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Transfer Portal Scoop: Info on every top uncommitted player as teams hit crunch time to fill roster needs – 247Sports
The deadline to enter the college basketball transfer portal has passed, and positional scarcity is already top of mind for numerous coaching staffs with numerous top available transfers flying off the board.
There isn’t a rash of graduate transfers who could still hit free agency in the coming weeks. This is it. What you see in the transfer portal is what you get.
If you needed an elite, traditional center, it was not cheap and there aren’t many proven options left on the board outside of Cliff Omoruyi (more on him later).
Maxime Raynaud exited the portal to stay at Stanford under new coach Kyle Smith. Indiana scooped up Oumar Ballo. Arkansas flexed on Baylor for Jonas Aidoo. Michigan hit up the two-for-one deal with Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield dipped for NC State, Lynn Kidd was in the portal for seemingly 15 minutes before he committed to Miami, and UConn snared Tarris Reed from Kansas State. Oh, and Kentucky doubled down with both Brandon Garrison and Amari Williams.
Got all that? It’s a whirlwind. Plenty of big man-needy teams were left out in the cold trying to figure out what’s next.
That positional scarcity could also come into play for teams who need wings. The options for needle-moving transfers are dwindling.
Does that help the players earn more money? Or do the teams start to get more leverage after rival options used up their big-money cap space? It depends on who you ask.
RELATED: Ranking the best 150 transfers after portal deadline with a new No. 1
Let’s dive into the latest intel on some of the top targets left on the board.
A FAVORITE EMERGING FOR TOP TRANSFER KADARY RICHMOND
Now ranked as the No. 1 player in 247Sports college basketball transfer portal rankings, Seton Hall guard Kadary Richmond is in the portal with an impressive list of accomplishments. Most recently the 6-foot-5 senior was named first team All-Big East and he’s scored nearly 1,300 points, handed out nearly 600 assists and grabbed over 500 rebounds during a very productive career.
Pour one out for a Seton Hall program that’s been gutted. And then consider that Richmond (probably) won’t have to do much more than cross Hudson River for his next step. A New York City product who began his career at Syracuse, every source we’ve connected with recently thinks Richmond is St. John’s to lose. Illinois and Kansas came up early in the process, but Rick Pitino’s Red Storm are the favorites.
As it turns out, Richmond isn’t the only high-profile transfer portal prospect that the Red Storm appears to be in good shape with. Miami’s Norchad Omier ranks No. 5 overall in the portal and his name is coming up a lot with St. John’s. An absolute double-double machine (33 of them in the last two seasons), Omier is a slightly undersized but incredibly strong, tough and athletic interior player who could make an immediate difference. He’s not yet taken any visits yet and while the Red Storm is in good shape, others have tried and will keep trying. Arkansas is thought to be trying to make a run at him, Louisville has taken their shot and even North Carolina (more on them in a bit) has taken a crack.
While St. John’s has already added the likes of USC’s Vincent Iwuchukwu and North Texas’ Aaron Scott out of the portal, what’s most important is that they are still in very good shape from a roster construction standpoint to offer Richmond and Omier lots of playing time while also being in good shape on the NIL front. Adding just Richmond would be tremendous, but they’ve got a real chance to end up with Richmond and Omier which could be a game changer for next season.
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