No one had better portal seasons than these teams.
Grant Hughes
The college basketball transfer portal closed May 1, and though there are still plenty of uncommitted prospects on the board, several teams have already pulled off successful roster overhauls this offseason. Several teams on this list, including Alabama, Kansas, and North Carolina, made the preseason top 25, while others, like Arkansas and Kentucky, entered the conversation with big portal hauls.
Seventeentransfer prospects from thetop 100 rankings are still looking for teams. With plenty of movement expected over the next few weeks, several more teams could join this list before the dust settles.
More than1,900 players enteredthetransfer portalfor the 2024 cycle, including the final round of super COVID seniors; because of this, the record number of transfer portal entries set in 2024 is unlikely to be topped.Our final portal rankings, a top 150 full of impact starters and future college basketball stars,were released earlier this week.
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Here are 10 college basketball teams that boosted their stock in the transfer portal:
West Virginia Mountaineers
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 4
Darian DeVries had plenty of work to doafterinheriting a 9-23squad.He got to work early and has landed commitments from six transfers, highlighted by four-stars Javon Small and his son, Tucker DeVries. Small, the No. 9 prospect and No. 2 point guard, averaged 15.1 points, 4.7 reboundsand4.1 assists at Oklahoma State last season and shot 44.1% from the floor and 37.4% from three. DeVries is an NBA talent. He's 6-foot-7 and converted 36.3% of his three-point attempts despite being the focal point of opposing defenses. The Mountaineersare poisedfor abigrebound in 2024-25.
Baylor Bears
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 17
Baylorwent intothe transfer portal as atop 10 contender andexit as a bona fide top-five team next season.The Bears had already signed the class of 2024's top-ranked shooting guard and added former Duke star Jeremy Roach at the point, giving the Bears one of the top backcourts in the nation. Scott Drew also addressed thin numbers in the front court with Miami transfer Norchad Omier, the top-ranked power forward in the portal.
St. John’s Red Storm
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 3
St. John's landed the top overall player in the portal, Kadary Richmond, after ahugeyear at Seton Hall,where he averaged15.7 points, 7.0 reboundsand5.1 assists per game. He'll pair well with fellow transfer guard Devon Smith, the No. 13 overall prospect. Richmond is tall and long at 6-foot-5, while Smith, 5-foot-11, is among the class's most explosive guards.On paper,this looks like Rick Pitino's best backcourt in a decade.Four-star transfer Aaron Scott gives the team much-needed three-point shooting from the wing, while seven-foot center Vincent Iwuchukwu has plenty of untapped potential.
Indiana Hoosiers
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 2
Indiana lost three players to the transfer portal this offseason, but none found homes in the Power Four ranks. The Hoosiers have added the No. 2 class in the nation, headlined by former Arizona center Oumar Ballo, the No. 2 player in the portal. Top-ranked combo guard Kanaan Carlyle adds versatility to Mike Woodson's backcourt and could push for starting minutes in a backcourt that returns Gabe Cupps and Trey Galloway. Four-star guards Luke Goode and Myles Rice add more depth to a Hoosiers backcourt that projects as one of the Big Ten's best next season.
Arkansas Razorbacks
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 1
Arkansas finished 16-17 under Eric Musselman last season. The good news for the Razorbacks is John Calipari came to town and brought his elite recruiting skills with him. Arkansas boasts the best class in the portal.It's headlinedby former FAU guard Johnell Davis, who should be among the early favorites for SEC Player of the Year next season. Four-star centers Jonas Aidoo and Zvonimir Ivisic and versatile small forward Adou Thiero round out the class. Calipari also brought over three top 25 high school recruits from Kentucky. There are a lot of new pieces in Fayetteville, and they may take time to gel, but Arkansas' arrow is way up over the last month.
Michigan Wolverines
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 2
Michigan isn't on top 25 radars after Juwan Howard gutted the program over the last five years. However, there's potential for the Wolverines to be a surprise team in the Big Ten next year, with new head coach Dusty May bringing in an intriguing group of portal talent. We're particularly fond of what May is doing in Michigan's frontcourt. The Wolverines added a highly skilled center-in seven-footer Danny Wolf, a plus defender and rebounder who can shoot from the outside. Adding 7-foot-1 big man Vladislav Golden further bolsters Michigan's paint presence. He averaged 15.7 points on 67.3% shooting last season andaveraged1.6 blocks per game. Good luck driving on Michigan next season.
Alabama Crimson Tide
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 7
Alabama is fresh off its first Final Four appearance, and Nate Oatsis lookingto step back into irrelevancy. The Crimson Tide is still awaiting an NBA Draft decision from star guard Mark Sears but didn't wait to add pieces around him should he return. Alabama added insurance at point guard with Auburn transfer Aden Holloway and secured one of the portal's best shooters in Chris Youngblood from South Florida. Oats needed a starting center to pair alongside star forward Grant Nelson and beat out North Carolina for former Rutgers star Cliff Omoruyi. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better frontcourt than Nelson and Omoruyi.
Kansas Jayhawks
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 6
Kansas is an early championship favorite next season after the Jayhawks welcomed back All-America big man Hunter Dickinson and floor general Dajuan Harris and paired the two with a stacked portal class. Wisconsin transfer AJ Storr adds an All-America scoring punch. So does South Dakota State transfer Zeke Mayo, who averaged 18.8 points and shot 39.1% from three last season. Alabama transfer Rylan Griffin ranked in the 90th percentile in the country as a spot-up shooter last season. Size and shooting is a Final Four recipe, and Kansas has both in spades.
Kentucky Wildcats
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 5
Change was needed at Kentucky after the program's recent string of disappointing NCAA Tournament finishes under John Calipari. It's no surprise that Calipari's elite recruiting class followed him out the door, but those losses havebeen mitigatedby the stellar transfer portal class Mark Pope has assembled since taking the job. Transfer guards Kerr Kriisaand Koby Brea project as one of the nation's best shooting backcourts next season, while Amari Williams and Brandon Garrison give the Wildcats plenty of size in talent in the paint.
North Carolina Tar Heels
Transfer Portal Class Ranking:No. 84
It's not always about who you addinthe portal; it's who you keep. UNC's only portal departure, forward James Okonkwo, averaged 2.9 minutes per game last season. The Tar Heels also reeled back their best perimeter defender and sixth maninSethTrimble. With RJ Davis running it back, UNCis setto have the ACC's best backcourt with Trimble, Davisandformer five-star Elliot Cadeau. Former Belmont forward Cade Tyson is the Tar Heels' lone portal addition, but he's a big one after shooting 46.5% from three-point range last season. UNC still needs a big man in the portal after missing out on Cliff Omuyari, but it has reached out to three new prospects. We expect the Tar Heels will get it done with at least one of them. This team is a national championship contender next season.
