Tennessee’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie represents the good side (what’s left of it) of the transfer portal and NIL
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Like many others, I love college basketball because of players and stories like Tennessee’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
In our current age of the transfer portal and NIL, I’ve generally found the narrative surrounding March Madness and college hoops to be wholly demoralizing. I see headlines along the lines of “The death of the Cinderella” or “is college sports doomed?” ad nauseam.
To a certain extent, I get it. College basketball hasn’t seen a 13-over-4 upset or greater in 2 seasons and counting as mid-major programs struggle to keep up with the NIL budgets, and subsequently, the size and speed of top programs. Players can transfer as many times as they want, and it appears obvious that there are some transfers out there who are leaving their old schools not to find a perfect fit, but in chase of a payday.
No doubt, the system is being abused and the game is changing. Still, I don’t believe college basketball is on its deathbed quite yet. Not as long as there are transfer stories like Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s to add to the piles of good and bad.
The best word to describe the Vols’ lead guard is explosive.
“He’s dynamite,” Virginia HC Ryan Odom said of Gillespie this past weekend. “Just when you think you have him cornered, he gets around you and finds a way to get to the basket.”
Gillespie is an elite scorer and the latest in a line of star transfers brought to Knoxville by Vols head coach Rick Barnes. Gillespie, named the AP SEC Newcomer of the Year just a few days ago, is also putting together some of the best basketball of his career when it matters most.
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Home Sweet Home
Gillespie grew up in Greeneville, Tennessee, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains about 50 miles east of Knoxville. Starring at Greeneville High, Gillespie led the Greene Devils to back-to-back state championships in 2021 and 2022 before departing for middle Tennessee, where he played at Belmont for 2 seasons. After that, Gillespie landed at Maryland for his junior year.
Unsurprisingly, he was a weapon in the Terrapins’ backcourt. The East Tennessee native took Maryland to the second weekend, and he likely would have advanced further had Maryland not run into the eventual-national-champion Florida Gators in the Sweet 16. Terps head coach Kevin Willard (another part of the problem…) left for Villanova while Gillespie entered his name back into the transfer portal.
Over in Knoxville, Tennessee bid farewell to one of the best point guards in program history. Zakai Zeigler, after leading the Vols to back-to-back Elite Eights, had run out of eligibility, leaving Barnes and Co. with a massive spot to fill on the roster.
Enter Gillespie. Rather than opting for a massive payday, like Barnes suggested he could have done at the beginning of March 2026, Gillespie took less money and decided to live out his dream of playing point guard for Tennessee.
“I’ve said before he could’ve gone last year and made a lot more money, but he said, ‘No, I want to come home. I want to play in Food City Center.’ He dreamed about it,” Barnes said in early March, via Vols writer Grant Ramey.
Just to hammer this point home, Gillespie could have earned a ton of NIL money by following Willard to Villanova. Instead, Gillespie’s transfer to Tennessee was a win-win for both parties.
Tennessee has capitalized off the transfer portal more than most teams in college basketball. Dalton Knecht and Chaz Lanier will go down as top 10 players in the history of Vols hoops. Now, Gillespie’s stellar weekend in Philadelphia has the Vols on the cusp of reaching 3 straight Elite Eights, having already berthed 4-straight Sweet 16s.
“It’s just a blessing to be able to do it here in Knoxville where I’ve spent a lot of time growing up,” Gillespie said on Senior Day against Vanderbilt. “This year has been special for me and especially for my family. All my family and friends, they’ve been able to come to all the games and watch me, so it’s very special. And then to end it here is also special. To have a Tennessee jersey as my senior day jersey, that really means a lot to me.”
While Gillespie was only able to go to the Sweet 16 with Maryland, he’s playing like he wants to advance a lot further this season.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie can flat out go
I’m convinced that Ja’Kobi Gillespie is the best shooter there is from 30-35 feet in college basketball. The Maryland transfer has this high-arching release that splashes the net — he seems to make a shot from way downtown just about once per game.
This is why I wasn’t even the least bit surprised to see this ball go through the hoop at a crucial moment during Tennessee’s win over Virginia on Sunday.
Gillespie is not exactly known as a clutch player, but he sure was clutch when it mattered on Sunday. The Vols guard finished with 14 2nd-half points and hit all 6 of his free-throw attempts to ice Virginia in the final minutes.
He was even better in Tennessee’s first game against Miami (OH), dropping 29 points with 9 assists in a blowout Tennessee victory. On the weekend, Gillespie combined to score 50 points with 15 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 9-16 shooting from range. Apart from Arkansas‘s Darius Acuff Jr., you’ll find it tough to find a better stat line from a guard advancing to the Sweet 16.
There’s something you should keep in mind if you’re not a regular watcher of Tennessee basketball. This Tennessee team — compared to Knecht’s squad or Zeigler’s final season — is far from a flawless product. Following Sunday night’s win over Virginia, Barnes’ address to the team included the following line, with a smile: “We made it a little harder than it should be, that’s kind of who we are.”
The Vols turn the ball over a lot and lack a consistent offensive threat in the backcourt to flank Gillespie. He and star freshman Nate Ament are the only players the Vols can consistently turn to and say, “we need a bucket, go get us one.”
That distinction makes Gillespie’s weekend even more impressive when you realize Ament was playing hurt in both games, scoring 0 points against Miami before dropping a solid 16 points against Virginia. The fact that the Vols are playing in the Sweet 16 at all after a down regular season (by Barnes’ recent standards) can largely be accredited to the Greeneville native.
There’s a popular college basketball adage that says elite guard play wins in March. So far, that’s proven to be true for Tennessee. However, the Vols are going to need even more magic from Gillespie next weekend against Iowa State.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
