Tennessee basketball has the fourth-best NCAA Transfer Portal class, according to rankings from On3’s Joe Tipton. The Vols came in behind Louisville, Texas and Indiana. 

“Tennessee made its third straight Elite Eight this year, then surprisingly lost the majority of its roster to the transfer portal,” Tipton wrote. “In the past, Rick Barnes’ teams have been very defense-oriented. This year’s roster though will look very different as the Vols clearly prioritized scoring and elite offensive players.

“The guards/perimeter players Tennessee is bringing in combined to average over 85 points per game last season at their previous schools.”

Barnes overhauled Tennessee’s 2026-27 roster through the NCAA Transfer Portal over the last month.

Tennessee added guards Juke Harris (Wake Forest), Terrence Hill Jr. (VCU), Dai Dai Ames (Cal) and Tyler Lundblade (Belmont) and forwards Miles Rubin (Loyola Chicago), Braedan Lue (Kennesaw State) and Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame).

The Vols lost four seniors (Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Felix Okpara, Amaree Abram and Grant Hurst) from last season while six players left through the NCAA Transfer Portal (J.P. Estrella, Jaylen Carey, Cade Phillips, Bishop Boswell, Amari Evans and Clarence Massamba). Sophomore guard Ethan Burg also decided to return home to Israel. 

“Barnes is nearing the end of his career,” Tipton wrote, “and it’s obvious the administration has poured significant financial backing in hopes of the Vols reaching their first-ever Final Four.”

Louisville’s No. 1 class includes Flory Bidunga, (Kansas), Jackson Shelstad (Oregon), Karter Knox (Arkansas), Alvaro Folgueiras (Iowa), De’Shayne Montgomery (Dayton) and Gabe Dynes (USC).

“Kansas’ Flory Bidunga was their splashiest addition, as the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year is the No. 1 overall player in the On3 Industry Transfer Portal Rankings,” Tipton wrote. “Landing a proven point guard in Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad was also vital, while Iowa’s Alvaro Folgueiras gives Louisville a stretch four who had some massive moments in the NCAA Tournament for a team that made the Elite Eight.”

Texas added former Tennessee guard Amari Evans, Isaiah Johnson (Colorado), David Punch (TCU), Mikey Lewis (Saint Mary’s) and Elyjah Freeman (Auburn) and Indiana added Aiden Sherrell (Alabama), Markus Burton (Notre Dame), Bryce Lindsay (Villanova), Jaeden Mustaf (Georgia Tech), Samet Yigitoglu (SMU) and Darren Harris (Duke).

“Last offseason, the Hoosiers mainly targeted mid-major players in the portal,” Tipton wrote. “This year, they made it a priority to recruit players who were proven and had already found success at the high-major level.”

Meanwhile, the Longhorns parlayed a Sweet 16 run “into an elite portal class,” Tipton added, “with Texas bringing in some of the best injections of talent we saw from any team this offseason. The Longhorns also retaining big man Matas Vokietaitis (15.6 PPG, 7.1 RPG) was absolutely massive.”