Transfer Portal: Five classes that could outperform their ranking

The men’s college basketball transfer portal window closes at midnight tonight (Thursday). There has been a lot of activity, with already 1,700-plus names being submitted to the NCAA so they can enter the portal. Teams at all levels have been able to re-tool their rosters both by addition and subtraction with the portal.

The transfer portal was open for 60 days, opening on March 13 for first-time, non-graduate transfers to enter without penalty. This means that graduate transfers will still be able to enter after Thursday at midnight without penalty.

On3 has a transfer portal home, which has all the latest news, player, and team rankings through each portal cycle. There, you will find the 2023 transfer portal team rankings. However, with the transfer portal coming to a close, I wanted to take a look at five programs that helped themselves in the portal but might not show at the top of the team rankings.

Texas

4 players added | 2 players lost | No. 13

Texas 2023 transfer portal class is headlined by Oral Roberts graduate transfer Max Abmas. This is a big recruiting win for Rodney Terry on multiple levels. Abmas is the No. 2 ranked player to enter the transfer portal this cycle, he fills a need, and Texas beat out Kansas State and Jerome Tang for him.

Abmas will enter next season as men’s college basketball active career scoring leader. His 2,561 points entering the season put him at No. 51 all-time, according to college basketball reference.

Texas also secured the commitment of one of college basketball’s premier rim protectors in 6-foot-11 Kadin Shedrick. The 6-foot-11 redshirt junior was one of only 11 players who played at least 17 minutes in 30 games last season with a 10.5 block percentage. Block percentage is defined as an estimate of the number of two-point field goal attempts blocked by the player while on the floor. Shedrick, who played 17.5 minutes per game at Virginia last season, is a career 9.5 rebounds per-40 player.

The Longhorns also added UT-Arlington guard Chendall Weaver (9.5 points, 40.2% 3P) and UTEP power forward Ze’rik Onyema (7.1 points, 4.4 rebounds).

Iowa State

3 players added | 3 players lost | No. 21

Iowa State quickly regrouped its backcourt, adding two of the top players at the position this portal cycle. The Cyclones lost its top two scorers to graduation, with its third-leading scorer, Caleb Grill (9.8 ppg), entering the transfer portal. All three players are guards.

UNLV transfer Keshon Gilbert is the No. 6 point guard in this recruiting cycle. The 6-foot-4 sophomore averaged 11.4 points, 3.2 assists, and 1.7 steals while shooting 38.4 percent from three. Wofford transfer Jackson Paveletzke, the No. 8 shooting guard in the portal, earned the Southern Conference Rookie of the Year award this season. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 15.1 points and 3.7 assists while shooting 39.3 percent from three.

As a team, Iowa State shot 33.1 percent from three last season, Grill led the way at 36.8 percent. The Cyclones also add Buffalo guard Curtis Jones. The 6-foot-5 Jones averaged 15.0 points per game last season and is a career 36.0 percent three-point shooter on 4.3 attempts per game.

LSU

5 players added | 7 players lost | No. 28

LSU finished 2-16 in the SEC last season and now has lost seven players to the transfer portal, which includes its second and third leading scorers, both guards. Welcome, Jalen Cook and Carlos Stewart.

Stewart is a Santa Clara sophomore who is the No. 6 shooting guard in the 2023 transfer portal. Cook, who started at LSU before transferring to Tulane, is the No. 2 point guard in the portal. Stewart, who is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, averaged 15.2 points and 1.8 steals while shooting 40.3 percent from the three. He was first-team All-WCC this season.

Cook, who is from Walker, Louisiana – 25 miles from Baton Rouge – earned back-to-back first-team All-AAC awards. This year he averaged 19.9 points, 4.9 assists, and 1.8 steals.

Former top-50 recruit Will Baker, a Nevada transfer, is the No. 13 center in this year’s transfer portal. Baker originally started out at Texas before transferring to Nevada, where he sat for a year and played two. Last season the 6-foot-11 Baker averaged 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

LSU also added 6-foot-10 George Washington center Hunter Dean (8.7 points, 6.2 rebounds) and Vanderbilt grad transfer Jordan Wright (10.6 points, 2,1 assists). Both are Louisiana natives.

Houston

2 players added | 2 players lost | No. 34

Houston lost three of their top four leading scorers off a 33-4 team that finished No. 2 in the final AP Poll. The Cougars bring in a three-man recruiting class to help the sting, but they also brought in two highly-coveted guards from the transfer portal.

LJ Cryer, the No. 4 shooting guard in this cycle, finished tops in the Big 12 last season in three-point accuracy at 41.5 percent. The 6-foot-1 junior averaged 15.0 points for Baylor. They also added Temple guard Damian Dunn, the No. 7 shooting guard in this cycle, who averaged 15.3 points and 3.0 assists this season. Dunn is a familiar face as he led all scorers with 16 points in Temple’s January 22nd upset over Houston.

TCU

4 players added | 4 players lost | No. 35

This was a quiet class for Jamie Dixon’s Horned Fogs, pretty much like how Dixon has been for his whole career. Do not make much noise on the trail, sign players that fit what he does, and go win ball games.

The main coup in this class is combo guard Jameer Nelson Jr. The 6-foot-1 grad transfer and son of former NBAer Jameer Nelson averaged 20.6 points this season en route to first-team All-CAA and first-team All-CAA Defense awards. Nelson was the No. 9 overall player this portal cycle.

Avery Anderson is a 6-foot-3 grad transfer who started 80 games at Oklahoma State, averaging between 11.1 and 12.2 points each of the last three seasons. Essam Mostafa is a 6-foo-9, 250-pound center from Coastal Carolina. The redshirt junior has scored 1,067 career points at a 53.1 percent clip. He averaged 12.4 points and 10.0 rebounds last season. Trey Tennyson, a 6-foot-4 senior from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, averaged 15.7 points on 40.2 percent from three last season.