Tennessee

Rick Barnes on the transfer portal era of college basketball: 'Expect the unexpected'

Published

2 years ago

May 3, 2024

Rick Barnes on the transfer portal era of college basketball: 'Expect the unexpected'

Tennessee Basketball Coach Rick Barnes Talks On The Big Orange Caravan

Rick Barnes started his media availability Tuesday night at Tennessee’s Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville with an understatement. When asked about the last month for the Vols, he described it as “eventful.”

“Because of where we are today and with everything,” Barnes said.

He was referencing the NCAA Transfer Portal and the chaos it creates across all of college athletics. It just so happens that Tennessee Basketball was hit hard with changes this time around.

On top of losing three fifth-year seniors — Dalton Knecht, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi — the Vols lost four players to the transfer portal, leaving six of the 13 scholarships open for next season.

The first move was redshirt freshman guard Freddie Dilione on April 4, four days after the season ended with the Elite Eight loss to Purdue. Redshirt freshman wing DJ Jefferson was next, on April 8, starting a run of three departures in three days. Sophomore power forward Tobe Awaka left the next day, followed by junior center Jonas Aidoo.

Tennessee has added three players from the NCAA Transfer Portal

Tennessee has since added three transfers from the portal. First was Hofstra wing Darlinstone Dubar, followed by 6-foot-11 Ohio State center Felix Okpara and 6-foot-10 Charlotte forward Igor Milicic Jr.

The Vols still have three open scholarship spots on next season’s roster, with the three transfer additions joined by four-star point guard Bishop Boswell, the Charlotte, N.C., prep prospect who signed in November.

“We do think we’re getting closer,” Barnes said Tuesday of completing the new-look roster. “But we’ve been very selective. My coaches, (I) have a great deal of credit for their intel in terms of how they’ve gone about it, knowing what we would like and what we think works for us. And we’re really excited about the ones that we’ve gotten.”

On Wednesday, during the Big Orange Caravan stop in Chattanooga, Barnes was asked again about the transfer portal era of college athletics.

In college basketball specifically, with one transfer portal window for players, the moves are constant in April, before the portal closes on May 1. As soon as one March Madness is over, the next month-long madness kicks in.

“It is because when you come out of the season and you realize what lies ahead,” Barnes said. “It’s the anticipation of knowing that you really come to expect the unexpected and until that final day where the portal closes, you don’t know what’s going to happen.

“Because we realize there’s a lot of people coming at these athletes in different ways. With that said, it’s maybe the most stressful time of the year not knowing what’s going to happen.”

Rick Barnes: ‘When it breaks, you got to be ready to try and improve yourself’

Tennessee’s outgoing players have all landed at new schools. Dilione signed with Penn State, Jefferson went to Longwood and Awaka is now at Arizona. But it was Aidoo — he committed to and signed with Arkansas on Monday — who caught the Vols off guard.

Barnes two weeks ago described losing his All-SEC center, who had a breakout junior season, as an unexpected change of course.

“Because he had told everybody he was fine,” Barnes said at the time.

Now, all Barnes can do is adapt to the game’s move toward free agency and make his own moves.

“We’re already expecting the unexpected,” Barnes said. “So we’re working it in the right way in terms of you’re always hearing this or that. You try to stay ahead of everything as much as you can, but the fact is when it breaks, you got to be ready to try and improve yourself.”

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Tennessee

Memphis voters file federal lawsuit against new congressional map, claiming discrimination: ‘White control over Tennessee politics’

Published

3 hours ago

May 12, 2026

Press Room

Memphis voters file federal lawsuit against new congressional map, claiming discrimination: ‘White control over Tennessee politics’

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WSMV) – Three Memphis voters, through the American Civil Liberties Union, have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee leaders, claiming the state’s new congressional maps are discriminating against Black voters.

The ACLU announced the lawsuit on Monday, saying that three organizations — the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Equity Alliance, are also part of the lawsuit that was filed against Sec. of State Tre Hargett, Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins and several others.

“In May 2026, over the course of mere days, a White-dominated supermajority of the Tennessee General Assembly redrew Tennessee’s congressional map to crack the predominantly Black city of Memphis into three pieces and destroy the only district in which Black voters are able to elect representatives of their choice, shutting Black voters completely out of power in federal elections in Tennessee,” the filing states.

