With the NCAA Tournament hanging in the balance and a chance at immortality just a few wins away, college basketball coaches face a difficult balance between the present and the future. The transfer portal opens on March 18, the day after Selection Sunday, forcing staffers to put at least some energy into building their 2024-25 rosters during the most critical period of the 2023-24 season. Ta.
“Yeah, we shouldn't be open right now,” UW coach Dan Hurley said before the Huskies opened the NCAA Tournament with a win over Stetson. “The fact that it opens on a Monday during a great week in college basketball is strange and adds to the confusion.”
The portal also opened the day after Selection Sunday 2023, but was open for 60 days. There are only 45 open days this year, which gives coaches of teams with a lot to do in the postseason even more time.
“This is a delicate transaction,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “If you go to trials on Sunday, you have to wake up early on Monday morning and study and text and make phone calls. So I thought, 'Is there a way to win on Friday?' 'I don't want to criticize because there are some kids here who have come through the transfer portal, but I think there needs to be a group of smart people trying to come up with a better calendar. ”
The spring portal window opens on March 18th and will remain open until May 1st. However, players who have entered the portal by then do not have a clear deadline as to when they must commit. In addition, graduate transfers and players affected by a managerial change that occurs after May 1 will be able to transfer after the deadline.
Once players enter the portal, we will rank the best players here. Rankings are updated regularly as players enter the portal or announce their intention to enter the portal.
Check out the latest updates on the transfer portal from 247Sports
1. Clifford Omoruyi
Old school: rutgers
Entering the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Omoruyi's 93 blocks ranked fourth in the nation. The 6-foot-11 center is an elite rim protector who won back-to-back Big Ten All-Defense awards. Omoruyi also averaged double digits in each of the last three seasons and recorded 29 double-doubles in his four years with the program. He can't do much offensively away from the rim, but he's good defensively.
2. Jevon Porter
Old school: pepperdine
Porter is ranked as a top-100 prospect in the 2022 class and earned All-WCC honors this season while averaging 16.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and one block per game. The 6-foot 11-year-old younger brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr. is a career 32.5% 3-point shooter and has attracted major major interest thanks to his size, pedigree and flashes of perimeter shooting. may be collected.
3. Darling Stone Dubar
Old school: hofstra
Duver is a 6-foot-6 wing who averaged 17.8 points, 39.9 percent from 3-point range and 6.8 rebounds for Hofstra's 20-win team. He started his career at Iowa State and started seven games for the Cyclones in 2020-21. As a fifth-year player with a proven shot and size, he will have a chance to return to a major conference. Alabama guard Aaron Estrada is an example of a quality major player coming from Hofstra.
4. Maxime Reynaud
Old school: stanford
Raynaud nearly doubled his scoring average to 15.5 points per game as a junior and was named the Pac-12's Most Improved Player. The 7-footer collected 9.6 rebounds per game and shot 36.1 percent from 3-point range on 61 attempts. The downside is that his defense is limited for a player his size (0.8 blocks per game in 29.1 minutes).
5. Kobe Johnson
Old school: University of Southern California
Johnson emerged as an elite defender for USC, recording 2.2 steals per game and was rated as one of the top players on the side in the Pac-12. The 6-foot-5 wing also scored 10.9 points per game in 2023-24. Johnson only shoots 32.9 percent from 3-point range in his career, but he has some talent as a distributor and will be a plug-and-play veteran in his next home.
6. Tyryn Lawrence
Old school: Vanderbilt
Lawrence is a 6-foot-4 guard who has made 105 total appearances for SEC programs. Although he only shoots 28.7 percent from 3-point range in his career, he is an excellent defender and has averaged over 13 points per game over the past two seasons. He is a production veteran and the type of person who can provide reliable minutes for great major shows.
7. Brandon Garrison
Old school: oklahoma
Garrison showed a glimpse of why he was a top-50 prospect and a 2023 McDonald's All-American during his freshman season at Oklahoma State. While he still has a lot of progression to do offensively, Garrison is blocking 1.5 shots per game in just 22.7 minutes and still has three seasons left to continue fulfilling his potential.
8. Gibson Jimerson
Old school: st louis
Shooters like Jimerson don't come along very often. The 6-foot-5 wing made 39.5 percent of his 789 long-range shots in five seasons with St. Louis. He has one season left to play and should get a lot of attention after demonstrating one of the most consistent outside strokes in college basketball in an unparalleled sample size.
9. Jacob Crews
Old school: UT Martin | New school: missouri
Cruz shot 41.4 percent from 3-point range on 6.7 attempts per game as a junior on a UT Martin team that won a share of the OVC regular season title. He also pulled down 8.2 rebounds per game for the Skyhawks. His defense is questionable, but at 6-7 and with a good shooting stroke, he will attract a lot of interest.
10. Doug McDaniel
Old school: michigan
McDaniel averaged 16.3 points and 4.7 assists on a weak Michigan team while shooting 36.8% on 5.8 3-pointers. The 5-11 guard is also rated as the Wolverines' top defender, according to evanmiya.com. Although his offensive output has declined against Big Ten opponents, the former four-star prospect will help a team that needs to improve its guard play.
