The college basketball season kicks off Nov. 4 and, thanks to the transfer portal, rosters across the country will look completely different than they did last season.
Now that the 2024 basketball transfer rankings are final, here are five things to keep an eye on that will impact this season.
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FINAL FOUR VARIETY
The programs that participated in last season's Final Four entered the offseason with different philosophies.
UConn, the reigning national champs, proved judicious by adding Michigan center transfer Tarris Reed and St. Mary’s combo guard Aidan Mahaney. Reed is ranked No. 35 overall and averaged 9.0 points and 7.2 rebounds as a sophomore for the Wolverines, and Mahaney is No. 43 after averaging 13.9. points and 2.6 assists per game for the Gaels.
National runner-up Purdue didn’t add any players in the portal, and instead have five freshmen arriving.
NC State landed five players in the portal with center Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and wing Michael James from Louisville, forward Dontrez Styles from Georgetown, shooting guard Marcus Hill from Bowling Green and power forward Ismael Diouf of Laval University in Canada. Huntley-Hatfield is ranked No. 33, James is No. 115 and Styles checks in at No. 151.
Alabama was aggressive in landing Rutgers starting center Clifford Omoruyi (No. 16), Pepperdine shooter Houston Mallette (No. 68) on the wing, South Florida wing Chris Youngblood (No. 99) and sophomore point guard Aden Holloway (No. 149) from rival Auburn.
NEW COACHES, NEW ROSTERS
The intertwining reshaping of rosters at Kentucky, Arkansas and USC, along with Louisville starting over from scratch, dominated headlines in the spring. Kentucky finished with the No. 1 transfer class, followed by Kansas State, USC, Louisville and Indiana.
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman left for USC, which then led Kentucky coach John Calipari to leave for the Razorbacks. Kentucky hired alum Mark Pope from BYU. All three hit the portal in a major way.
Kentucky relied on one-and-done freshmen under Calipari, but now have battle-tested older players. UK landed senior center Amari Williams from Drexel, senior power forwards Andrew Carr from Wake Forest and Ansley Almonor of Fairleigh Dickinson, senior wings Jaxson Robinson from BYU and sharp-shooter Koby Brea from Dayton, senior point guard Kerr Kriisa from West Virginia and senior guard Lamont Butler from San Diego State. Add in junior shooting guard Otega Oweh from Oklahoma and sophomore post player Brandon Garrison and every box got checked.
Arkansas blended some former Kentucky players such as sophomore guard D.J. Wagner, sophomore center Zvonimir Ivisic and junior power forward Adou Thiero, but also landed some star power to go with them. Senior center Jonas Aidoo had a breakout season at Tennessee, and he is joined by former Florida Atlantic standout Johnell Davis, a small forward.
USC tried to add two of everything, which led to senior centers Josh Cohen from UMass and Rashaun Agee from Bowling Green.
Senior power forward Saint Thomas from Northern Colorado, combo forward Terrance Williams from Michigan, small forward Chibuzo Agbo from Boise State and Yale forward Matt Knowling, along with sophomore forward Kevin Patton fortify the frontcourt.
Xavier junior transfer Desmond Claude was a major addition to the backcourt, along with senior guard Clark Stajchert from Pennsylvania, sophomore wing Wesley Yates and shooter Bryce Pope from California-San Diego.
Louisville went 8-24 overall and 3-17 in the ACC and hired new coach Pat Kelsey, who inherited zero players. The Cardinals landed one freshman in Khani Rooths, and filled out the rest of the roster with transfers.
The aforementioned Edwards will be joined on the perimeter by Wisconsin senior point guard transfer Chucky Hepburn, junior guard Koren Johnson from Washington and a pair of Kelsey’s former guards at College of Charleston Reyne Smith and Kobe Rodgers.
Senior J’Vonne Hadley from Colorado and senior forward Aboubacar Traore are joined by a quartet of post players. Louisville brought in senior Kasean Pryor from South Florida, senior Noah Waterman from BYU, sophomore James Scott from College of Charleston and senior Frank Anselem-Ibe from Georgia for the post. Additionally, BYU senior center Aly Khalifa is expected to redshirt.
WE ARE THE NO. 1 TEAM
Kansas went 22-10 overall and lost to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and that wasn’t acceptable to coach Bill Self.
He quickly went to work to remake his roster and landed a trio of talented perimeter players in junior wings AJ Storr from Wisconsin and Rylan Griffen from Alabama, and brought home senior guard Zeke Mayo from South Dakota State.
KU landed additional backcourt help with Northern Illinois high-scoring point guard David Coit, a senior, and senior combo guard Shakeel Moore from Mississippi State.
Mayo is ranked No. 4 by Rivals.com, Storr is No. 12, Griffen is No. 64 and Coit ranks No. 131. Mayo and Storr combined to average 35.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game last year.
Former Vanderbilt and Rice wing Noah Shelby also transferred in and is expected to redshirt.
RACE FOR NO. 1 TRANSFER PROSPECT
The battle for the Rivals.com top transfer player wasn’t easy, with Tulsa redshirt freshman P.J. Haggerty edging James Madison do-it-all senior guard Terrence Edwards. Haggerty, who has three years of eligibility remaining, transferred to Memphis, and Edwards landed at Louisville.
Haggerty broke out his freshman year for 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game for Tulsa. He had 20 games of 20-plus points, with a season-high 32 against South Florida on March 9.
Edwards helped lead JMU to the NCAA Tournament and averaged 17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest. He shot 42.7 percent from the field and 34.3 percent on 3-pointers.
Early returns have been promising. Haggerty had 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists in a 84-76 exhibition loss against North Carolina on Oct. 15. He went 8 of 14 from the field and went 7 of 9 at the free-throw line.
Edwards drained 6 of 11 on 3-pointers and 9 of 14 overall en route to a team-high 24 points during a 106-59 win over Young Harris in an exhibition contest Oct 21. He added three assists, three steals and two rebounds.
BIG GROUP FOR CRITICAL SEASON IN BLOOMINGTON
Indiana needed to do a renovation of its house last spring after going 19-14 overall and 10-10 in the Big Ten, and missing out on the NCAA Tournament.
Indiana coach Mike Woodson went to work and landed Arizona senior center Oumar Ballo, Stanford sophomore guard Kanaan Carlyle, Washington State sophomore point guard Myles Rice, Bellarmine senior center Langdon Hatton, Illinois senior wing Luke Goode and South Carolina State senior center Dallas James.
Ballo is ranked No. 6, Carlyle is No. 8, Rice is No. 24 and Hatton is No. 160 in the Rivals.com transfer rankings. The group does a little bit of everything, and the six-man class collectively averaged 56.2 points per game last year.
Rice and Carlyle gave a tease of what could happen when they played each other Jan. 19, 2024, at Stanford. Rice hit five 3-pointers and had 35 points and eight assists in a 89-75 win over the Cardinal and Carlyle had 31 points, three assists and three 3-pointers.
Ballo had 12.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest for Arizona in helping the Wildcats go 27-9.
