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College basketball transfer portal: Kobe Johnson, Andrej Stojakovic headline the 13 most intriguing wings – 247Sports
The college basketball transfer portal continues to rock and roll since officially opening up just a week and a half ago. The importance of finding the right talent in the portal has been proven over and over again.
Take a look at the Sweet Sixteen and the top teams are loaded with transfer talent. The top remaining wing scorer in the field, Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht, was a transfer and he’s far from the only wing scorer who one of the remaining team plucked out of the portal to help them advance.
Even though we are only 10 days into the portal window, there’s no shortage of available wing scorers. Some have been around for a while. Some have already made multiple stops. Some are well-known. Some aren’t so well known and there’s even a former McDonald’s All-American in the mix. Today we look at the 13 most intriguing wing scorers to hit the portal thus far.
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Kobe Johnson, from USC: Johnson is the top wing player to enter the portal at this point. The younger brother of Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, he is a back-to-back Pac-12 All-Defensive player. At 6-foot-6, 200-pounds, Johnson has good size, strength and instincts. He hasn’t yet developed into a big-time jump shooter just yet, but he has some playmaking instincts and a lot of versatility. Johnson did show a lot of shooting promise as a sophomore when he shot 36% from three before some regression in his junior year.
If you want to make a comparison, think Kevin McCullar before he turned into the Kevin McCullar we saw this year at Kansas.
Andrej Stojakovic, from Stanford: Stojakovic is probably the biggest name wing already in the portal. A skilled 6-foot-7 swingman, Stojakovic is the son of former NBA star Peja Stojakovic and was a McDonald’s All-American in 2023. Though he didn’t put up the biggest numbers on a mediocre Stanford team, Stojakovic’s size, pedigree and shot-making (32.7% from three is a number we are sure will only go up) are all big strengths.
Could there be any chance that new Stanford coach Kyle Smith talks him into staying? That’s probably a big ask, but he’s probably shown enough while at Washington State to at least get some real conversation from Stojakovic.
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Otega Oweh, from Oklahoma: Oweh is a little different than the guys we’ve listed so far because he’s realitsically probably more of two than a three. But make no mistake about it, he classifies as a wing scorer. Oweh is at his best using his well-built frame to attack the rim where he bounces off of defenders and finishes strong. He doesn’t take a ton of threes, but showed remarkable improvement as a sophomore when he shot 37.7% from deep after shooting only four total threes as a freshman. He’s the younger brother of Baltimore Ravens linebacker Odafe Oweh.
Illinois and Miami, Penn State (previous staff) were among those deeply involved with Oweh the first time around.
Cade Tyson, from Belmont: Tyson is as good of a wing shooter as there is going to be in the portal. There probably won’t be many who are even close. The younger brother of former Clemson star and current Denver Nugget Hunter Tyson, the 6-foot-7 wing has already made 128 three-pointers at an impressive 44.6% clip.
247Sports had the opportunity to scout him in person during the season and in addition to his shooting his sturdy frame, functional athleticism and overall feel for the game stood out. A native of North Carolina, we’d expect him to end up back closer to home in ACC land based on early feedback.
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Micah Peavy, from TCU: Peavy has to be among the best wing athletes who has made himself available. A native of Texas who began his career at Texas Tech before spending the last three at TCU, Peavy is a former composite Top-50 recruit who improved each of his four years in college. A sizy wing who can defend all three perimeter spots, Peavy is also planning to see what kind of interest NBA teams have in him. If he were to come back to college and develop his jump shot a bit more, he has a real chance to play at the highest level.
Kansas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and even a return to Texas Tech are among the potential options for Peavy that are being being thrown around right now.
Saint Thomas, from Northern Colorado: Thomas is going to have every school scrambling for film. It’s totally unreasonable to expect that he could be Dalton Knecht 2.0, but he actually put-up better numbers and earned more accolades this year than Knecht did in the 2022-23 season. A high school teammate of Wake Forest star Hunter Sallis, Thomas went ballistic this season after two pretty quiet years at Loyola-Chicago. The jumper is a work in progress but he’s a volume rebounder with playmaking skills. The Big-Sky Player and Newcomer of the Year will also test the NBA draft process.
