Rosters are changing more than ever and that can make following college basketball a challenge. To help you get set for the 2026-27 season, we are going to do a breakdown of all the incoming transfer classes to the SEC to help you get a picture of what to expect in the league and learn some new names that are going to have a major impact. The SEC continues to be one of the best-funded leagues in the country and that means attracting the best talent, and there are a lot of names you’ll need to know. There are a lot of names, so this series will be broken up into multiple parts.
It should also be noted that there could still be activity with 5th year eligibility guys and though some who have announced their intention to commit may be mentioned, these players may not be included as we wait to see exactly the situation.
Here is part one!
Tennessee
Terrence Hill Jr (VCU)
Tyler Lundblade (Belmont)
Juke Harris (Wake Forest)
Jalen Washington (Vanderbilt)
Braeden Lue (Kennessaw State)
Miles Rubin (Loyola Chicago)
Dai Dai Ames (Cal)
Christian Fermin (VCU)
Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame)
You might look at this gigantic list of names and assume it’s a quantity over quality thing, but that isn’t the case. Not only did Tennessee get names with talent on paper, but they got a diverse mix of skillsets that seemingly fit together, though there is a notable difference in how this team looks from what you might expect from the Volunteers. Coach Rick Barnes, who has always been a defense-first mind, seemingly got tired of not being able to put the ball in the hoop and instead went for a bunch of impact scorers.
Juke Harris averaged 21.4 points for Wake Forest and was one of the best names available in the portal, and is clearly an offensive hub who operates in the mid-post area off drives. Terrence Hill is a physical downhill guard who averaged 15.0 points per game at VCU and had some huge moments in the NCAA Tournament. Dai Dai Ames is an undersized guard who can fill it up at 16.9 points in the ACC. Tyler Lundblade was considered to be one of if not the best shooters available hitting 41% of his threes at Belmont, many of which came flying off screens or in transition. I almost forgot about Jalen Haralson, who averaged 16.2 points at Notre Dame yet is somehow not even in the first or second tier of guys that get talked about in the Tennessee portal class. In the frontcourt, Miles Rubin isn’t the typical banging center Tennessee has usually coveted–instead he is a perimeter hub who was known for his perimeter passing at Loyola Chicago. Not only is Tennessee’s portal haul impressive from a talent standpoint, but it signals there could be a change in the way the Volunteers want to play.
Kentucky
Milan Momcilovic (Iowa State)
Zoom Diallo (Washington)
Frank Kepnang (Washington)
Jerone Morton (Washington State)
Alex Wilkins (Furman)
Justin McBride (James Madison)
You might be surprised to hear this, but Kentucky fans aren’t particularly happy with the portal haul. As a reminder, Milan Momcilovic was a rather late addition and it was reported that Kentucky had to pay a king’s ransom as they were absolutely desperate for an offseason win–and Momcilovic’s camp was fully aware. He salvages a class that is pretty good, but maybe not as great as you’d expect at Kentucky.
Momcilovic just had one of the greatest shooting seasons ever hitting 49% of his threes on heavy volume, but he isn’t necessarily the kind of high-usage star that be the central hub of the offense. Just how Kentucky uses him will be fascinating, as he doesn’t play the conventional star role.
Zoom Diallo has put up numbers with 15.7 points and 4.5 assists at Washington, but the Huskies didn’t win a lot of games with him there as a top guard and he has to prove he can be a winner. His teammate Frank Kepnang wasn’t particularly productive, but he’s a big bodied center that you can never have enough of. Justin McBride is more of a “4” that has nice size and brings some stretch to the offence hitting 40% of his threes, something that seems to be a focus for the Kentucky roster.
The most interesting piece is Alex Wilkins, a 6’5” freshman from Furman who averaged 17.8 points and 4.7 assists. The raw numbers are there but a lot of advanced stats don’t love him, so this will be an interesting case study. To my eye, he can hoop–so we’ll see how he does in Lexington.
Texas
David Punch (TCU)
Isaiah Johnson (Colorado)
Elyjah Freeman (Auburn)
Amari Evans (Tennessee)
Mikey Lewis (Saint Mary’s)
Another team considered to have one of the best classes in the portal was Texas who rebuilt their guard and forward rotation to augment some strong returners. Isaiah Johnson was possibly one of the most underrated players in the country last season averaging 16.9 points and 3.0 assists as a freshman for a Colorado team that, quite frankly, no one watched. The thing is, Colorado was still a top-75 KenPom team despite having a roster nowhere near good enough for that, and much of the reason why was Isaiah Johnson. A pure scoring point guard, Johnson puts a ton of pressure on the rim with his quickness and his 38% three-point stroke opens up a ton of options as well. Look at Johnson to become a huge name in college basketball this year.
Elyjah Freeman and Amari Evans bring proven SEC production, and Texas is especially excited for Freeman who can bring a lot of the same individual creation as they had with Dailyn Swain last year.
David Punch was one of the top forwards in the portal and his physicality at the power forward spot is tough for a lot of teams to match up with. He’s also a responsible defender, something that Texas could really use after they struggled to guard a year ago.
Mikey Lewis is an outstanding defender who could change the way Texas guards pick and rolls, and could also provide some secondary ball handling behind Johnson.
That was part one of our series, look forward to part two soon!