Ranking the Top 10 2023-24 Transfer Players in Men's College Basketball
Per Verbal Commits, 1,823 men's college basketball players exercised their right to enter the transfer portal in the past calendar year—a slight increase from 1,757 the previous year.
Not all of them are gems, of course. Not all of them even transferred either, as roughly 20 percent don't have a new school listed. But just about every major conference program (aside from Marquette and Michigan State) added at least one new transfer for the 2023-24 campaign.
Many of those old faces in new places are already playing a huge role in shaping this season.
Players are ranked in ascending order of projected impact on the national state of men's college hoops. In other words, do they have a starting job for a Final Four contender, and would that team still be a contender if it didn't have that transfer at its disposal?
Unless otherwise noted, statistics are current through the start of play Sunday, Nov. 26.
Honorable Mentions
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Jimmy Bell, Mississippi State: Bell started all 34 games last season at West Virginia, but he was a glue guy who didn't make much of an impact in the box score. But he has been indispensable for Mississippi State as it patiently waits to get Tolu Smith back from injury. Bell is averaging 10.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.
Tyler Burton, Villanova: Without question, Villanova has been at its best this season when utilizing Burton. In games where he is used on at least 20 percent of possessions while on the floor, he's averaging 12.8 points and 8.8 rebounds and Villanova has an average margin of victory of 21.5. In other games, he averages 6.3 points and 6.3 rebounds, which includes the loss to Penn.
Keyshawn Hall, George Mason: It would take a miracle for Hall to become a household name around the country, but the UNLV transfer is making quite the early impression in Fairfax, Virginia. Hall is averaging 17.7 points and 10.8 rebounds and shooting reasonably well/often from three-point range (12-for-36 through six games). Tuck this one away to check on it later: In the past three decades, there have only been four instances of a player finishing a season with at least 15 PPG, 10 RPG and 60 made threes: Mike Daum twice, Dylan Windler and Kevin Durant.
Graham Ike & Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga: Nembhard hasn't been able to buy a three-point bucket (2-for-16), but he has been exactly what Gonzaga was missing at point guard last season. And after missing all of last year with a foot injury, Ike (13.8 PPG, 8.0 RPG) doesn't look any worse for wear. He could be the Mountain West-to-Gonzaga transfer star that Brandon Clarke was a few years ago.
Harrison Ingram, North Carolina: The Tar Heels still primarily run through Armando Bacot and R.J. Davis, but Ingram finally looks like the 5-star talent we were promised three recruiting cycles ago. The Stanford transplant has scored in double figures in all six games, averaging 14 points, seven rebounds and a shade under three assists while shooting 48 percent from downtown.
Caleb Love, Arizona: A different Arizona player will appear in the top five, but Love nearly made the cut, too. The three-point stroke (10-for-37) hasn't gotten any more reliable than it was in Chapel Hill, but he has emerged as a more willing passer, averaging 4.7 assists to go along with his 13.2 points per game.
Olivier Nkamhoua, Michigan: Nkamhoua has scored at least 16 points in six of Michigan's first seven games, and efficiently so with a true shooting percentage of 67.3. He's also averaging better than seven rebounds and three assists per game.
Tylor Perry, Kansas State: KSU is figuring itself out with both Nae'Qwan Tomlin and Ques Glover still unavailable, and this transfer from North Texas is doing everything he can to carry the Wildcats for now. In the season-opening loss to USC, Perry went for 22 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals. He also scored 24 in the win over Providence, averaging roughly 17, five and five through six games.
10. Allen Flanigan, Ole Miss
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Season Stats: 31.8 MPG, 20.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.0 BPG
Ole Miss is 5-0, but it has not made things easy on itself against an undaunting schedule, narrowly surviving its last three games against Detroit, Sam Houston State and Temple.
Good thing it had Auburn transfer Allen Flanigan for all three of those contests, or it might be sub-.500 at this point.
He couldn't buy a bucket against Detroit, going 3-for-16 from the field. But when it mattered most, he stepped to the line and drained a pair of free throws to give the Rebels the one-point victory. It was the same ending against Temple, with Flanigan turning a 76-75 deficit into a 77-76 victory with a pair of clutch free throws. (In between, he went for 23 points against SHSU.)
Per KenPom, Flanigan has been the MVP of each Ole Miss game, save for the poor shooting effort against Detroit.
Quite the bounce-back year for the veteran who tore an Achilles during the summer of 2021 and never seemed to get all the way back to his usual self over his final two seasons with the Tigers.
9. Max Abmas, Texas
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Season Stats: 32.8 MPG, 15.2 PPG, 3.7 APG, 3.0 RPG, 0.8 SPG, 41.0 3P% (includes Sunday's game against Wyoming)
Over the previous three seasons at Oral Roberts, Max Abmas was one of the most prolific scorers in all of college hoops, averaging 23.0 points (and 3.8 assists) while shooting just under 40 percent from three-point range.
