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Mountain West basketball transfer portal: The biggest winners and biggest losers – Nevada Sports Net
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by Chris Murray
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Mountain West men's basketball teams had 60 players transfer this offseason with 33 of those making choices on their next schools. Meanwhile, the MW has added 33 players from the transfer portal. You can track all of the moves on our transfer portal page here. But let's cut to the chase — which schools have been the biggest winners and biggest losers from MW transfer portal madness? We sort each MW school into a winners, losers and neutral column. Teams are listed in alphabetical order.
Colorado State: The "winners" list isn't very long, but Colorado State qualifies. The Rams had five players enter the portal in Jack Payne (Idaho); Taviontae Jackson (Southern Utah); Kyle Evans (UC Irvine); Javonté Johnson (undecided); and Cam Lowe (undecided), but those guys combined for just 103 points last season. Meanwhile, Colorado State had added five players that include Ethan Morton (Purdue); Keshawn Williams (Northern Illinois); Bowen Born (Northern Iowa); Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (Little Rock); and Nikola Djapa (LIU). Morton is a former top-100 recruit; Williams and Born have both averaged 17.9 ppg in a D-I season; and Crocker-Johnson and Djapa both performed as freshmen last year. Transfer talent is a net plus.
Nevada: The Wolf Pack has added five transfer commitments, but the real reason Nevada is in this category is its work retaining its best players. All-MW third-teamer Nick Davidson and two-time All-MW defensive team honoree Tré Coleman both stayed with Nevada, which retained its top-five scorers from last season who had remaining eligibility. The only somewhat-painful loss was former four-star prospect Jazz Gardner. Meanwhile, Nevada added a near 20-point scorer in Kobe Sanders (Cal Poly); one of the top shooters in the portal in Xavier DuSell (Fresno State); an athletic big in Brandon Love (Texas State); and a pair of sophomores-to-be in Chuck Bailey III (Evansville); Justin McBride (Oklahoma State)
Air Force: The Falcons will almost never make the "winners" list because they can't add D-I transfers due to school policies. That is hugely detrimental in modern college basketball and puts Air Force in a bad spot year in and year out. And for the second straight season, the Falcons lost their leading scorer to transfer with Rytis Petraitis moving to Cal (the year prior, it was Jake Heidbreder to Clemson where he redshirted). Kellan Boylan, a solid starter, also transferred out to Lipscomb.
Fresno State: The Bulldogs underwent a head-coaching change and had seven players enter the portal in Xavier DuSell (Nevada); Donavan Yap, Jr. (San Jose State); Leo Colimerio (Queens, N.C.); Eduardo Andre (West Virginia); Enoch Boakye (undecided); Isaac Taveras (undecided); and Jalen Weaver. Those players were the Bulldogs' top-seven returning scorers. Weaver withdrew from the portal, which helps. But Fresno State's only D-I transfer to date is reserve big Mor Seck (4.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.1 bpg). Coach Vance Walberg also has added Triton (Illinois) College guard Amar Aguillard and San Diego City College forward Alex Crawford, but there's been a sizable talent drain in the San Joaquin Valley.
New Mexico: Things were looking good for New Mexico until MW co-freshman of the year JT Toppin entered the portal just before it closed. He joined two-time All-MW guard Jamal Mashburn, Jr., who committed to Temple. Those are two MW-player-of-the-year types of talents. The Lobos also lost backup big Sebastian Forsling. The loss of Mashburn seemed mutually beneficial with Donovan Dent emerging as the Lobos' top lead guard. But losing Toppin stings. On the bright side, New Mexico retained Dent and Nelly Junior Joseph and has added C.J. Noland (North Texas) and Filip Borovicanin (Arizona) with Noland being a double-digit scorer at the D-I level and Borovicanin being a developmental big. This is a modern "loser."
