College basketball winners, losers from the 2022 transfer portal cycle

The Transfer Portal is now a primary roster-building tool for college basketball coaches, and a necessary one. The most recent offseason has already featured 1,716 division one players enter the portal in hopes of finding a new home. For some perspective, that’s 4.73 players per D1 team who entered the portal. On roughly 15-man rosters, teams are losing 30% or more of their roster to the portal every single season.

But that means some programs are loading up in the portal, replacing whatever they lost through graduation and their own transfers with guys from other schools. Now that the roster re-shuffling is grinding to a halt, here are some winners and losers from this year’s portal, courtesy of CBS. With some background info from me on each class. Take a gander:

Winner: Miami

The ‘Canes landed two crown jewels in the portal to join a pretty stacked returning core off of their 2022 Elite Eight run. The No. 2 overall player in the On3 Transfer Rankings, bruising forward Norchad Omier brings his rebounding and scoring chops to Miami after previously playing at Arkansas State. Meanwhile the No. 19 overall player, Nijel Pack of Kansas State, could very well be the more productive player of the two, and I’m confident he’ll be the higher scorer after knocking down more than three threes per game on 43.6% shooting in 2022. The little fella is one of the top snipers in the country and likely the best to come out of the portal.

Loser: LSU

Sure, LSU is a loser in the sense that they literally lost most of their roster to the portal following Will Wade’s unceremonious departure. However, credit new coach Matt McMahon for an impressive reload following the migration of the ’22 core. He snagged his three best players off his former team, Murray State, including the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year in big man KJ Williams. Analytics savant Evan Miyakawa ranked LSU’s haul as the third-best transfer class in the nation! Plus, McMahon also talked 2021 transfer Adam Miller into staying. The former Illinois guard essentially counts as a transfer for this year’s team since he missed all of last season. A former top-30 recruit, Miller has pedigree, a slick jumper and a high ceiling for the Tigers.

Winner: Illinois

Illinois lost a TON off their ’22 team, including six of their seven leading scorers. But nabbing top-30 ranked transfer wings Matthew Mayer and Terrence Shannon Jr. from Baylor and Texas Tech goes a long way in softening the losses. Expect the Illini to retain a productive offense, headlined by former Big 12 guys who should pop with expanded roles — and better injury luck in Shannon’s case. You could also argue Andre Curbelo’s loss is addition by subtraction after a rough sophomore season.

Winner: Providence

CBS likes the Friars’ transfer haul a bit more than they ought to. However, there’s decent upside with the class they brought in. Kentucky forward Bryce Hopkins has every physical tool imaginable but failed to provide productive minutes for the ‘Cats. Friar fans, go watch his game against LSU if you want to see the potential you’re getting in Hopkins. Heck of a ceiling for him. Noah Locke comes in as a fifth-year after three years shooting over 40% from three at Florida, followed by spending 2022 in an outright barn fire at Louisville. He should bounce back. La Salle’s Clifton Moore provides rim protection. And Corey Floyd Jr. from UCONN is a personal favorite. Loved that dude’s high school tape, especially in the 2021 Peach Jam title.

Loser: Texas Tech

The transfer portal is a zero sum game, and Texas Tech’s loss is Illinois’ gain. In addition to TJ Shannon, the Red Raiders lost Kevin McCullar to rival Kansas. That strings, plus leaves Tech without their three leading scorers in 2022. They did land the nation’s second-leading rebounder, Fardaws Aimaq, to lessen the blow. But make no mistake, year two will be a tougher job for Mark Adams.

Winner: Butler

Another Big East club who CBS pegged as a transfer portal winner that didn’t really gain a whole lot of star power. However, Eric Hunter Jr., Manny Bates and Ali Ali provide three immediate role players for the Bulldogs. Hunter as a do-it-all combo guard, Bates as an athletic rim protector, and Ali Ali brings a fantastic name and nearly 14-points-per-game scoring from Akron. Decent haul, but nothing to worship.

Winner: Creighton

Now this Big East team is a big winner. Greg McDermott returns most of his core guys after hanging with eventual champion Kansas in the tourney. He also nabbed On3’s No. 8 overall transfer in Baylor Scheierman from South Dakota State, who will need to adjust to the much more athletic Big East but should at least provide higher-upside version of what Ryan Hawkins did for the Blue Jays in ’22. With that jumper and his resume, the lefty sharpshooter projects as a perfect fit for Creighton.

Loser: Iowa State

Man, what a fall for Iowa State. New coach TJ Otzelberger was the toast of the country after handling Memphis and Iowa early in the year and starting out 12-0 following a 2-22 campaign in 2021. Then things fell apart and the Cyclones barely made the NCAA Tournament. Now, they lost precocious and hard-nosed point guard Tyrese Hunter (who was their only prominent returner) while missing out on the AJ Green sweepstakes. Making the tourney was a massive accomplishment for Otzelberger in year one, and may need to bide him time during this coming season. Although landing the St. Bonaventure’s super-senior inside-out duo of Jaren Holmes and Osun Osunniyi could be their salvation.

Winner: Ohio State

OSU added a lot of high-impact periphery pieces and a possible crown jewel. It’s a stellar class. Tanner Holden scored 20 a game at Wright State and has the physical traits to hold up in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Sean McNeil from West Virginia is as sure a shooter as the portal offered. Isaac Likekele is an addition I love. One of the more versatile players in the entire country. Great haul for Chris Holtmann.

Loser: Kansas State

As mentioned, K-State lost Nijel Pack, along with coach Bruce Weber, as the Wildcats really don’t have much left on their roster. Total rebuild mode for former Baylor assistant Jerome Tang in year one of his tenure.

Winner: Washington

Mike Hopkins built through the portal before it became popular. And he’s done so again this season. Keion Brooks Jr. was the best player on the floor when Kentucky thumped Kansas at Phog Allen and could pop as a senior (though their last UK add, Quade Green, didn’t quite pan out). Noah Williams is the other consequential addition. He was the best player on the best Washington State team in quite some time. Still going to take a lot from those two to get the Huskies into the tournament.

Loser: USC

USC didn’t lose all that much in the transfer portal, with only role players Max Agbonkpolo and Ethan Anderson departing. However, they’re a loser in the sense that they didn’t add anybody of their own yet. They already lost leading scorer Isaiah Mobley to the draft, so it’s slim pickins for Andy Enfield heading into next season.

Winner: Florida

Florida loaded up in the portal last year under Mike White and did so again under first-year coach Todd Golden. He landed very-high-upside wing Will Richard from Belmont, as well as fifth-year guard Kyle Lofton from the Bonnies. Trey Bonham (VMI) and Alex Fudge (LSU) are also additions that project as solid role players. Plus, several of last season’s transfer portal players returned for 2022-23.

Loser: Washington State

Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated profiled Wazzu coach Kyle Smith and his “moneyball” approach to winning in Pullman. Then the Cougars had their best season since the Klay Thompson era, only to lose their best player, Noah Williams, to in-state and in-conference rival Washington. Tough, tough loss for Smith. He’ll hope former Auburn and Tennessee shooter Justin Powell can fill the void.

Winner: St. John’s

Another Big East team with a more underwhelming haul than CBS gives it credit for. Sure, David Jones has a ton of potential and was excellent for DePaul last season. (DePaul fans, check out the clips from his 33-point, 14-rebound performance at Louisville). However the Andre Curbelo add is more fun on paper than on the court. He’s a gifted guard, but the dude is one of the worst decision makers in all of college basketball. I fear Mike Anderson’s system may only further expose his lack of true point guard ability to frustrate Johnnies fans endlessly. Good luck!