Tennessee Basketball no longer hosting 2024 four-star point guard on official visit
Tennessee Basketball’s previously scheduled visit with 2024 point guard Ben Hammond, which was set to begin Monday, is no longer happening. The Vols had started showing interest in the 5-foot-10 prospect, a former Rhode Island commitment, in recent weeks.
The Vols currently have three open scholarship spots on the 2024-25 roster. They lost seven players from last season’s team, including fifth-year seniors Dalton Knecht, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi.
Four Tennessee players left the program through the NCAA Transfer Portal: Junior center Jonas Aidoo (Arkansas), sophomore forward Tobe Awaka (Arizona), redshirt freshman guard Freddie Dilione (Penn State) and redshirt freshman wing DJ Jefferson (Longwood).
Hammond is a three-star prospect in the On3 rankings, ranked No. 218 overall in the 2024 class. He’s the No. 30 point guard in the class and the No. 8 overall player in the state of Virginia, where he attends Paul VI Catholic in Fairfax.
Since reopening his recruitment, Hammond has reportedly heard from Providence, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Butler, VCU, Duquesne, Georgia Tech and Penn State, among others.
Tennessee returning six scholarship players
Tennessee is scheduled to return six scholarship players: Juniors Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack and Jordan Gainey and three freshmen in JP Estrella, Cade Phillips and Cam Carr.
The Vols have added three players from the NCAA Transfer Portal: Hofstra wing Darlinstone Dubar, Ohio State center Felix Okpara and Charlotte forward Igor Milicic Jr.
Rick Barnes and his staff are currently zeroed in on North Florida tranfser guard Chaz Lanier, who entered the transfer portal last week and is currently going through the NBA Draft process. Lanier was not on the invite list for next week’s NBA Draft Combine or this week’s G League Elite Camp in Chicago.
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The 6-foot-4, 199-pound Lanier, who attended Ensworth School in Nashville, had a breakout senior season at North Florida, averaging 19.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 33.4 minutes per game, shooting 51.0% from the field (214 of 420) and 44.0% from the 3-point line (106 of 241).
Rick Barnes: ‘Everything is going to have to be the right fit’
Hammond would have been a second point guard in Tennessee’s 2024 recruiting class, after the Vols signed four-star point guard Bishop Boswell in November.
Bowell, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound prospect out of Charlotte, N.C., is a four star who is ranked No. 75 overall in the On3 Industry Ranking. He’s the No. 11 point guard in the class and the No. 8 player in the state of North Carolina.
Barnes was asked last week during Tennessee’s Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville about how he planned to fill the final three spots on the roster for next season’s team.
“I don’t know if we’ll be totally full, but we could,” Barnes said during his media availability. “There’s still a lot of time left to do that. But everything’s going to have to be the right fit and make sure the roles that we want filled would be filled.
“We’re excited where we are right now, but we know we need to add a player and maybe two depending on who that might be. And if, again, we’re not going to do anything that we don’t think someone can really help us get better.”
