The Vols are losing their rim-protecting center for the upcoming season with Kyle Alexander graduating after four years at Tennessee. In an effort to fill that void, the Vols have offered a five-star center who has the potential to reclassify from the 2020 class to the 2019 class.
Tennessee has extended an offer to N’Faly Dante, a five-star center and one of the top players in the 2020 cycle. Dante plays for Sunrise Christian in Wichita, Kansas, and he holds offers from some of the top college basketball programs in the country.
2020 five-star N’Faly Dante has been offered by Tennesseee. @nfaly_dante12
— TIPTON EDITS ? (@TiptonEdits) May 3, 2019
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Dante is the No. 10 overall player and No. 2 center in the 2020 class. The 6-foot-11, 230-pound center holds offers from Kansas, Kentucky, LSU, and Oregon among other schools. He added an offer from Michigan State the same day he got an offer from the Vols. The 6-foot-11 center has a reported wingspan of over seven feet.
Right now, Dante is in the 2020 recruiting class, but there’s a chance he could reclassify to the 2019 class according to Jake Weingarten of StockRisers.com. If Dante ends up reclassifying, that means he could sign with a school in the next few months and be eligible for the 2019-20 season.
As his rankings and measureables suggest, Dante is a true game-changing center. In fact, when I watch his film, I’m reminded a lot of a younger Dwight Howard.
Dante has a major presence in the paint, and he’s an explosive play-maker. Yes, Dante can dunk and make some highlight plays as he skies for alley-oops, dunks, and blocks on defense, but he can also knock down jumpers, though that needs to be an area he works on more. Not only is he a force on offense, but he commands the paint on defense, too.
According to Basketball Real GM, Dante averaged a ridiculous 15.3 points and 9.8 rebounds in just 11.3 minutes per game in 10 games for MoKan Elite in the AAU circuit.
Tennessee now has a spot available in their 2019 class assuming that Derrick Walker keeps his name in the NCAA transfer portal and elects to transfer to another school. The Vols have been pursuing four-star 2020 point guard Jalen Cone as an option to reclassify to the 2019 class already. It hasn’t been reported if Tennessee are discussing reclassifying with Dante yet, only that they’ve extended an offer to him.
The Vols signed five-star guard Josiah James, three-star forward Drew Pember, and three-star Davonte Gaines in the fall signing period of the 2019 cycle.
