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College basketball transfer portal: Maryland prized transfer Hakim Hart gets Villanova Crystal Ball projection – 247Sports
Maryland transfer wing Hakim Hart received a Crystal Ball projection to Villanova from 247Sports college basketball insider Travis Branham. Hart, who is currently in the NCAA transfer portal, will make a decision Friday, according to a report by Jon Rothstein. Kansas, Gonzaga and Miami are finalists for the No. 24-rated transfer who is also going through the 2023 NBA Draft process.
Villanova flexed its muscles twice in the 2023 transfer portal by keeping star Justin Moore around for another year and landing ballyhooed Washington State wing TJ Bamba. Adding Hart would be a third feather in Kyle Neptune’s cap and give Villanova one of the nation’s top collections of wings.
Hart shined under first-year Maryland coach Kevin Willard, totaling 11.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals this past season. The 6-foot-8, 205-pound wing shot 33.3% from 3-point range and 80.4% from the charity stripe. Hart ranked fourth in the Big Ten in steals (1.5 per game) in 2021-22.
“I think the big thing is, we’ve lost, we lost Hakim Hart, who was a great young man, to graduation,” Willard said earlier this month, via InsideMDSports. “And he’s gonna go someplace else. So for us, one of the things that we really focused on last year was making sure that the guys we brought in were complimentary of the guys that stayed and that’s kind of what our processes right now, is making sure that we’re not duplicating anything on the roster. We have some guys that didn’t play as much this year, but I really think that they have a bright future that are going to help us next year.”
Hart shot 37.3% on unguarded, catch-and-shoot 3-pointers last season, per Synergy. But Willard doubled Hart’s pick-and-roll reps from 23 in 2021-22 to 52 in 2022-23.
“[Hart’s] one of the best guys we got on ball-screen action,” Maryland big man Julian ‘JuJu’ Reese said. “He just makes smart plays a lot [and] doesn’t really turn the ball over.”
Willard also nearly tripled Hart’s post-ups due to the veteran’s trusty decision-making. Hart finished with 91 assists to 48 turnovers last season. It’s the third year in a row where Hart has flirted with a two-to-one, assist-to-turnover ratio.
“I have a lot of confidence in Hakim making plays,” Willard said after Hart erupted for 13 points and a career-high eight dimes in a late-January romp over Wisconsin. “Coming out of the second half, I gave him an iso and he’s really worked on his post-play. It’s given us another post presence, so I’m going to put in another play tomorrow for a post play. He’s given us another passer and another post presence where we can go down low.”
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Hart’s decision comes days after Kansas beat out North Carolina and UConn for sharpshooting Towson transfer Nick Timberlake.
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