College hoops will soon be upon us, and we’re helping bettors with their NCAA basketball futures wagers by looking at teams that gained the most, and lost the most, in the offseason transfer portal.
To quote Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” That’s how some college basketball coaches are feeling right now when they look down their roster and see new, experienced arrivals, or departures, following the latest barrage of transfers.
With so much going on in the sports world this time of year, it’s easy to overlook the fact that this time next month, we’ll be discussing updated rankings following the second week of the college basketball season.
Dickens also warned us, “It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,” so now is the time for bettors to review rosters and discover just who is playing where, or they’ll be left in the early dust playing the NCAA basketball odds.
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Dirty Dozen Winners and Losers
There may be structure to a college geography course, but there was no rhyme or reason to the geography in the transfer portal as some players stayed close to home while others ventured far away to new surroundings.
The Big 12 is a great example of the former with two key players moving within the league. Texas scored a huge transfer when Chris Beard coaxed Iowa State’s Tyrese Hunter, last year’s Big 12 Freshman of the Year, to Austin with a new NIL deal.
Coming off their fourth National Championship, Bill Self and Kansas also upgraded at a conference foe’s expense by landing Kevin McCullar, formerly of Texas Tech, to help ease the loss of Ochai Agbaji to the NBA and keep the Jayhawks rocking chalk at top-rated sportsbooks.
Losing Hunter hurts an Iowa State team that bounced back in 2021-22 to make the Sweet 16 one season after going 0-18 in Big 12 play, but Texas Tech might be the biggest transfer loser after seeing Terrence Shannon Jr. head to Illinois in addition to McCullar going to Kansas.
Both Score Big on Transfers
Terrence Shannon, Jr. wasn’t the only talent Illinois coach Brad Underwood plucked from the Big 12. Also coming to Champaign are forwards Matthew Mayer and Dain Dainja, both coming from Baylor, to help beef up a frontcourt that lost 7-footer Kofi Cockburn.
Providence was one of last year’s pleasant surprises. The Friars won their first Big East regular season title, and made it to the Sweet 16. Now we get to see if Ed Cooley can handle the pressure of being a conference favorite, as well as how he incorporates new transfers into the scheme.
Cooley lost some big-time talent, headlined by guard Al Durham and center Nate Watson, but snared one of the biggest names in the transfer portal by luring Bryce Hopkins from Kentucky, along with Clifton Moore (La Salle), Devin Carter (South Carolina) and Noah Locke (Louisville) to keep the Friars a popular college basketball pick.
Both on Downward Spiral
Scandals have really taken their toll on a once-proud Louisville program. The Cardinals hoped Chris Mack would help get the school over the hump and beyond following the Rick Pitino debacle, but that proved a failure and now the program is in the hands of Kenny Payne.
Payne is in for what projects to be a rough first season after the Cardinals lost Locke to Providence. To his credit, Payne was able to bring in sophomore forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield from Texas, but that was it and the backcourt is in shambles.
Likewise, Kyle Smith and Washington State have questions to answer in the backcourt after closing the 2021-22 season in strong fashion.
The Cougars lost Michael Flowers, Tyrell Roberts (San Francisco) and Noah Williams (Washington), that trio lighting up NCAA basketball scoreboards, and if Mouhamed Gueye had not withdrawn from the transfer portal, the Cougars would be in terrible shape.
How Will Scheyer Fare in Durham?
Two of the early matchups all college basketball bettors and fans look forward to take place at the Champions Classic, and for the first time since the event was born in 2011, there is going to be a different look among the four head coaches.
Jon Scheyer is now in charge of the program at Duke, and the former Blue Devil has the impossible task of filling the shoes of Mike Krzyzewski. It’s almost a completely revamped roster, but Scheyer was able to bring in guard Jacob Grandison (Illinois), Kale Catchings (Harvard) and Ryan Young (Northwestern).
We’ll grade this one as an ‘Incomplete’ until we see how Scheyer stacks up against three of the coaching greats at the Champions Classic on November 15.
Calculators
