Tennessee Roster Outlook Without Early Draft Entries

The Tennessee Volunteers had three players enter the NBA Draft. How does the roster look without them?

The NBA released a list earlier this week listing every player that has declared for the NBA Draft. The list included players that have announced they are forgoing their eligibility and players that have left the option of returning open. Among the guys maintaining their eligibility are three Tennessee Volunteers: Uros Plavsic, Josiah-Jordan James, and Julian Phillips.

Tennessee had 17 players on scholarship before those three were announced in the draft, so they would still need one player to leave even if all those guys decide to stay in the draft. While the losses would be big, Tennessee has a ton of depth that can help fill the gaps. Here's how the roster stands:

Guards

The guards are easily in the deepest position. In addition to bringing back Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack, and Santiago Vescovi, the Vols added Dalton Knecht and Jordan Gainey in the portal from Northern Colorado and USC Upstate, respectively. The younger guards on the roster include Freddie Dilione, Cameron Carr, B.J. Edwards, and D.J. Jefferson. It shouldn't be a surprise if someone from this group redshirts, and it, unfortunately, might be incoming freshman Cameron Carr.

Forwards

Likely this thinnest group on the roster, the Tennessee staff this year has prioritized mostly guards and bigs. Chris Ledlum, the Harvard transfer, and Cade Phillips are really the only true forwards on this team with the three NBA draft entries. Tobe Awaka could be seen as a forward, but his play style would indicate he's more of a true big.

In terms of the redshirt situation, Phillips is definitely more of a need for this team with the lack of depth at his position. I would guess it's unlikely he redshirts, but crazier things have happened.

Bigs

Could the Tennessee bigs rotation be even better without Uros Plavsic? There's an obvious identity element that this group could miss without Plavsic, but between Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka, it's easy to see the big strides they could potentially make. Awaka, especially at 6'8, had an extremely encouraging freshman season,

J.P. Estrella will round out this group, and he was a very late riser in the recruiting process. Last year, Estrella started to climb up the rankings in the summer when some big-name schools like Duke and Kansas began recruiting him. Estrella, the 6'11 center, ultimately chose the Vols and could be a project for Barnes and the staff.

Who is gone?

One of the 14 players mentioned will most likely have to leave. Only 13 scholarships are allowed, and even though technically, NIL could help out with covering tuition, would the 14th-best player on a team really want that? We will also wait and see on the three early draft entries, but at the current state, Tennessee is in a very good position for next season.

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