Any minute now, it feels like Rick Barnes and Tennessee are going to get some great news when it comes to transfer wing Juke Harris. Plenty of eyebrows were raised when the update dropped that Pete Nakos had put in his official prediction for the Wake Forest transfer to pick the Vols.
Rick Barnes explains why Michigan State was an easy decision to add to Tennessee's schedule
Well, that buzz is only going to grow knowing that Tennessee's main competition is now out of the picture. Yup, that's because Josh Henschke has informed the Wolverines that he's not going to be playing college ball next season in Ann Arbor. With that, it's either stay in the NBA Draft or move to Knoxville for Harris, right?
Michigan has been informed they’re out of the running, increases my confidence of my prediction to Tennessee: https://t.co/GmO38vFOgt https://t.co/a1HR0jlnwk
— Josh Henschke (@JoshHenschke) May 1, 2026
Michigan and Dusty May are no longer in the race to land Juke Harris
From our chair, when Nakos drops a prediction, it means that breaking news will follow soon after. With Michigan out of the picture, could North Carolina toss a late Hail Mary to try and poach the sharpshooter away from Barnes?
That seems incredibly unlikely, as Michael Malone and the Heels have already received pledges from Matthew Able and Terrence Brown - the main focus for the Tar Heels right now is going after center help, especially with Maxim Logue no longer being Chapel Hill-bound.
What does that all mean for Barnes and Harris? Hopefully that an announcement is around the corner. There's still the chance that Harris decides to leave his name in the NBA Draft and go pro next season, but the early feedback seems to hint he'd be an early second-round pick.
If that's the case and a sweet NIL deal is on the table from Barnes and Danny White, then it'd be a no-brainer for the veteran wing to play college ball next season, yeah? We think that'd be an easy call for Harris, but again, nothing is set in stone there. Soon enough, we'll see if he commits to Tennessee or not, but Michigan being eliminated from contention should have the UT faithful even more excited for his verbal pledge to potentially come in.
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