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NCAA Basketball: Buy or sell WTE consensus top-10 teams for 2023-24 season?

By Tristan Freeman

Michigan State Spartans' A.J. Hoggard (11) Mady Sissoko (22), Tyson Walker (2) and forward Malik Hall (25) during the 69-60 win over Marquette in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Columbus, Ohio, March 19, 2023.Msumarq 031923 Kd6623 MSU huddle
Michigan State Spartans' A.J. Hoggard (11) Mady Sissoko (22), Tyson Walker (2) and forward Malik Hall (25) during the 69-60 win over Marquette in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Columbus, Ohio, March 19, 2023.Msumarq 031923 Kd6623 MSU huddle /
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NCAA Basketball Tennessee Volunteers guard Santiago Vescovi Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Basketball Tennessee Volunteers guard Santiago Vescovi Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /

9. Tennessee Volunteers – Buy

What’s interesting about this offseason is that outside of a 7-day stretch, the Volunteers’ news involved mostly with its former players. Starting forwards Olivier Nkamhoua and Julian Phillips were key players to watch in the past month with their decisions. Plus, center Uros Plavsic decided to go pro and not take an extra year.

The good news is that they were able to bring back Josiah-Jordan James, a versatile combo forward and quality defender. He, Santiago Vescovi, and a hopefully healthy Zakai Ziegler will keep Tennessee as a premier defensive unit. The main question is how the interior will look. If former top-50 prospect Jonas Aidoo and incoming forwards, Cade Phillips and JP Estrella can have a big impact, they’ll be fine.

The reason why the Vols have such potential is the offense coming in. Among the three transfers is Dalton Knecht, a 6’6 guard from Northern Colorado. He averaged 20.2 ppg and 7.2 rpg last season and is a major scorer. There’s also Chris Ledlum, a 6’6 forward from Harvard that averaged 18.8 ppg and 8.5 rpg and has been one of the top offensive threats from the Ivy League. Plus, Jordan Gainey produced over 15 ppg at USC Upstate and is another high-volume scorer.

For the past few years, Tennessee’s weakness has been on the offensive end, with a lack of high-level scoring threats. That has changed this offseason and as long as Zeigler is effective coming back from injury, the Vols have a great chance at making its deepest run yet in the Coach Rick Barnes era.

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