepper

Take your own advice and watch some present-day perennial winners


. . . Straight to the "WinnersCircle"

Dawn Staley bought a huge difference maker from the portal the past two years. You are correct about high school players being your base. The answer to that is winning and who hands out the most money.

 

[volbeast33]

we all want to see the LV's back to the successful ranks,,,but to get there you have to do what the teams that ARE there are doing

None of the recent perennial top 4-5 teams stay there without foundational recruiting,,,And foundational players are not portal players.

HS top recruits/players are essential in today's teams,,,but unless someone can correct me (and I hope someone does),,,I can't think of a perennial top 5 team in the last 5-10 years that has relied more heavily on portal players than they did on HS recruits

2022-2023 LSU were heavily slanted towards the transfer portal…. I don’t think it really matters as long as you fill all the holes in your roster and can mesh the team together as one. It is optimal though to be elite at High School recruiting and the portal.

 

[knoxvol52]

Good results on the court will enhance both portal and high school recruiting.

With NIL personally I would rather pay an established individual from portal than a high school players.

Great in high school doesn't always mean a star in college.

 

[leeeda97]

Agree. There may come a day when you can gamble and live by portal alone, but IMO not yet. It's exactly how our roster got in the mess CKC inherited.

CKC is apparently in the same position Kellie was in, going to have to do more with less in order to bring in the higher ranked hs recruits. It's a tough task, Kellie could never do it. Sure hope CKC and staff can.

Well CKC has one big advantage...more NIL money that should help quite a bit

 

[knoxvol52]

Rick Barnes developed a #1 ranked team without a 5* recruit. The Grant Williams and Schofield led team was a bunch of 3* players that bought into the system.

I'm far from a star gazer in recruiting, that 3* you turn your nose up too,could be National Player of the Year by Senior Season.

 

[glv98]

Great in high school doesn't always mean a star in college.

I'm far from a star gazer in recruiting, that 3* you turn your nose up too,could be National Player of the Year by Senior Season.

Recruiting is playing the odds. And the odds are much greater that a hs player with higher ranking is going to be a star in college than the 3*. We have a Sr class full of lower ranked players to prove that point. Nice players, great kids, but not college stars. Again, that's why Kellie is no longer coach. And why Dawn Staley only recruits the highest ranked players.

 

[knoxvol52]

Recruiting is playing the odds. And the odds are much greater that a hs player with higher ranking is going to be a star in college than the 3*. We have a Sr class full of lower ranked players to prove that point. Nice players, great kids, but not college stars. Again, that's why Kellie is no longer coach. And why Dawn Staley only recruits the highest ranked players.

Rick Barnes succeeds without a team full of 5* players. John Calipari has a loaded team of 5* players every year. How many championship he won?

 

[House|RockyTop]

Tennessee’s current grad/senior class includes a former McD All-American (high ranked player), an All-SEC Freshman, 2x All-ACC/2x Team USA medalist and ACC leading scorer, and an SEC FOY.

A misleading post by a fanatic will not take away those college accolades.

Jewel Spear is projected to be selected in the WNBA draft.

Destinee Wells was on her way to being a three/four year starter before injury.

People post fabrication on this forum daily.

 

[Coach Jumper]

Rick Barnes succeeds without a team full of 5* players. John Calipari has a loaded team of 5* players every year. How many championship he won?

its been 13 years since KY won a championship and they jumped into the portal sweepstakes regime from the gitgo,,,and yes I know portal rules changed recently,,bot the portal has been around since 2018 in fact

ANd Rick Barnes is without a doubt an enigma as far as the betterment of his charges.
Great coaches create great players,,,great players do not create great coaches

Both Holly and Kellie have proven this

 

[House|RockyTop]

Getting through my latest game film session… and all I can say is “wow”.

Ball handling, rebounding, defense, and playmaking ability has been improved by adding depth with Coach Caldwell first portal recruiting class which is arguably the best in the SEC.

Redshirt guards Kaniya Boyd and Talaysia Cooper will also make their debut in Knoxville. Two intriguing and highly skilled athletic players.

One interesting fact that the typical fan probably hasn’t learned yet is that by the end of the season Alyssa Latham and Lazaria Spearman were both starters at C for their former teams.

Latham had a 6 block performance against Louisville facing one of the most consistent post players in the country Cochran. Spearman had a double double against NC and seem to find her rhythm in the minutes she played.

Tennessee has four post players capable of starting, a strength once again that will extend the rotation with the improvement at the wing and guard positions which will likely include playing 3 or 4 guards on the court.

 

[Dak1219]

Rick Barnes succeeds without a team full of 5* players. John Calipari has a loaded team of 5* players every year. How many championship he won?

Rick Barnes had a decent year last year. What has he really done since 2018? How many sweet 16's or elite 8's has he gotten his teams to?

 

[StorrsCentral]

Good results on the court will enhance both portal and high school recruiting.

With NIL personally I would rather pay an established individual from portal than a high school players.

Great in high school doesn't always mean a star in college.

Thats what college coaches are for. If they cannot develop the talent they have they shouldn't be in the coaching business.

 

[cwbytruckers]

Rick Barnes had a decent year last year. What has he really done since 2018? How many sweet 16's or elite 8's has he gotten his teams to?

Sick of everyone complaining about Barnes. I lived through the dark ages of the late 80’s to the Pearl run. I will take the regular season success minus an occasional post season run than any of the coaches we had before Pearl. One day Barnes will retire and we will probably take a step or two backwards. We are not the sought after job some make it out to be.

 

[Raebo]

Silly argument.
Any college coach will tell you recruiting is the lifeblood of a program. If you believe otherwise, why do you follow high school recruiting?
Some coaches under achieve (in terms of players not reaching their potential) while others (Barnes) are very good at getting their players to reach their potential. Even most of the top rated players won’t reach their full potential for 3/4 years which hurt Calipari with his one and done but Kentucky has the most players currently in the NBA.
Geno, Staley, etc. don’t take 3 star players and turn them into 5 star players. They take 5 high rated players and get them to play as a team and to their potential.

 

[House|RockyTop]

It really is a dumb argument.

Since people in this thread started this topic by endlessly complaining about signing 4-star players.

78% Tennessee’s current roster is made up of of 4-5 star HS recruits.

Jewel Spear was selected as one of 12 WBB players in college for a 2nd time to represent Team USA.

An honor that surpasses a HS 5-star ranking ; which is subject to inconsistencies.

That 78% 4-5 star recruits would fall in the top half of all D1 WBB programs in any major conference.

Tennessee biggest issues have been injuries, lack of improvements in style of play/system, turnovers, game management, and in-game adjustments.

 

[Volsfan2018]

I don’t know that I would call Barker and Duada “depth” players for us.
They did go with two legit final four teams so they are probably a little better than that.

they would have been starters for us