Riley Kugel, from Florida: Kugal is a guy who could be looking for a chance at redemption during a second college stop. A Top-60 prospect coming out of high school with the class of 2022, Kugel was a trendy draft prospect entering his sophomore year after showing off some real shot-making ability during his first season in Gainesville. He’s already scored 20 or more eight times during his career despite losing some confidence and consistency with his jumper in year two. Despite some struggles, Kugal has programs lining up to see if they can get him right and is already down to a top four of Houston, Kansas, Connecticut and Arizona.
Mekhi Mason, from Rice: Mason is a big shooting guard who has started all 67 of his college games and has the tools to step in and start for a high major. While he’s not a lights-out shooter, he’s plenty good (35.7% from deep through his first two seasons). Mason can also get to the rim some and has a lot of defensive potential. He has shown enough as a playmaker to believe that he can develop as a setup guy.
Arizona State, Arkansas, Butler, Clemson, Kansas State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and UCLA are just a few of the schools who have already reported interest in Mason.
Tre White, from Louisville: White is going to be playing for his third school in three years unless new Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey can figure out a way to change his mind. In addition to his stops at USC and Louisville, White initially committed to Kansas a four-star prospect in high school. A sturdy wing who can also play as a small ball four-man, White is at his best operating inside of the three-point line with a head of steam. The Texas native has proven that he can score in a crowd.
Darlinstone Dubar, from Hofstra: Dubar is another experienced wing who will be looking to use his Covid Year to make a third stop. A three-star prospect out of high school who began his career at Iowa State, Dubar started all but one of his 100 games at Hofstra and made 115 threes over the last two seasons. He’s a particularly dangerous shooter from the corner and is also a high-level finisher around the rim. He will be sought after as a three-and-D type of guy.
Tyrin Lawrence, from Vanderbilt: Lawrence saw his efficiency take a major dip during his senior year but after scoring over 1,000 points in only 105 games there will be plenty of schools who will want him for his Covid year. The lengthy lefty is an attacking, get-downhill wing scorer who scores the majority of his points off the dribble and in the vicinity of the rim. Lawrence did make 36% of his threes during the 2022-23 season but for his career he’s around 29% and could best be classified as streaky with the jump shot.
Here’s the thing with Lawrence, though, Vandy hasn’t exactly been loaded with guys who could get their own. Get this guy in an offense with other good players so he can take better shots and his efficiency will rebound. This is his second year in a row in the portal and it’s unlikely he’ll head back to Vanderbilt again.
Nils Cooper, from Pepperdine: One of the biggest questions around the transfer portal is how Pepperdine struggled so mightily with so many good portal entrants. Cooper is one of four Waves who have earned four-star ratings in the portal. The son of former NBA player Michael Cooper, the younger Cooper was late-blooming four-star in high school.
Cooper didn’t exactly put up huge numbers as a freshman, but if schools really do their homework here, they’ll find a potentially elite defender with lots of upside on the offensive side of the floor. Loyola Marymount recently hired Cooper’s former head coach Lorenzo Romar as an assistant. It would be a major coup if, Romar can get Cooper to follow him to LMU.
Curtis Williams Jr., from Louisville: Williams Jr. is just one of many talented pieces already in the portal that former coach Kenny Payne was unable to assemble into a working team. A four-star prospect coming out of high school in Detroit, Williams is rated as a four-star in the portal. He has a lot of upside as a wing with the size and the ability to stretch the floor.
In a vacuum, Williams’ 31.7% shooting leaves a lot to be desired but he was on a team in constant chaos and didn’t benefit from a lot of upperclass leadership. Even with his first-year shooting woes, he managed to reach double digits five times in ACC play. And if Williams can get into the right system, add some strength and get his confidence back he’s still got plenty of time to do damage in college.
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