Daily Dish: Indiana, UNC headline 9 programs with most at stake in 2024 college basketball transfer portal – 247Sports

College basketball’s 2024 transfer portal cycle opens Monday. A trickle of graduate transfers have already entered the portal, but the 45-day window (one of a few new changes) for underclassmen to look for their new home starts just a few hours after Selection Sunday. 
The 2023 cycle has been a smashing success.
The Player of the Year in the SEC was a transfer (Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht).
The Player of the Year in the Pac-12 was a transfer (Arizona’s Caleb Love).
The co-Player of the Year in the AAC was a transfer (South Florida’s Chris Youngblood).
Illinois’ Marcus Domask and Wake Forest’s Hunter Sallis were both named First Team, All-Conference this week. Both came from the 2023 transfer cycle. Both weren’t necessarily the biggest names, either. Impact players are capable of being found just about anywhere.
RELATED: The needs of every top college basketball program
The portal matters now more than ever, and coaching staffs throughout the country are already formulating their big boards and gameplans to fill their respective needs. It’s expected to be mayhem. Here are nine teams who will have their fingerprints all over the 2024 transfer portal cycle in more ways than one.
Ed Cooley didn’t leave Providence for Georgetown to be the laughingstock of the Big East every year. Georgetown could be 40 minutes away from its offseason getting started in earnest. The Hoyas are expected to be major players in the 2024 cycle, and Cooley needs a little bit of everything. More size would be a good place to start to buff up one of the worst defenses in the country. A big guard who can take some of the playmaking load off Jayden Epps would be helpful, as well. Georgetown just has to hit on its transfers in a major way if it wants to compete in a top-heavy Big East.
Brad Underwood went all-in with this Illinois roster. He finished second in the Big Ten, and the Illini have huge March plans.
Whenever it ends (Underwood is hoping for April in Arizona), it’s going to get fascinating.
Terrence Shannon Jr., Marcus Domask, Quincy Guerrier and Justin Harmon are all out of eligibility. That’s two First-Team, All-Big Ten guys and two other no-doubt rotation pieces to replace. Coleman Hawkins seems like a safe bet to chase his professional dreams in a wide-open 2024 NBA Draft after a much-improved senior season. That’s five rotation players out of the door.
Brad Underwood will have exit meetings with a host of underclassmen who all didn’t get to be the star this year. Sencire Harris opted to redshirt before the season got started, and Dain Dainja and Luke Goode both had to take a backseat in the rotation for long stretches. Ty Rodgers’ spot in Illinois’ starting lineup has been secure all year, but his place in the closing lineup has been far from bankable. Illinois’ youngsters like Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, Niccolo Moretti and Amani Hansberry have combined for four double-digit minute games since December 1 because this is a veteran-laden team ready to win right now.
Illinois is a big-game hunter in the portal, and it might have to build a team nearly from scratch in this cycle. That might even mean conducting Zoom calls with transfers during the Big Dance.
You might have to refresh Illini Inquirer every single day to keep track of all the new names that Illinois will be targeting this offseason.  
Auburn’s sell in the transfer portal for bigs is fantastic. If Johni Broome goes pro, Auburn will be in the market for the best available frontcourt pieces, and players should be lining up to hop on the Walker Kessler-or-Broome jetpack ride.
The more interesting debate in Auburn’s war room could come with a backcourt reshuffle that seems inevitable.
Auburn wants to go 10 deep, and six different Tiger guards average at least 13 minutes per game this season.
All of them can come back, headlined by Aden Holloway, Tre Donaldson, Chad Baker-Mazara, Denver Jones, KD Johnson and Chris Moore. Oh, and Auburn is bringing in dynamic, top-25 freshman point guard Tahaad Pettiford.
Is there enough room at the inn?
Dalton Knecht’s absurd rise into the SEC Player of the Year should certainly help Tennessee have some real sway in the transfer portal. Josiah-Jordan James, Santiago Vescovi and Knecht are out of eligibility, but with the right luck in the stay-or-go department, Tennessee could enter the portal as a big-game hunter who can be very selective. The Vols will need another big wing who can slide next to Jonas Aidoo, Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack, Tobe Awaka, Jordan Gainey and a host of steadily improving youngsters. Tennessee could have a fantastic nucleus, but can it hit another grand slam in the portal to elevate into a different tier?
