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College basketball rankings: Ryan Nembhard enters transfer portal, Creighton slips in early Top 25 And 1 – CBS Sports
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A notable player hit the transfer portal on Thursday and ensured Creighton will not return every meaningful piece from a team that won 24 games and advanced to the Elite Eight of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. His name is Ryan Nembhard. He’s now the sixth best player in the portal, according to David Cobb’s constantly updating transfer rankings. So this is a real loss for the Bluejays.
Will Creighton still be good?
Yes, I believe so.
But Nembhard was a two-year starter who averaged 12.1 points and 4.8 assists in 34.0 minutes per game this season. On paper, Creighton is a lesser team without him, which is why the Bluejays are down to No. 9 in Version 2.0 of the 2023-24 CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings.
Arkansas is the other mover.
That’s because the Razorbacks’ leading scorer, Ricky Council, has announced he’s entering the 2023 NBA Draft and given no indication that he plans to maintain his college eligibility. So now the assumption is that he’s done at Arkansas, which is why the Razorbacks are down to No. 16 in the Top 25 And 1.
UConn remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 based on the idea that the Huskies will return five of the top six scorers — everybody except Jordan Hawkins, who is a projected lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft — from a team that finished 31-8 and won the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Other players like Adama Sanago, Andre Jackson and Donovan Clingan obviously have big decisions to make about their futures, but for now I’m projecting each of them to return to UConn and give Danny Hurley a chance to become the first coach to win back-to-back national championships since Billy Donovan did it at Florida in 2006 and 2007.
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