Tennessee basketball freshman predicted to transfer to Louisville
We're halfway through the spring transfer portal window and Tennessee's first transfer has been predicted to join the Louisville Cardinals.
This spring, Tennessee basketball has lost a few players to the transfer portal. The portal window closes on April 30, so Rick Barnes and the Vols have less than two weeks to put together the team they will put on the court next season.
Freshman combo guard Freddie Dilione V entered the transfer portal on April 4, five days after Tennessee lost to Purdue in the Elite Eight. He spent two seasons on Rocky Top but didn't see the time on the court he was expecting this past season after redshirting his first season.
According to 247Sports and On3 transfer portal rankings, Dilione is a four-star transfer prospect. He would be a great guard to add to any roster looking to add depth or find someone who can start in the Fall as they look to rebuild.
The latter is the exact situation Dilione could be heading to if On3's prediction of where he will commit is correct. On3's Jamie Shaw, a national recruiting analyst for the platform, has predicted that Dilione will head to Louisville and join the Cardinals.
Louisville is looking to get back to winning after two atrocious seasons under Kenny Payne, who went 12-52 in his two years as the Cardinals head coach. Pat Kelsey is the new head coach for Louisville and could bring in Dilione as a transfer as a piece to rebuild the Cardinals roster.
"Dilione is in the mist of evolving from a volume scoring wing into a more legitimate big guard," 247Sports' Adam Finkelstein writes about the Tennessee transfer. "At 6-foot-5 with a naturally strong and almost fully mature frame, he has the size and strength to play, and ultimately defend, all three perimeter positions.
"His best individual offense typically comes either in the open floor or when coming off ball-screens, where he can get downhill and utilize his size and strength to create mismatches and make plays. There are no glaring mechanical deficiencies in his shot, but he has historically been a streaky shooter ... as he can have stretches where he hunts his looks and settles for contested ones."
Update
Shaw has flipped his prediction as of April 16 to North Carolina State. The Wolfpack were a "Cinderella" team in this year's NCAA Tournament, although they don't see themselves as Cinderellas despite their seed in the Big Dance.
He also had a confidence ranking of 60 out of 100 with the Louisville prediction and his confidence level remains the same for NC State. Louisville now has a 0.1% chance at landing the four-star Tennessee transfer with NC State now in the mix. I would not be surprised at all if the North Carolina native returned home to help the Wolfpack repeat their winning ways next season.
Next. Tennessee basketball is going to look a lot different next season. Tennessee basketball is going to look a lot different next season. dark
The college basketball transfer portal is still open for a couple more weeks so there could be more players that jump into the mix for Dilione. Stay tuned to All for Tennessee for transfer portal updates on Rocky Top.
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