These Tennessee basketball players left a very good team. How's that working out? | Strange

Just for kicks, bear with me a minute and travel into an alternate universe  …

Tennessee’s Vols head to the SEC tournament in Nashville this week with several questions to be answered. Is sophomore B.J. Edwards ready to step in at the point if Kennedy Chandler’s ankle injury persists? How will Drew Pember match up against Florida’s mobile big men?

Can Tennessee get adequate scoring in the paint from Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and D.J. Burns? Now that Justin Powell has finally settled in at one school, will his 3-point accuracy hold up over several games?

And can Davonte Gaines be the defensive stopper against high-scoring Alabama and Kentucky?

None of those questions are relevant, of course. You should recognize the names from Tennessee seasons of yesteryear. They, and others, left UT’s roster seeking greener pastures.

It’s amazing in this transfer portal era how many ex-Vols are still out there somewhere. Rick Barnes could fill a 13-man roster with players who would still be eligible this week had they stayed.

I’m not suggesting by any means he would trade his real 2023-24 roster for one made up of ex-VFLs. No, this group is doing just fine.

With the regular season done, let’s see how the players who left Tennessee have fared.

Only two are full-time NBA players and both were one-and-done at UT.

Jaden Springer, the 28th pick of the 2021 draft, has landed in Boston after two-plus seasons in Philadelphia. He’s averaging 2.2 points.

Julian Phillips, a second-round pick in 2023, is getting 7.4 minutes a game as a rookie with the Chicago Bulls.

Keon Johnson and Kennedy Chandler, the other two one-and-dones, both played in the NBA last season. They are currently teammates in the G League with the Long Island Nets.

As for ex-VFLs in the college ranks, no one has thrived like Drew Pember.

Pember spent two years as a gangly reserve in his hometown, never finding a solid niche in the rotation. He wrapped up a third stellar year at UNC-Asheville and was recently named Big South Conference player of the year for a second consecutive season. He’s had three games of 40-plus points.

Olivier Nkamhoua would have been featured in Tennessee’s offense had he returned this season. Instead, he had a nice year at Michigan, averaging 14.8 points and 7.1 rebounds.

The trade-off? Michigan has suffered through a dreadful season, 8-22 at this writing.

Ditto for Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. He’s averaging 12.5 points in his second season at Louisville, but the Cardinals have been as bad as Michigan if not worse.

Davonte “Ticket” Gaines left UT after two seasons, following Vol assistant Kim English to his head-coaching gig at George Mason. After two seasons, Gaines followed English again, this time to Providence, where he averages 8.9 points.

B.J. Edwards was a seldom-seen freshman at UT last year. He jumped to SMU to join former Tennessee assistant Rob Lanier. Edwards starts and averages 3.8 points.

Another onetime Vol, Quentin Diboundje, followed another UT aide, Mike Schwartz, to East Carolina. Diboundje averages 6.8 points as a junior.

Justin Powell did not, in fact, settle down at one school. After a season at Auburn, another at Tennessee and a third at Washington State, Powell turned pro. Undrafted, he’s with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ G-league team.

D.J. Burns redshirted at UT in 2018-19, so this is his sixth year in college – three at Winthrop and now two at N.C. State. He’s averaging 12.1 ppg and scored 15 against the Vols in December.

Finally, another Vol redshirt, 6-foot-11 Handje Tamba, is a sophomore at Weber State, averaging 1.8 points.

Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: They left a good Tennessee basketball team. How's that working out?