NCAA Basketball: Ranking of top 25 team backcourts for 2023-24 season

6. Tennessee Volunteers

Just one key guard is gone from the Volunteers roster from last season. It’s Tyreke Key, who averaged 8.2 ppg and started 15 games before becoming the first man off the bench. Yet everyone else is back, including one of the best duos in all of NCAA Basketball.

Santiago Vescovi led the team with 12.5 ppg, shooting 37% from three-point range. He had a trio of 20+ point games, including 21 against Auburn. Assuming he’s healthy after last season’s knee injury, starting point guard Zakai Zeigler (10.7 ppg and 5.4 apg) will be back as one of the best individual defenders in the country, despite his 5’9 size. I’m also including 6’6 guard Josiah-Jordan James, another double-digit scorer with tremendous versatility.

What boosts Tennessee’s backcourt into being a potential Final Four contender is the two incoming transfers. Jordan Gainey was an all-conference player in both years at USC Upstate, coming off 15.2 ppg scoring on 35% shooting from deep. And Dalton Knecht was one of the top scorers that entered the portal this offseason, averaging 20.2 ppg and 7.2 rpg at Northern Colorado. That includes a 32-point effort against Montana in Big Sky play.

And there’s still plenty of depth, including several four-star freshmen players. If guys like Freddie Dillione and DJ Jefferson breaks out, the Vols offense will reach another gear that they’ve struggled to do in the past few years under Coach Rick Barnes.