Texas has a three-man, top-10 recruiting class on the way, headlined by five-star, bucket-getting guard Tre Johnson, but Texas will have big decisions to make in the portal. Dylan Disu, Max Abmas, IT Horton and Brock Cunningham are all out of eligibility, and Dillon Mitchell will undoubtedly go through the 2024 NBA Draft process. There could be other exits as well. Texas needs to get Kadin Shedrick and Tyrese Hunter back before hitting the portal for more veterans and lots of shooting to complement what could be a very young (but talented) 2024-25 roster.
There’s just … a lot going on in Arkansas. The Hogs’ roster is filled with talented individual pieces, but they’ve never coalesced this season. The winds of change seem inevitable. This top-heavy squad has six guys out of eligibility, headlined by Makhi Mitchell, El Ellis and Jeremiah Davenport. Tramon Mark and Khalif Batte – Arkansas’ two best scorers – have to decide if they want to run it back. Devo Davis could come back but that feels far-fetched.
It feels like there will be changes galore. Potentially, even with the coaching staff.
Regardless of who is on the sideline, Arkansas is looking at a heavy retool with a monster transfer portal class again. 
Tyson Walker and Malik Hall will be out of eligibility, but Michigan State is on the verge of a heavy bit of turnover. Exit meetings with AJ Hoggard and Mady Sissoko will loom large, and what does Jaden Akins want to do? Michigan State’s frontcourt badly needs an influx of talent, and it has few trustworthy big wings. Tom Izzo has been anti-portal in the last few cycles, but he’s not anti-portal in general. Izzo went out and added Joey Hauser and Walker from the portal, and he needs to find similar pieces if MSU wants to dominate in 2024-25. A big man is the rage, but a nasty, two-way wing might need to be the No. 1 priority. You add a veteran dominant wing to this group of young guards like Jeremy Fears Jr., Tre Holloman, Kur Teng and Jase Richardson? Yes, please. 
We know Mike Woodson is coaching next year, Trey Galloway is running it back, five-star wing Liam McNeeley is leaving and Kel’el Ware is playing like a slam-dunk, first-round pick.
After that, everything is on the table for IU in an offseason that’s right around the corner.
Five-star freshman Mackenzie Mgbako has started to find himself down the stretch. Will he stay or go?
Indiana has an ugly 112.7 defensive rating when Malik Reneau is on the floor against top-150 competition, but the sophomore big man can be a complete load in the paint. Will he stay or go?
The Reneau-Mgbako decisions are major pivot points in Indiana’s offseason, but while they ponder those choices, IU has to hit the transfer portal early and often. Indiana likely needs multiple transfer guards if it wants to compete in a new-look Big Ten next season.
Maryland found Jahmir Young in the 2022 cycle. Penn State landed Ace Baldwin in the 2023 cycle. Can Indiana find a needle-moving point guard in the 2024 cycle?
Maybe Minnesota is a blueprint that Indiana can follow. Ben Johnson got Dawson Garcia and Pharrel Payne back to headline a stout frontcourt, and he found a way to revamp Minnesota’s backcourt with three newcomers. It hasn’t always been smooth, but Cam Christie, Mike Mitchell and Elijah Hawkins have meshed into a difference-making trio. It’s not easy to find three new guards who snugly fit together, but if Minnesota can do it, Indiana should be able to do it, too.
This is the biggest offseason of the Woodson era because IU could be on the verge of a complete and utter overhaul.
Maybe the change will be good.
Finding an Armando Bacot replacement will be paramount for UNC in the 2024 cycle. You can find 14 points and 10 rebounds in the transfer portal, but Bacot’s defense has quietly been awesome for a much-improved Carolina unit. The next UNC big man has to be a two-way beast. There were great big men in the 2023 cycle, like Jesse Edwards, Kel’el Ware and Hunter Dickinson. UNC could use a similar-impact big man in 2024 to join soon-to-be-junior Jalen Washington.
Don’t overlook RJ Davis’ impact here, either. Playing with an ACC Player of the Year guard like Davis is a fascinating bump in the portal for big men. Davis has a massive stay-or-go decision to make, and it will have ripple effects throughout Hubert Davis’ roster-construction gameplans.
© 2005-2024 CBS INTERACTIVE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc.

source