The 'What-If' Game With Kennedy Chandler
With Oscar Tshiebwe returning to Lexington next fall, Vol fans are left thinking about life after Kennedy Chandler.
Welcome to the “Tennessee Thomas” newsletter written by “The Sports Renaissance Man” Chase Thomas. This is a section of the newsletter where I write about the Tennessee Volunteers. Who would have guessed? I do hope that you enjoy it and add your email below so you never miss an issue. This newsletter is delivered to your inbox, not your doorstep, daily. Happy reading.
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It is unlikely that I was the only Tennessee Volunteer fan that raised an eyebrow when news broke about Kentucky star center Oscar Tshiebwe electing to return to Lexington next season. I read that and my mind went to Kennedy Chandler. I’m sure a lot more folks in Volunteer Country found the same to be true for them, too. The last time we saw Chandler in a Volunteer uniform he was emotionally distraught following an upset loss in the Round of 32 to Michigan. This season and this team clearly meant a lot to the future NBA guard. He also recognized that with the loss to the Wolverines that this was it for Chandler sporting the orange and white.
Chandler was not the only star SEC player to find himself devastated over an early loss in the NCAA Tournament. Tshiebwe and the Kentucky Wildcats were upset by Saint Peters in the Round of 64. It remains one of the biggest first-round upsets in the tournament’s history. Tshiebwe, like Chandler, was in a position where all eyes were on them all the time. Both had the look and game that made you think they could lead their SEC squads to the Final Four. Of course, it was not meant to be as both teams took their “L” and went home to Lexington and Knoxville, respectively.
And then the North Carolina run happened. The Tar Heels somehow became the lovable underdogs who nobody saw coming. Hubert Davis’s team just kept winning. The history books will forever show that it was the Tar Heels of Chapel Hill that put the final in Coach K’s coaching coffin in the Final Four. Ultimately, the Heels ran out of steam as their brilliant starting five finally were rendered mortal in that second half against Kansas. However, fans at home could see how cool this collective group was with one another. With no future NBA draft lottery picks amongst the group, it was conceivable that they could run it back next season. It looks like that is going to be the case, too. It is an exciting time for North Carolina basketball fans because it looks like they’re going to be able to get more time to spend with a collection of players they fell in love with this season, especially during the tournament, and see if they can make it back next year. This feeling is what makes collegiate sports special in a lot of ways when your school stumbles into that right collection of guys that just might be able to win a championship for your university before they all go their separate ways.
This is how a lot of Tennessee fans felt about this year’s team. Even with the tough loss of Olivier Nkamhoua late in the season, part of what made the 2021-22 season special for Volunteer Country was the team finding their identity and leaning into it. Guys figured out their roles and ran with it. This season had it all with the five-star guard in Chandler to the unreal emergence from Zakai Zeigler to the cornucopia of bigs that head coach Rick Barnes had to cycle through over the course of the season. The team won their first SEC Tournament title in my lifetime. By tournament time, it felt like this team really figured out who they were and how to win together, similar to what happened with North Carolina. The Vols were No. 9 in KenPom, 3rd in defense specifically, and Volunteer Country collectively bought all the way in.
Next year’s team won’t be the same, though. John Fulkerson has run out of credit hours, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield has entered the transfer portal and Kennedy Chandler declared for the NBA Draft and signed with an agent. Next year’s team is going to look different. Roles will have to be re-defined. The Vols will have to be extremely active in the transfer portal once again, especially on the guard front. B.J. Edwards might have to contribute early and often. Ultimately, the team that Volunteer Country fell in love with late last year will look nothing like next year’s team. However, that will not be the case at Kentucky and North Carolina. It’s just the way things played out this offseason.
But I cannot shake the $2 million NIL deal involving Oscar Tshiebwe. Sure, it needs to be addressed that Chandler is likely a first-round pick and Tshiebwe was looking like a late second-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Their professional careers will not mirror their collegiate careers, that much is sure. Like Keon Johnson the year prior, Chandler figures to get drafted somewhere just outside the top-15. The Los Angeles Clippers took Johnson at No. 21 last season, and, with the selection, he will make, you guessed it, around $2 million for the next three seasons. However, after the second year of his contract, it’s a club option for the team and that team is now the Portland Trail Blazers as the former Volunteer star has already been traded this early in his NBA career.
So, Chandler figures to fall somewhere in that category as well. His first contract figures to pay him around that figure, give or take. This brings us back to Oscar Tshiebwe and that $2 million NIL figure. Could the powers that be in Knoxville not have worked something out there? Well, this also depends on what Chandler ultimately wanted and if he wanted to go pro then this conversation is moot. However, with how much he grew over the course of this season and just how well he played in the tournament to showcase who could be a lead guard on a championship team, you wish there was a way to convince him to put off the NBA for one more year, but also make it make sense for him to do so with the aforementioned NIL deal. With BHH out the door and Chandler on his way to the NBA, that’s two key five-star kids from Rick Barnes’ last recruiting class out the door in a hurry.
Turnover is the nature of the beast in college sports now. I get it. We all get it. But, man, when you think about how excited Kentucky and North Carolina fans have to be heading into next season, you cannot help and think about what could have been with Kennedy Chandler in 2022-23.
Chase Thomas is “The Sports Renaissance Man”, “Atlanta Sports Guy” and Vol For Life. He is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee and resides in Knoxville, TN. Chase also obtained his undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of North Georgia. He has written for a variety of publications that include Outsider, SB Nation, VICE Sports, SI’s The Cauldron, Cox Media Group & ESPN’s TrueHoop Network. You can email him at chasethomaspodcast[at]gmail.