NCAA Basketball: Arkansas, UConn among 10 teams in need of a big offseason
Tennessee Volunteers
After falling to Purdue in the Elite Eight, marking the deepest run under ninth-year head coach Rick Barnes, the Vols will have some ground to make up this spring if they wish to field a team as talented as this year’s team was.
Gone are the likes of SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht, who truly was a treat to watch these past five months. Gone are the likes of second-team All-SEC forward Jonas Aidoo, who recently entered the NBA Draft and the transfer portal. Gone are the likes of Tobe Awaka (portal) alongside Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James (graduation).
Despite the heavy volume of departures, Tennessee will look to springboard its trio of Zakai Ziegler, Jordan Gainey and Jahmai Mashack with a pair of potential sophomore breakout stars -- J.P. Estrella and Freddie Dilione V. But that won’t be enough.
With only seven players currently on the roster, the Vols must have a successful haul in the portal this spring to carry over their success from this season.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
From taking over a situation that was far from ideal (simply put: it was disastrous) under former head coach Mark Adams, Grant McCasland worked his wonders, leading Texas Tech to a 23-win season, taking the Red Raiders back to the NCAA Tournament.
Even though the Red Raiders enjoyed a plentiful sum of success this season, the cupboard is bare in terms of roster retention.
Addressing the elephant in the room, the team’s leading scorer and ultra-deep three-point-shooting threat, Pop Isaacs, announced his intentions to transfer.
Losing a player of Isaacs’ caliber hurts, no doubt. In addition, Texas Tech also lost Robert Jennings Jr., KyeRon Lindsay and Lamar Washington to the portal, and all three were likely to take a significant leap forward next season with the graduations of Joe Toussiant and Warren Washington.
As of April 11, Texas Tech has five players on its roster. Grant McCasland has some holes to fill and needs to do so quickly.