The ACLU and the other plaintiffs echo arguments made by Democrats while the maps were being debated during last week’s special session: “The cracking of Memphis unlawfully targeted Black voters.”

“The new plan carves through the center of Tennessee’s second largest city, dividing neighborhoods that have voted together for decades, splitting numerous counties and precincts, and cutting the Black population into thirds with suspect precision,” the lawsuit says. “The districts then run hundreds of miles east towards the Nashville suburbs, snaking through predominantly White and rural counties to dilute the voting power of now-divided Black Memphians.”

Gov. Bill Lee signed the new congressional map into law last week. The new map splits Shelby County, home of Memphis, into three districts.

Republicans have said the map modernizes the districting process and removes “racial data from the mapmaking process entirely.” Democrats, on the other hand, say that the move is meant to dismantle the Black-majority district.

Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R) told WSMV that Republicans “have been very clear” on their intention to secure a ninth Republican seat in the state. He has said the map would help “ensure the state’s representation in Washington reflects its conservative values.”

The lawsuit draws significant attention to the racial makeup of Tennessee lawmakers, describing, “White control over Tennessee politics.” Plaintiffs allege that a white majority “faction” of state leaders “gave bizarre, robotic answers to the most basic questions about the map they were sponsoring.”

“None of the sponsors of the plan would admit who actually drew it, and the lead Senate sponsor—a White legislator with over a decade of service in the Tennessee General Assembly who had attended law school in Memphis — would not say whether Memphis was predominantly Black and claimed not to know that Congressional District 9 was a majority- Black district,” the filing says.

They seem to be referencing Sen. John Stevens (R-Huntingdon), who was asked during the special session if he was aware that the majority of the residents in the ninth district are Black.

“I’m not aware,” he responded. “I know how the map is divided, but I don’t know the racial makeup of the map.”

Stevens got his juris doctorate from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

The three Memphis residents who took part in the lawsuit are Amber Sherman, a lifelong resident of Memphis and the lead Tennessee regional organizer for Black Voters Matter Fund, Rachael Spriggs, a Memphis resident for more than 20 years who is the director of Power Building for the Equity Alliance, and Kermit Moore, a nearly lifelong resident of Memphis who is the president of the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute.

The lawsuit claims intentional discrimination in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments, as well as retaliation for protected expression and association in violation of the First Amendment.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the newly drawn map is unconstitutional and restore district lines before primary elections proceed.

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Tennessee

New Tennessee law allows K9 officers to be transported by helicopter, ambulance to vet

Published

15 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

New Tennessee law allows K9 officers to be transported by helicopter, ambulance to vet

Tennessee State Senators Michele Reneau of Signal Mountain and Bo Watson of Hixson spoke today about the new law supporting police K-9’s.

The act allows injured dogs to get stabilization services on-site and then be transported via ambulance or helicopter to a vet hospital.

“In the past, officers were basically putting the k9 in their car and transporting them in their in their own vehicle, they didn’t have an ambulance or an air ambulance,” said Senator Watson. “This allows for an air ambulance. It also allows for a educational program for those in EMS, who will be taught how to manage canines emergency medical condition, which is different than a human’s.”

In April, Erlanger flew a K9 officer from Clay County, to North Carolina.

It was the first time the program was used for a live transport after several training runs.

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Tennessee

What You Need to Know About Tennessee Softball’s Path to Another WCWS | Rocky Top Insider

Published

1 day ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

What You Need to Know About Tennessee Softball’s Path to Another WCWS | Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee softball’s path back to the Women’s College World Series is set. On Sunday night, the Lady Vols were named the No. 7 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament and will host the regional stage in Knoxville as it looks to return to the WCWS in back-to-back seasons.

The Lady Vols are matched up with Virginia, Indiana and Northern Kentucky in the regionals. It would play Georgia, Clemson, UNC Greensboro or Charleston in the super regionals.

Ahead of the tournament, here’s a look at each team in the Knoxville Regional and potential matchups for the ensuing best-of-three super regional if Tennessee advances.