Sports
Re-ranking the top 10 basketball transfers from the 2022 cycle – 247Sports
We are already more than two-thirds of the way through the regular season in college basketball and coaches across the country are already starting to turn their attention to the 2023 transfer portal.
With eyes looking ahead towards the first weeks of March, we want to look back at the 2022 Transfer Portal and re-rank the top 10 players from the boisterous portal class.
Stats: 18.1 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.1 APG
There hasn’t been a better story in college basketball this year than Kansas State’s Keyontae Johnson.
Just two years ago, he nearly lost his life on the court with Florida. And after transferring somewhere that would allow him to play, Johnson has been re-emerged as one of the nation’s best players on a surprise top five team at Kansas State.
If the entire situation played out again, it’s very unlikely that Johnson would be leading a Kansas State program to a top five ranking earlier this year in the first season of a first-time college head coach. In the off-season, Johnson was ranked in the backend 100. It was hard to expect him to return to form. But like he’s been doing for the past two years, Johnson has defeated the odds. Now, it’s clear the he’s been the best transfer and his immense production has had an impact on winning.
Stats: 21.7 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 6.0 APG
From a sheer production standpoint, no one has been more productive out of the portal than Memphis’ Kendric Davis. When he hit the portal, by way of SMU, he was slotted as the No. 5 transfer in the country and he has lived up to his elite billing.
He is one of the highest usage guards in the country and he’s converting his usage into production. He ranks No. 18 overall in the NCAA in field goal attempts, No. 7 in point per game and No. 9 in the country in total assists.
If it weren’t for Davis, Memphis would be in trouble this year and certainly not projected to be making the NCAA Tournament like they are today.
Stats: 16.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 5.0 APG
Souley Boum has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2022 portal, helping pave the way for Xavier to be a currently-projected four-seed.
He put up big numbers for UTEP team last season, resulting in him being ranked No. 69 in the Portal Rankings. But that was clearly a big miss on the rankings part as he should’ve been higher.
He was a high volume guard shooting 15-shots a game, but was doing it at an admittedly undervalued rate of 40.9% from the field and nearly 37-percent from three on a difficult shot selection.
This year, he has sured up his shot selection. Boum is taking less shots while elevating his efficiency and doing a better job of getting others involved in the offense.
His confidence and experience mixed with his aggressive style is exactly what Sean Miller needed to pair alongside Colby Jones. Together they are putting the Musketeers in position for another March run.
Stats: 16.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 2.4 APG
Providence missed on Bryce Hopkins the first time around during his high school recruitment. But they didn’t make that mistake twice. Providence snagged Hopkins, making them one of the biggest winners in the portal this off-season.
Hopkins has been ultra-productive for Ed Cooley after a freshman year at Kentucky where he had a hard time finding minutes on the court. This lack of playing time made his evaluation a bit more difficult. Still, he ranked amongst the top 30 transfers in the country. However, he’s now proved to be among the top five.
He found a perfect fit with Providence where he can use his skillset and instincts to be a major match up problem as a four man. Hopkins his leading the Friars to a top2 0 ranking as of Tuesday.
Stats: 17.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.0 APG
One of the biggest storylines of the entire off-season was Terrence Shannon. After leaving Texas Tech and a mess with Michigan, he found his way to Illinois.
The season at Illinois hasn’t necessarily been any less of a mess, but they’re figuring things out and are now 6-1 in their last seven games. In that span, Shannon has scored more than 24 points on three occasions and is living up to his highly touted billing. In total, he has eclipsed the 20-point mark seven times this season for the Fighting Illini.
Illinois is now projecting as a five-seed in the NCAA tournament.
Stats: 17.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.4 APG
Arkansas has been bit by the injury bug in a bad way this season, but thankfully they got a good pickup in the portal in Ricky Council IV.
You can’t replace Nick Smith, Jr. (remains out with a knee injury) and Trevon Brazile (out for the season), but Council has been a bright spot as they continue to fight for March positions.
Council leads the team in scoring and has played his way onto NBA Draft Boards with his scoring acumen and his high-flying athleticism. If it weren’t for Council, Arkansas would be in serious trouble.
Stats: 18.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 6.0 APG
At this point, we should bet a Wake Forest transfer guard to be a high-impact guy. Like Alondes Williams, Steve Forbes did it again by pulling Tyree Appleby from the Florida Gators.
The 6-foot-1 guard is a lightning bolt with the ball in his hands. He has an elite burst to go with shifty and dynamic ball skills as well as the able to create offense every single trip down the floor.
Appleby is a flat out hooper. And while Wake Forest sits outside of the Bubble right now at eighth in the ACC, it’s hard to keep Appleby off this list with how impactful he has been this season.
If it weren’t for the future All-ACC guard and the giant load he carries, the Demon Deacons would be in far more trouble.
Stats: 10.5 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.3 APG, 2.3 SPG
He certainly isn’t the most exciting player out of the portal but Kevin McCullar has been an impact addition to a Kansas Jayhawks program that saw the majority of its players graduate or go to the NBA this off-season.
He’s been a steady presence and has had his fair share of big games. On Monday night, he posted 16 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists on the way to a win over No. 5 Texas.
McCullar impacts the game in various areas. When he’s not scoring, he’s doing other things like defending the opponent’s best players and rebounding the ball at a high level. Kansas now has a record of 11-5 against Quad 1 teams, leading the NCAA.
Stats: 15.8 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1.3 APG
Pittsburgh entered the season picked to finish No. 14 overall in the conference. But here they are, currently in second with a conference with a record of 9-3.
A big contributor to the Panthers’ turnaround was the addition of Blake Hinson in the off-season.
He was an under-the-radar addition out of Iowa State who never played for the Cyclones due to an undisclosed medical condition. The last time Hinson had played a college game was in 2019-20 for Ole Miss.
This season, however, Hinson has provided a versatile, consistent and physical boost that has helped Pitt charge in the ACC. The Panthers are now projected as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Stats: 21.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.3 APG
Emoni Bates may be the most criticized and harshly-judged prospect before the age of 19 we have ever seen.
He enrolled early at the age of 17 for his first season of college basketball. And following a poor season, he made a controversial decision to move back home to Ypsilanti, Michigan and play for Eastern Michigan.
When Bates put his name in the portal, he received the No. 1 ranking in the 247Sports’ Transfer Rankings as it felt too soon to write off a 6-foot-8 lethal scorer who reclassified to play college basketball so young.
Since being at Eastern Michigan, he’s looking more like his old self, having scored 30 or more points on four separate occasions — including one 43-point outing on the road at Toledo.
There is only be one player in college basketball who could do what Bates did in that game — college basketball’s second all-time leading scorer — Antoine Davis.
© 2005-2023 CBS INTERACTIVE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc.