They’re not even done finishing up this season, as they will play in the Louisville Cardinals in the Sweet 16 on Saturday. However, the Tennessee Lady Vols just made a move in the transfer portal that should make them immediate national championship contenders next year.
Rickea Jackson, who has spent the last three years playing with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, is now transferring to Rocky Top for what should should be her final season of college. A 6’2″ forward, she averaged over 20.3 points per game this past year along with nearly seven rebounds.
In each of the previous two seasons, she averaged 15.1 and 14.9 points per game respectively, and she’s garnered All-SEC and All-American Honorable Mention honors from different services. The product of Michigan revealed her transfer destination on Twitter.
I’m hereee🍊 pic.twitter.com/A7LEDTaPxL
— RJ👑 (@iamthathooper) March 24, 2022
Obviously, scoring is the calling card for the graduate of Detroit Edison Public School Academy in Wayne County, Mich., and that’s perfect for the Tennessee Lady Vols. After all, Rae Burrell is likely to be gone after this year, leaving a huge scoring void to fill.
With the addition of Jackson, Kellie Harper can plug her right in to fill the void Burrell left. Meanwhile, Rocky Top should have everybody healthy again next year, which includes the returns of Jordan Horston and Marta Suárez, the latter of whom missed the entire season.
Add in the return of Tamari Key, Tess Darby, Brooklynn Miles, Jordan Walker and Sara Puckett, and the only major contributor they lose is Alexus Dye. Keyen Green would have fit that mold, but she has been out since January anyway.
Simply put, with the addition of Jackson, the Tennessee Lady Vols should be national title contenders once again next year. Remember, before Green went down with an injury this year, Harper’s team had one loss, was ranked in the top five and considered a consensus No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Then Green went down, Burrell was playing hurt, Suárez had been missing the whole season anyway and Horston went down. To get to where they were at that point, Suárez can offset Green’s departure, Horston can get fully healthy, and now Jackson can offset Burrell.
All that’s left for Harper is to find one more key player who can make a difference in the paint, but don’t forget that five-star wing Justine Pissott has already committed as well. Harper could have a three-player rotation at the three and four with Jackson, Pissott and Suárez.
Karoline Stripline or Emily Saunders is bound to develop at the five to give Key more depth. Because of all this, it’s pretty clear the one thing Harper needed next year was a player who could play in the post and become a major scoring option. Jackson provides that.
Not only is Jackson an elite scorer. She’s also reliable shooting the ball. This past year, she shot 73 percent from the free throw line. Now, she did have a bad drop from the three-point line, shooting 24.3 percent, but Harper has players who can fill that void.
The key for the Tennessee Lady Vols is that they have depth in the post and another major scoring threat next year. Given the talent they have coming back, all they need to do is stay healthy, and they could easily be in the running for a national championship.