Roundtable: The college basketball transfer portal classes that still have work to do – 247Sports

Momentum is real in the college basketball transfer portal. When you have it — like Michigan or NC State — life is good. When you don’t, it’s stressful and panic-inducing to watch rivals load up their rosters while open spots stick out like a sore thumb on the depth chart.
Houston and Purdue are currently full, but those programs are the outliers. Seven Big 12 teams have at least four open spots to fill in the next month or so. The new-look ACC also has seven teams with at least four vacancies to plug. Florida State currently has just seven players on the roster. And Chandler Jackson, with his two career starts, is the veteran of the group. Illinois has just two familiar faces slated to run it back (Ty Rodgers, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn). The rest of Brad Underwood’s roster will be incoming freshmen or transfers.
The transfer portal closes on May 1, but the roster-building work is far from over for dozens of high-major teams throughout the country. The desperation is already starting to grow as top free agents go off the board.
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This prompted the 247Sports national basketball team to share the programs they believe need to dive deeper into the transfer portal to fill out their roster needs.
“Kentucky to me is the most glaring program that still has a lot of work to do, despite a good recruiting weekend. Mark Pope took on an almost complete rebuilding project and he made it clear from his opening press conference that his approach to roster construction might be different from his predecessor with a combination of potential one-and-done type prospects, but also multi-year contributors. We also expected there could be some vast differences from a style of play perspective given what we saw from Pope’s teams at BYU.
So far, that assumption has proven accurate. Pope has landed two-way players like Lamont Butler in the backcourt, Otega Oweh on the wing and Amari Williams up front. Offensively, Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr will be the skill and floor-spacing player needed to run the type of well-spaced offensive system we saw with the Cougars. Pope has also retained the commitment from Travis Perry, a local Kentucky product, out of the high school ranks. But, there is clearly still a lot of work to do to fill out the roster and create the type of group that can get back to the NCAA Tournament in Year 1 (since nothing less than that will be acceptable in Lexington).” — Adam Finkelstien, National Director of Scouting 
“After losing four of five starters, Grant McCasland and his staff will have a lot of work to do when it comes to replacing all the lost production. Landing Drake transfer Kevin Overton and Pittsburgh transfer Fede Federiko is a solid start.
Overton will give the Red Raiders more size on the perimeter with three years of eligibility left to establish himself within their culture. Federiko should provide rim protection and will be out to close out possessions with his size at 6-foot-11. Tech is also in the mix for both Minnesota transfer Elijah Hawkins, Utah State transfer Great Osobor and UNC Wilmington transfer Trazarien White.
Hawkins finished tied for second in the sport in assists per game. He completed a visit to Lubbock this past weekend. Landing the Mountain West Player of the Year will be a tough challenge as Osobor is finishing a visit to Kentucky. An All-CAA first teamer, White has yet to schedule any visits at this point. Landing two of these three players will be key in the Red Raiders’ rebuild.” — Brandon Jenkins, National Basketball Analyst
“Since John Calipari took the job he has done as expected by reeling in three of his six Kentucky commits and bringing youthful talent to Fayetteville.
He got his first real portal addition on Monday when he added Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo. But, there’s still as many as eight scholarships left to fill for Arkansas and players are flying off the board fast. If all goes to plan, they should land Johnell Davis which gives them another older, dynamic guard. However, they still have to find shooters, forwards and some age to continue to fill out the roster. The latest addition of center Jonas Aidoo from Tennessee on Monday evening should help fill those needs.” — Travis Branham, National Basketball Analyst
“It has been a pretty wild offseason for Jon Scheyer and Duke. Losing freshman guard Jared McCain and sophomore big man Kyle Filipowski to the NBA Draft was expected. And in today’s transfer portal-era, it was almost a given that they would lose some talented young players to the portal. However, nobody could have expected a mass exodus that saw seven players, including Jeremy Roach who started 108 games during his four seasons in Durham. This, however, is the new normal in basketball. Not even the Blue Bloods are impervious to the call of the portal.
On the bright side, Scheyer and the Blue Devils have already landed the top-ranked ranked high school recruiting class which includes the country’s No. 1 player Cooper Flagg, five-star big man Khaman Maluach and some real depth pieces for the wing and interior. They also did well to replace sophomore Mark Mitchell with Syracuse’s Maliq Brown and they got an experienced, tough, shooter in Purdue’s Mason Gillis.
However, the backcourt still looks pretty thin with only Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster returning as ball handlers. Finding another experienced guard who can play anywhere from 15 minutes to starters minutes a night is an absolute must for Duke. With three total scholarships available, another ball handler who could play spot minutes would be ideal, as well.
In a perfect world, they can find a guard who excels at creating off the dribble, getting into the paint and scoring off the dribble. Of course, shooting always carries too. Identifying exactly who they’ve got their eyes on to fill out their backcourt hasn’t been easy to do. But, it’s pretty clear that they need more depth and help.” — Eric Bossi, National Director of Basketball
“Virginia has four open scholarships and needs multiple stars to have a shot in the new-look ACC. Tony Bennett has swung big for some talented lead guards in the transfer portal. Harvard’s Malik Mack was an initial target, but he opted for Georgetown. Saint Mary’s transfer Aidan Mahaney was the latest target, but he picked UConn, the defending two-time national champion. Virginia desperately needs a needle-moving lead guard to pair with Isaac McKneely. It could also use another proven wing and more frontcourt depth. This next month is absolutely enormous for Bennett and Co. with real ramifications on both the floor and the ceiling in 2024-25.” — Isaac Trotter, National Basketball Writer
“Coming off one of the worst seasons under Steve Pikiell (15-17, 7-13), Rutgers will bring out a completely new team into Piscataway which will hold lofty expectations.
Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey headline the incoming freshmen. It’s the best recruiting class in program history. Also, the Scarlet Knights will notably retain Jeremiah Williams while bringing in one of the top mid-major scoring guards in Tyson Acuff.
With two scholarship spots remaining, the glaring hole in the roster is at the center position after Cliff Omoruyi hit the transfer portal. The Scarlet Knights should also look to add one more shooter now that Gavin Griffiths is off to Nebraska. Princeton transfer Zach Martini shot 37% from 3-point range last season, but Rutgers needs a jolt of shot-making after finishing in dead last in 3-point shooting in the Big Ten at just 28.7%.” — Dushawn London, National Basketball Analyst
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