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College basketball rankings: Cincinnati lands Texas' Dillon Mitchell from transfer portal, joins Top 25 And 1 – CBS Sports
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The transfer portal is a crucial tool these days when it comes to building basketball teams — but roster-retention also remains important. Simply put, coaches who can successfully navigate both spaces are the ones best-equipped to flourish in this new world of college athletics.
Wes Miller is successfully navigating both spaces this offseason.
The latest good development for the Cincinnati coach came Friday when he secured a commitment from Texas transfer Dillon Mitchell (after previously securing a commitment from Bradley transfer Connor Hickman). Combine that with the fact that the Bearcats are also expected to return five of the top seven scorers from a team that finished 39th at KenPom.com, 40th at EvanMiya.com and 45th at BartTorvik.com, and it’s enough to compel me to move Cincinnati up to No. 25 in Version 23 of the 2024-25 CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings.
Kansas remains No. 1.
The addition of Mitchell is what moved Cincinnati from outside of the Top 25 And 1 to inside the Top 25 And 1. The 6-foot-8 forward was ranked eighth in the Class of 2022, according to 247Sports, before starting 71 games over the past two years for a Texas program that made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, one of which resulted in a trip to the 2023 Elite Eight. Mitchell averaged 9.6 points and 7.4 rebounds in 29.0 minutes per game this past season. Barring a surprise, he’ll slide into Cincinnati’s starting lineup alongside returning starters Day Day Thomas, Simas Lukosius and Dan Skillings. The fifth starter will likely be either Jizzle James or Hickman, the latter of whom averaged 14.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists this past season at Bradley while making 40.2% of the 5.9 3-pointers he attempted per game.
In: Cincinnati | Out: Michigan State
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