11. Canaan Carlyle
Old school: stanford
Carlisle was ranked as a four-star prospect in 2023 and averaged 11.5 points and 2.7 assists per game in his freshman season at Stanford. His best games were against Arizona State and Washington State, both NCAA Tournament teams. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining and has a proven body of work at the high-major level, so there's some upside here.
12. Collen Johnson
Old school: Washington
Johnson averaged 11.1 points, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals for Washington and won the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year Award. The 6-foot-2 guard is a career 3-point shooter of 35.1 percent over his two seasons and is also regarded as an excellent defender for his size.
13. Malik Dia
Old school: belmont
Deer didn't play much during his freshman season at Vanderbilt, but shined as a dynamic frontcourt player during his sophomore season at Belmont. With the Bruins, he averaged 16.9 points and 5.8 boards while shooting 34.1 percent from 3-point range. He is 6-9 and has amazing athleticism for a player of such a large frame. Although his game needs improvement, Deer's upside is clear.
14. Jacobi Gillespie
Old school: belmont
Belmont was great when Gillespie was on the floor. He averaged 17.2 points, 4.2 assists, and 2.2 steals for the Bruins. He's on the small side for a 6-foot guard, but he shot an impressive 66 percent from inside the arc and a solid 38.7 percent from beyond the arc. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining, and he's worth a shot for a high-major team in need of an on-ball guard.
15. Houston Mallet
Old school: pepperdine
Mallett has made 512 attempts in three seasons at Pepperdine and is a career 37.5 percent 3-point shooter. The 6-foot-5 guard improved his percentage to a career-high 41.5% in 2023-24 and played in big games against tough opponents like Indiana State and UNLV. His combination of size and proven perimeter shooting will be appealing.
16. Bensley Joseph
Old school: miami
Joseph played a key role on Miami's Final Four team in 2023, increasing his contributions to 9.6 points and 3.4 assists per game as a starter in the 2023-24 season. The 6-foot-1 guard is a career 37.9 percent 3-point shooter and has one season left in his game.
17. Amari Williams
Old school: drexel
Williams won CAA Defensive Player of the Year for the third straight year while averaging 1.8 blocks per game. The 6-foot-10-inch rim protector is rated among the top 100 defenders in all of college basketball after conference tournament games, according to evanmiya.com. He also had 12.2 points and 7.8 rebounds for a Dragons team that won 20 games.
18. Michael Adjaye
Old school: pepperdine
Ajayi, 6-foot-7, averaged 17.2 points and shot 47 percent from 3-point range on 2.5 attempts per game in his only season at Pepperdine. Ajayi was the Wave's main rebounder with 9.9 rebounds per game, but his defense was questionable. But there's enough here to pique the interest of major programs.
19. Frankie Fiddler
Old school: Omaha
Fiddler finished second in the Summit League with 20.1 points per game. The 6-foot-7 forward was effective against Big 12 foes TCU and Texas Tech, shooting 35.6 percent from 3-point range in 2023-24. Max Abmas (Oral Roberts to Texas) and Grant Nelson (North Dakota State to Alabama) are recent examples of players who transferred from this league and played big roles on good teams.
20. Andrei Stojaković
Old school: stanford
According to 247Sports, Stojakovic averaged 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 22.3 minutes as a freshman at Stanford, making him a top 25 prospect in 2023. He wasn't an impactful defender, shooting only 32.7 percent from 3-point range. But with his remaining three seasons of play, he'll have time to realize the potential that made him a McDonald's All-American.
21. Clark Slychart
Old school: pen
Slichert averaged 18 points per game in the 2023-24 season, shooting 42.2% from 3-point range on 6.1 attempts per game. At 6-foot-1, it may be difficult for him to adapt to the demands of defense at the high-major level. But his offensive game will make him attractive to high-major programs in need of perimeter firepower.
22. Honest Parker
Old school: st louis
Parker is the definition of instant offense. The 6-3 guard averaged 15.9 points per game and shot 42.6 percent from 3-point range in just 20.7 minutes off St. Louis' bench. He had three consecutive games of 30 or more during his time playing in the A-10 in February. That should get him interested in a major program.
23. Jordan Sears
Old school: Utah Martin
Looking for buckets? Sears has you covered. The 5-foot-11 guard ranked ninth nationally in points per game with 21.6 points per game while shooting 43.2 percent from 3-point range on 5.5 attempts per game during his time at UT Martin. According to evanmiya.com, he recorded 4.5 assists per game and was rated as the Skyhawks' top defender. It's hard to decipher how that translates to tougher conferences, but he's worth keeping an eye on for teams in need of scoring power.
24. Michale Brown-Jones
Old school: UNC Greensboro
After two years in the majors at UNC Greensboro, Brown-Jones has proven he deserves a chance in the majors. He is 6 feet 8 inches tall and shot 43.1% from 3-point range in the 2023-24 season, leading his team to 21 wins. In a past life, Brown-Jones was on the outskirts of the rotation for a VCU team that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2022.
25. Jacob Meyer
Old school: carolina coast
Meyer averaged 15.7 points on 40.2 percent 3-point shooting as a freshman and was a bright spot on an otherwise poor Coastal Carolina team. The 6-foot-2 guard was an unheralded player in high school, but after a solid season in the Sun Belt, he could gain attention in the majors.
