Tennessee Basketball drops two spots in ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25 2.0
Tennessee Basketball dropped two spots to No. 23 in ESPN’s Way Too Early Top 25 2.0 for the 2025-26 college basketball season. The Vols started at No. 21 in the initial version of the ranking on April 7.
Houston is No. 1 in the ranking, ahead of Purdue, Texas Tech, Louisville and UConn. Arkansas is the highest-ranked SEC team at No. 8 and the first of five SEC teams ranked ahead of Tennessee.
No. 9 Kentucky came in at No. 9, ahead of No. 11 Auburn, No. 17 Alabama and No. 18 Florida.
“Tennessee has been busy in the transfer portal since it opened,” ESPN’s Jeff Borzello wrote, “although Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Maryland) and Jaylen Carey (Vanderbilt) are the only additions so far. Rick Barnes knows he needs more help, with starters Zakai Zeigler, Chaz Lanier, Jahmai Mashack and Igor Milicic Jr. as well as reserves Jordan Gainey and Darlinstone Dubar all gone.”
Rick Barnes rebuilding his entire backcourt for 2025-26
The current projected starting lineup from ESPN is Gillespie, sophomore Bishop Boswell, freshman Amari Evans, Carey and Felix Okpara.
“Gillespie was one of the elite point guards in the portal,” Borzello wrote, “but the Vols need at least one more standout wing to play alongside him in the backcourt.”
Gillespie started all 36 games at Maryland this season, averaging 14.7 points and 4.8 assists in 31.6 minutes per game while shooting 45.3% from the floor and 40.7% from the 3-point line, where he made 87 of 214 attempts.
He’s a Greeneville, Tenn. native, who started his college basketball career at Belmont, averaging 17.2 points, 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals in 31.4 minutes per game as a sophomore at Belmont in 2023-24.
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Carey, the 6-foot-8, 245-pound sophomore, averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game at Vanderbilt this season.
Who Tennessee Basketball is currently recruiting
Tennessee continues to recruit five-star small forward Nate Ament, a consensus top-five player in the 2025 class, Maryland transfer guard Rodney Rice and Lincoln Memorial transfer Elyjah Freeman.
Ament, the 6-foot-9, 185-pound product of Manassas, Va., is ranked No. 3 overall in the On3 rankings. He’s the No. 2 small forward in the class and No. 1 overall prospect in the state of Virginia. Barnes visited Ament in person on Monday.
Rice, a 6-foot-4, 198-pound shooting guard who visited Tennessee over the weekend, averaged 13.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 36 games this season, shooting 43.4% from the field and 37.4% from the 3-point line.
Freeman averaged 19.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in Division II basketball this season. He visited Auburn over the weekend and was at Indiana two weeks ago. He shot 46.3% from the 3-point line, scored 20 or more points in 14 games and 30 or more points in four games. Kentucky and Dayton are other Division I programs that have shown interest in Freeman, a Florida native.