San Diego State: After losing the MW's best player, Jaedon LeDee, to graduation, the Aztecs needed a big effort in the portal. At best it will come away break-even. SDSU has lost three players to power-conference schools in Micah Parrish (Ohio State), Lamont Butler (Kentucky) and Elijah Saunders (Virginia). Butler is the biggest loss. He's an excellent point guard who can run an offense while defending multiple positions (he was the MW's defensive player of the year in 2023-24). The Aztecs have added Nick Boyd (Florida Atlantic); Jared Coleman-Jones (Middle Tennessee); and Wayne McKinney III (San Diego) who have all averaged at least 9.0 ppg. SDSU will keep adding. But this has not been a good offseason in the portal for the Aztecs.
San Jose State: The Spartans have had a massive roster turnover with the portal entries of Alvaro Cárdenas (San Jose State); Myron Amey, Jr. (LMU); Garrett Anderson; Tibet Görener; William Humer; Bennett Blackerby; Rickey Mitchell, Jr.; Diogo Seixas; and Iggy Mitchell. Amey, Cárdenas and Görener were the Spartans' top-three scorers last season. They'll be hard to replace. SJSU has added a solid player in Donavan Yap, Jr., Fresno State. But losing three starters to the portal is suboptimal.
Utah State: For the second straight year, Utah State must rebuild its roster. This year, it's not from scratch. After returning zero points last season, Utah State had a MW-high 12 players enter the portal this offseason. Two of those — Mason Falslev and Ian Martinez — returned to school, and they're potential All-MW players. But gone are Great Osobor, the reigning MW player of the year, and Josh Uduje, the reigning MW co-sixth man of the year. Those losses alone put the Aggies in the "losers" column. New coach Jerrod Calhoun has been busy in the portal, adding Deyton Albury (Queens, NC); Aubin Gateretse (Stetson); Drake Allen (Utah Valley); Tucker Anderson (Central Arkansas); and Braden Housley (Southern Utah). All five of those guys scored double-digits at the D-I level last year, so there's talent here. But the fact it's another major rebuild on the fly is tough.
Wyoming: The Cowboys had eight players leave for D-I schools last season, including Graham Ike to Wyoming. This year's exodus hasn't been as large but is sizable. The Cowboys have lost Brendan Wenzel (TCU); Caden Powell (Rice); Jonas Sirtautus (Radford); Jacob Theodosiou (Loyola, MD); Cam Manyawu (Drake); and Kael Combs (undecided) to the portal. Wenzel was Wyoming's second-leading scorer with remaining eligibility; Manyawu was one of the MW's top freshmen; and Powell was a starter. The Cowboys return one of its top-six scorers, so we'll put them in the "losers" category despite adding Matija Beli (UCSB); Tyree Ihenacho (North Dakota); and Touko Tainamo (Denver). Ihenacho and Tainamo are strong additions.
Boise State: The Broncos were in great shape until losing Chibuzo Agbo to USC. Still, it's been a solid offseason for Boise State, which retained two All-MW players (Tyson Degenhart; O'Mar Stanley) and added steady point guard Alvaro Cárdenas (San Jose State); NAIA star Javan Buchanan (Indiana Wesleyan); and former top-100 recruit Dylan Anderson (Arizona). Depth tends to be an annual issue for Boise State, and that will probably remain the case next year as the Broncos also lost Jace Whiting (UNLV); Kobe Young (Cal State Fullerton) and Roddie Anderson III (undecided). But this has been a successful offseason for Boise State, who are the likely preseason pick to win the conference.
UNLV: Outside of Air Force, the Rebels have had the quietest offseason in the transfer portal. UNLV has lost two transfers — Jackie Johnson III (Fordham) and Shane Nowell (Portland State) — and added two — Jaden Henley (DePaul) and Jace Whiting (Boise State). That's a small net positive as Henley is the best player of those four. The bigger news was UNLV keeping stud freshman Dedan Thomas Jr. from entering the portal, but it was a relatively quiet offseason for a team that's had a lot of transfer portal turnover the previous two offseasons.
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.
