NCAA Basketball: 20 early team winners of 2023 transfer portal offseason

14. Tennessee Volunteers

Before the start of the week, Tennessee didn’t have any commits. Yet as of Saturday morning, they now have three, all offensive weapons. It’s a program that has been under fire for lackluster offense at times and based on this trio of newcomers looks to be fixing that.

The first pickup is Jordan Gainey, a 6’4 guard from South Carolina Upstate. He led the team in scoring with 15.2 ppg this past season, including eight games of at least 20 points. One of them was a 28-point effort against South Carolina State, which also included five steals.

The next transfer is Chris Ledlum, a 6’6 combo forward from Harvard. He led the Ivy League team with 18.8 ppg and 8.5 rpg on 47% shooting from the field. That includes multiple games with at least 25 points, including 35 points, 13 rebounds, and six steals against Cornell.

Ledlum only shot 29% from three-point range but to help make up for that is Dalton Knecht, who shot 38% from deep on over six attempts a game. The 6’6 guard led Northern Colorado with 20.2 ppg and 7.2 rpg this past season, including three games of at least 30 points. He had a season-high 34 against Idado in the middle of Big Sky play.

With Santiago Vescovi back for a 5th year and guard Zakai Zeigler coming back from injury, this could be the best offense in the Coach Rick Barnes era at Tennessee. Now they just have to figure out a way to replace Olivier Nkamhoua in the frontcourt.