(Photo courtesy of Twitter Chandler’s Twitter)
Tennessee basketball is trending for one of the best players in the country following Kennedy Chandler’s commitment to the Vols on Friday afternoon.
Following the addition of Chandler’s Tennessee, the no. 1-point guard in the country according to multiple recruiting stores, the Vols are now trending for 2021 five-star power-forward Paolo Banchero. 247Sports basketball analyst Jerry Meyer put in a crystal ball for Banchero in favor of Tennessee on Friday.
Meyer’s prediction of Banchero’s crystal ball is the first of five predictions in Tennessee’s favor. Washington leads the way with three crystal ball predictions for Banchero, while Kentucky has one. Meyer has logged 1,370 predictions, and is correct 75.69 percent of the time.
Banchero is a unanimous five star rating by 247, Rivals and ESPN. 247 and ESPN consider Banchero the No. 3 overall player in the country, while Rivals cites the 6-foot-9, 235-pounder as the second-best player in the nation. 247 and ESPN consider him the best force in the country. Rivals consider him the second-best.
Tennessee coaching assistant coach Kim English has made a point of recruiting Banchero and has played a key role in the Vols as a serious supporter of the services of Seattle, WA. The Vols made Banchero’s first six earlier this year on April 29, along with Washington, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Duke and Arizona.
The friendship between Chandler and Banchero is well documented. Both have openly talked about playing basketball together.
The two were teammates at the Team USA mini-camp in Colorado in July of 2019. The pair played really well together at the event and it’s no coincidence Tennessee got them on campus the same weekend for an official visit in October.
Banchero also paid official visits to North Carolina, Kentucky and Duke in the fall, and then paid an official visit to Gonzaga in January. John Calipari visited Banchero in February, while Tennessee assistant coach Kim English has been to see him a handful of times since the fall.
Will Chandler be the domino that pushes Tennessee across the border for Banchero? Only time will tell, but Meyer seems to think so, and it will not hurt UT’s recruiting field.
