Tennessee point guard commit Kennedy Chandler is now a consensus five-star following a bump in his ranking from one publication.
247Sports bumped Chandler up one spot to No. 18 in their most recent recruiting rankings update that were released on Wednesday. Chandler also received his fifth star from 247. He’s considered the second-best point guard in the country, trailing only five-star point guard J.D. Davison who is considered the No. 10 overall player in the country.
Chandler was already considered a five-star prospect by Rivals and ESPN. Rivals considers Chandler the top point guard and the 10th-overall player in the country. ESPN ranks Chandler as the top point guard as well, and the top basketball player in the state of Tennessee.
The Memphis native now plays his high school basketball in Kansas, however, after transferring from Briarcrest Christian to Sunrise Christian Academy. 247 considers Chandler as the second-best prospect in the state of Kansas.
Chandler is the third consensus five-star for Tennessee in the last two recruiting cycles. The Vols signed five-star guards Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson in the 2020 recruiting cycle. Current Tennessee sophomore guard Josiah-Jordan James was a five-star in the 2019 247 composite rankings, but 247 itself listed James as a four-star.
Chandler committed to Tennessee over Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and Memphis last month on Aug. 14 to give the Vols their first basketball commit in the class of 2021.
“Coach Rick Barnes, they have been recruiting me ever since they knew who I was — ever since Day 1,” Chandler said to ESPN’s Paul Biancardi on Instagram Live when he committed. “(Assistant) Coach Kim English and them, they recruited me hard. On my official visit, it felt like home. It was my first official visit and I really liked it.
“I’ll be looking forward to winning and going to the Final Four and winning the national championship and bringing energy and excitement to Thompson-Boling Arena.”
As a sophomore for Briarcrest, Chandler averaged 19.5 points, four rebounds, 3.6 steals, and three assists per game according to MaxPreps. He was also voted TSSAA Division II Class AA Mr. Basketball for both his sophomore season and his junior season this past year, winning the title in back-to-back years. As a junior, Chandler averaged 22.2 points and 4.3 assists. He helped lead Briarcrest to the state title game where they lost 50-47 to Knoxville Catholic. Chandler totaled 13 points and five assists in the game.
During the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in April through July of last year, Chandler played for the MOKAN Elite squad. In 19 total games during the EYBL, Chandler averaged 14.7 points, 5.9 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.2 steals a game while shooting 50.5 percent overall, 31.1 percent from three, and 72.9 percent from the free throw line according to D1Circuit.com.
The Vols are coming off a 2020 recruiting cycle in which the Vols inked the No. 4 overall class in the country. In addition to signing Springer and Johnson, four-star power forward Corey Walker Jr. also signed with Tennessee.
