According to Sports Illustrated, fifth-year transfer guard James Daniel is poised to have a solid season in his first and only year with the Vols.
Sports Illustrated released their list of projections for the top 100 transfer scorers for the upcoming 2017-18 season, and Tennessee’s James Daniel came in at No. 10 on the list.
According to SI, their list is limited to “players debuting on the 115 teams in the nation’s top nine conferences (American, ACC, Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Mountain West, Pac-12 and SEC) plus West Coast Conference contenders BYU, Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.” And according to their calculations, 128 players transferred to other Division I schools this offseason.
And according to Sports Illustrated, James Daniel has the potential to be one of the best of those transfers.
Their projections have James Daniel scoring 12.9 points per game this season. Granted, that’s down from his 21.5 point per game average he earned in four years at Howard University, but he was essentially the main scoring threat for Howard; at Tennessee, Daniel will be one of a handful of scorers.
Tennessee is replacing a bevy of offensive talent from their 2016-17 squad. Robert Hubbs, Kwe Parker, Shembari Phillips, and Lew Evans are all no longer on the team. Hubbs and Evans both graduated while Parker and Phillips both transferred.
The Vols’ top returning scorer from last year is Grant Williams, who averaged 12.6 points and 5.9 rebounds a game. Lamonte Turner is the next-highest returning scorer with an average of 8.2 points per game last season.
At Howarad, James Daniel led the NCAA in scoring in the 2015-16 season, putting up 27.1 points per contest. An ankle injury sidelined him for the vast majority of his senior season last year, and that’s why he was eligible to transfer to Tennessee in the off-season.
Daniel joins fellow guard Chris Darrington as transfers in to the Vols this season, and Tennessee also added forwards Yves Pons, Derrick Walker, and Zach Kent as freshmen in their recent recruiting class.
