The Tennessee Volunteers finished 4th in the Southeastern Conference in the 2025 March Madness schedule.
They were eliminated by Houston in a fairly uncompetitive 69–50 final score. While they were surely disappointed with the loss, it’s hard to sneeze at a top-10 in the country. But any college basketball fan knows that a team can change radically from one year to the next.
The Tennessee squad certainly has. With few returning players, it will be a very different group of guys heading out onto the court this Winter.
What should we expect out of the Tennessee Volunteers going into the 2025–2026 season? While they have indeed changed their lineup somewhat, there are several reasons why fans should be optimistic.
Tennessee Volunteers Current State of Affairs
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Your biggest concern is that their roster has undergone significant changes in the offseason.
They only have one returning starter: senior center Felix Akpara—the 21-year-old Nigerian stands at nearly seven feet tall.
In Tennessee, he’s contributed steadily, though with little that necessarily jumps off the stat sheet. He does shoot nearly 60% from the field, but collects, on average, 7 points per game and contributes 6 rebounds. Akpara can be expected to provide leadership and continue applying his talents to the Tennessee Volunteers team.
Typically, this would fall into the category of a rebuilding year for a high-performing team like the Tennessee Titans. However, there’s a little bit more to it than that.
The game has changed pretty considerably with the heavier reliance on the transfer portal. Now, players switch colleges—sometimes five times—throughout their collegiate careers, creating micro super teams that last for only a season or two before star players move on to bigger and better things.
Yes, it is hard to build the kind of dynamic that wins championships among strangers in a few short months. But under the experienced leadership of Rick Barnes, it is possible.
Is that what Tennessee has in its future?
It seems that they’re at least trying to develop some impressive firepower in the form of a few transfer portal additions.
They also have a pretty promising crop of freshmen entering the team. It’s very hard to say how someone whose most recent competitive experience is primarily in a high school gymnasium will perform, but many teams have managed to achieve great results with incoming freshmen in the past.
Recruitment/Transfer Portal
On the recruitment side of things, Tennessee has made an offer to center Marcis Ponder, a seven-foot center analysts refer to as “Baby Shaq”. Ponder is currently weighing offers from a handful of other high-profile schools, so it remains to be seen if he’ll be wearing Tennessee orange.
The Transfer Portal will almost certainly further inform their roster. They are well-positioned to make a strong appeal to good players.
They are a probable three-seed in the Western Conference, which is a major motivating factor for college athletes who want to make a deep run into the playoffs and possibly generate some buzz at the professional level.
Incoming Freshman
The Tennessee Volunteers’ most promising acquisition—particularly as it relates to long-term potential—comes in the form of Nate Ament. Ament is a top-five-rated prospect and the highest-ranked player the school has ever signed as a freshman.
Standing at 6’9″, he’s known for his versatility. He’s a particularly strong shooter, handles the ball well, and is a notably flashy passer.
Now, no matter how good this incoming freshman out of Virginia is, he’ll still enter the NCAA at the very bottom end of what is a steep learning curve for anyone. Tennessee plays a tough schedule, and that can be hard for even a very talented high school graduate to adapt to. Will Nate Ament be the secret ingredient to a big 2026 win?
Tennessee would certainly love to see that, but this incoming freshman’s true value is still likely ahead of him. In the next few years, you should definitely expect to hear his name often.
Whether it’s in the NCAA Finals next March is hard to say, but fans of the Tennessee Volunteers definitely have a lot of great basketball ahead of them.
Don’t forget that the NCAA playoffs are still ten months away. Tennessee—and all of its competitors have a lot of time to get the lay of the land. This far out, the team’s prospects could change and develop in many hard-to-predict ways.
If you’re biting your nails waiting for the next tip-off—well. Hang tight. It will be here before you know it.
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