It’s been 4 years because Tennessee has had anybody drafted into the NBA. However, that’s set to trade this yr. And it may alternate massively.

The Vols have four gamers who’re eligible to be decided on in the upcoming 2019 NBA Draft, and three of them received invitations to the 2019 NBA Draft Combine. Juniors Jordan Bone and Grant Williams and senior Admiral Schofield are all collaborating on this yr’s integration, and all three could/should be drafted. Both Bone and Williams can cast off their names from the draft pool with the aid of May 29th if they desire to return to UT for their senior seasons, but Schofield is a senior and can’t return.

Basketball

Still, barring any principal damage throughout the integration and workout routines, Tennessee is nearly guaranteed to have at the least one player drafted into the NBA this yr, and they may have two or maybe 3 players taken.

When it involves having draftable talent this year, the Vols are amongst a few elite organizations in the university basketball global.

Tennessee is tied with eight other programs for the maximum gamers invited to the 2019 NBA Combine from one crew. And all of the different teams that had 3 players invited to the integrating are a number of the most recognizable university basketball games.

Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Gonzaga, Michigan, and UCLA all had 3 gamers to acquire invites. Virginia, the team that won the national championship this 12 months, additionally had 3 players invited to the integrating.

Historically, Tennessee doesn’t examine those packages in college basketball. Yet, here they are, with the same number of players receiving invites to participate in the approaching NBA Combine.

The Vols have the same variety of gamers attending the NBA Combine as many pinnacle university basketball programs throughout u. S ., but UT’s invitees are even more amazing while you keep in mind the expectancies located on them once they joined the Vols compared to the opposite players at the rosters of those blue blood programs.

Except for Gonzaga, nearly all of the different players from the programs mentioned above were 4 and five-stars popping out of high school. All 3 of Duke’s invitees had been pinnacle-five players in high faculty. The three players from Kansas and Kentucky had been rated within the pinnacle-forty normal potentialities. All three of UCLA’s gamers were ranked inside the pinnacle-30 standard recruits in their respective classes. The three players from Michigan and Virginia who acquired invites had been all top-one hundred gamers.

North Carolina is the only kind of blue blood packages — apart from Gonzaga — that doesn’t stay healthy on the bill. Nassir Little changed into the No. Three usual participants in his magnificence consistent with the 247Sports Composite ratings and Coby White become the twenty-fifth usual participant. But Cameron Johnson, who initially signed directly to play with Pittsburgh, turned into the No. 224 universal prospects within the 2014 magnificence.

Then, there’s Tennessee.

All three of the Vols who acquired invites to the 2019 NBA Combine have been ranked outside the top-150 prospects of their respective lessons according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Jordan Bone became the best-rated, coming in at No. 171 usual. Grant Williams was ranked No. 191 ordinaries, and Admiral Schofield was out of doors the pinnacle-two hundred, coming in at No. 251 typical.

Even Gonzaga has a pinnacle-one hundred fifty basic prospect among their trio of invitees. Killian Tillie changed into the No. 123 typical recruits in his class, although Brandon Clarke and Zach Norvell Jr. Weren’t rated through 247Sports throughout their recruitment.

Still, Tennessee’s 3 invitees are a rarity, and their presence at the NBA Combine is yet another testament to the tough work they put in even as at UT and Tennessee’s coaches’ ability to pick out skills and develop them.

The Vols stick out like a sore thumb whilst observing the 9 applications that got 3 players invited to this yr’s NBA Combine. Every different application in that group has at the least made it to the NCAA Tournament Championship Game, and all but Gonzaga has gained at least one name of their program’s history. In the meantime, Tennessee has never even made it to the Final Four and only has one Elite Eight appearance in school records.

Yet, there the Vols are status among the elite of university basketball on having draftable skills for the NBA.

And it’s no longer like all of the different applications who got three gamers invited to the integrating had a great deal more achievement than Tennessee this past season. UCLA didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament; Kansas was eliminated in the second spherical event. North Carolina and Michigan were both removed within the equal spherical as the Vols — the Sweet Sixteen. Duke and Kentucky only made it one spherical in addition to the Vols this yr.

In fact, Virginia is the handiest crew in this listing that had substantially more fulfillment than the Vols in the 2018-19 season.

Tennessee has had excessive points in guys’ basketball earlier than; however, having this quantity of exposure with the NBA is something the Vols haven’t had in decades. The last time the Vols had multiple players taken within the NBA Draft was in 2014, or even then, each gamer (Jordan McRae and Jarnell Stokes) had been taken within the 2nd spherical. TTennessee’sremaining time Tad a palpable buzz, approximately two players potentially being drafted inside the first round or inside the top-40 average selections became again within the Nineteen Seventies with Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld.

This beyond season might not have ended pretty how Vol lovers wanted; however, one component is clear: What’s taking place right now is a large recruiting tool for Tennessee, and it’s elevating the basketball program to new heights of exposure.