Tyler Lundblade initially hoped his final season at Belmont would put him in position to test the NBA draft waters.
Then he took a look at the field.
Lundblade saw a crowded group of older shooters and began thinking about what he needed to accomplish with one final year of college basketball.
That reflection helped lead him to Tennessee.
“The knock on me is that I need to prove that I can guard,” Lundblade said. “Well, there’s no better coach to learn under than Rick Barnes. There’s no better league to prove that in than the SEC. And I wanted to win.”
Tennessee offered an opportunity to address all three.
Lundblade could develop defensively under Barnes, test that development against SEC competition and join a program with championship aspirations.
There was also precedent for a player with his background succeeding in Knoxville.
Lundblade pointed to Dalton Knecht, Chaz Lanier and Ja’Kobi Gillespie as experienced transfers who found success at Tennessee. Gillespie, like Lundblade, previously played at Belmont.
“As a movement shooter, I think this offense fits me really well,” Lundblade said.
But one detail about his recruitment still catches Lundblade off guard.
He was Tennessee’s first transfer portal addition as Barnes began assembling a roster Lundblade believes can compete for a national championship.
For a player whose college career had rarely followed a straightforward path, the moment carried some weight.
“It’s still crazy to me that I was the first portal guy in this class of a team that’s trying to be built to go win a national championship,” Lundblade said. “Competing at that level is unbelievable.”
The significance becomes clearer against the backdrop of Lundblade’s career.
His path included scholarship opportunities disappearing after coaching changes at SMU and TCU before he eventually walked on at Belmont. There, Lundblade finally received the opportunity he had been searching for and developed into one of college basketball’s most productive shooters.
Tyler Lundblade’s journey to Knoxville was rarely straightforward.
You don’t have to re-explain the entire perseverance story. Two sentences establish why becoming Tennessee’s first portal addition meant something, and the hyperlink gives anyone interested in that journey somewhere to go next.
Then I’d bring the article back to why Tennessee, because there’s one more component of his decision that matters.
Basketball wasn’t the only draw.
Lundblade said having Barnes as a mentor was a significant part of choosing Tennessee. That connection began during their first phone conversation.
After spending roughly half the call discussing basketball and what Tennessee could offer him, Lundblade said the final 30 minutes of their hourlong conversation centered on their shared faith and Barnes’ journey as a coach and person.
That combination gave Lundblade what he was looking for in his final stop: an opportunity to address the weaknesses in his game, compete against SEC talent, play for a program expecting to win and learn from a coach he valued beyond basketball.
His path to Tennessee might not have been the one Lundblade envisioned when he began his college career.
But entering his final season, he knew exactly why he wanted it to end in Knoxville.
