Lady Vols basketball player Destinee Wells has entered the transfer portal and after two seasons at Tennessee and will seek a new school for her final year of college basketball.
Wells, a 5-6 redshirt senior guard from Lakeland, Tennessee, played three years at Belmont – and nearly upset Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tourney in 2022 – and then became a Lady Vol for the 2023-24 season. She sustained a season-ending knee injury in practice after playing only 10 games.
Wells returned for the 2024-25 season after the coaching change and eased back into practice after the extensive knee rehab process. She appeared in nine games and went 4-8 from the arc. Wells suffered another season-ending lower leg injury in March and missed postseason. She has one year of eligibility as she had both a covid year and redshirt one due to injury.
Two other Lady Vols entered the portal in Avery Strickland, a 5-10 senior guard who will play at Belmont, and Favor Ayodele, a 6-1 senior forward from Móstoles, Spain, who hasn’t announced her destination yet.
Tennessee has added Nya Robertson, a 5-7 senior guard from Fort Worth, Texas. An All-ACC Second Team member, Robertson started 25 of 27 games for the Mustangs and averaged 18.5 points per game. She reached the 1,000-point career milestone in her 63rd college game at SMU after two seasons at George Washington.
The Lady Vols now have a roster of 13 with seven returning players, five incoming freshmen and one transfer. The roster cap for NCAA women’s basketball is 15, so Tennessee can add two more players if it wants to hit the maximum. The portal window closes April 23. An underclassman doesn’t have to choose a new school by April 23 but does need to be in the portal for immediate eligibility in 2025-26.
In a related matter, all college sports will be classified as equivalency sports in 2025-26 if the House vs. NCAA lawsuit gets final court approval. The $2.8 billion legal settlement currently is before U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken and while all sides are getting close to the massive overhaul of college athletics, the final terms of the deal haven’t been reached.
Softball has operated under the equivalency system for years – it allows players to be on partial scholarships – but it will be new for basketball. Under the proposed House settlement, softball would go from 12 scholarships to 25. That doesn’t mean all 25 are on full rides as a school would have to fund it.
It’s not clear yet how walk-ons would be handled because if a basketball coach signs 15 scholarship players, a walk-on would exceed the roster limit of 15, but a proposal has been made for a grandfather clause for those currently in school.
The effect on other sports with large rosters, such as rowing, swimming and softball, that include multiple walk-ons also will need to be resolved. It also explains why programs are adding general managers to navigate it, such as Arizona adding former Lady Vol Michelle Marciniak to its staff for that purpose.
Yes it’s true! My blood will always be Orange but my clothes are now Red and Blue ❤️?❤️
Michelle Marciniak Named General Manager of Arizona Women’s Basketball https://t.co/WyQ35snWUL
— Michelle M. Marciniak (@mmarciniak3) April 18, 2025
The latest court filing didn’t yet address roster limits in a story that can be read HERE. The roster limits, as it affects walk-ons, also could be challenged in court.
Current players and parents have been sending letters to Wilken to resolve the walk-on issues.
I’ve had a lot of people message me asking about this. This just in. It looks like Judge Wilken will be docketing all the comment letters that were recently submitted. I interpret this to mean: “I hear you out there.” But let’s see if those letters influence her decision. pic.twitter.com/0BWfFcCvi5
— Philip Sheng (@therealshenger) April 18, 2025
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