Heading into the season, it was pretty well a toss-up between Abmas and Kansas' Hunter Dickinson for the title of most important transfer in the nation.
Thus far, however, Abmas hasn't quite lived up to the scoring hype.
He has scored in double figures in each of Texas' first five contests, but it took him 33 field-goal attempts to score 24 points between the two games against Louisville and Connecticut at Madison Square Garden.
Abmas did at least produce the most memorable moment of that Empire Classic, draining the mid-range game-winner just before the buzzer against the Cardinals.
But where the heck are the free throws? Abmas averaged more than five trips to the charity stripe per game over the past three seasons, but he entered Sunday's game against Wyoming having attempted just four free throws, none in his past 100 minutes on the floor. (He went 4-for-4 from the line against the Cowboys.)
Once he gets back to embracing contact, perhaps he'll also get back to scoring close to 20 points per game. But early returns do suggest he will just have as much of a permanent green light as he did while playing in the Summit League.
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8. Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
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Season Stats: 31.0 MPG, 16.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.8 SPG, 36.1 3P%
Walter Clayton Jr. was an unsung breakout star last year at Iona. He spent most of his freshman season in a sixth-man role, but he blossomed into the Gaels' leading scorer as a sophomore, averaging 16.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
But when Rick Pitino left New Rochelle, so did Clayton, landing in Gainesville. And through six games with Florida, the only real difference has been a slight uptick in assists now that he's the primary ball-handler. (It was Daniss Jenkins in that role for the Gaels last year.)
While some of these transfers haven't really been tested yet, Clayton has already faced Virginia, Florida State, Pittsburgh and Baylor, more than holding his own in each of those games.
He put up 28 points in the win over Pitt, which the Gators needed to get the subsequent matchup with Baylor in the NIT Tip-Off championship. And though he didn't shoot nearly as well against the Bears, Clayton still filled up the stat sheet with an 11-6-4-2-2 line in a competitive loss.
With Clayton leading the way, Florida has a 56.0 assist rate in the early going, which has not been a strength for this program since Billy Donovan left nearly a decade ago. Clayton could be a real difference-maker for the Gators.
7. LJ Cryer, Houston
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Season Stats: 30.3 MPG, 17.0 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.0 SPG, 37.9 3P%
With Marcus Sasser and Jarace Walker gone to the NBA and Tramon Mark lost to the transfer portal, Houston needed to add a veteran with a scoring pedigree—preferably one with a good three-point stroke and a proven ability to thrive in a league as loaded as the Big 12.
So, getting LJ Cryer from Baylor after he averaged 14.4 points and shot 43.4 percent from distance over the previous two seasons figured to be a massive home run.
The big question mark with Cryer was his lack of impact on defense while with Baylor. Per Sports Reference, he had the worst defensive rating among the 10 Bears who played at least 100 minutes last season. He was also the least valuable defender among Baylor's nine regulars in 2021-22. And if you don't play defense, you probably aren't playing for Kelvin Sampson.
Thus far, he doesn't appear to be hurting Houston on that end of the floor. However, the Cougars have yet to face anything close to a top-tier backcourt, so we'll have to reserve judgment on that front at least until they go up against Texas A&M's Wade Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford in mid-December.
From a scoring perspective, though, Cryer has been exactly what Houston needed. He shot 1-for-9 from distance in the opener against Louisiana-Monroe, but he's 21-for-49 (42 percent) since then.
6. RayJ Dennis, Baylor
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Season Stats: 28.8 MPG, 13.8 PPG, 6.0 APG, 3.7 RPG, 2.0 SPG
Adios, LJ Cryer. Hello, RayJ Dennis.
After the Bears lost Cryer to Houston, they went out and got the veteran point guard who averaged 19.5 points and 5.8 assists last season at Toledo. Dennis was one of just three players to average at least 19 points and 5.5 assists in 2022-23, and he was the only one returning in 2023-24.
The unknown was whether his game would adequately translate from the MAC to a much more difficult schedule in the Big 12, and there's some good news and some bad news on that front.
The bad news is that he has gotten much less sure-handed with the ball. Dennis committed three or fewer turnovers in each of his final 26 games with Toledo, but he had seven giveaways in the opener against Auburn and five more in Friday's game against Florida.
The good news is he can make up for it elsewhere, going for 24 points and eight assists in the win over the Gators. He's also averaging two steals per game, which is an element that was very much lacking from Baylor's backcourt last season.
If he can get those turnovers under control before it becomes a legitimate issue in league play, Baylor could be right there with Houston and Kansas atop the best league in the country.
5. Grant Nelson and Aaron Estrada, Alabama
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Nelson's Season Stats: 25.8 MPG, 14.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 2.0 BPG
Estrada's Season Stats: 26.7 MPG, 17.0 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 3.3 APG, 1.7 SPG, 51.9 3P%
We're giving you a 2-for-1 special here at No. 5 as we try to figure out which up-transfer is most indispensable for the Crimson Tide.
Grant Nelson came from North Dakota State, where he did a wee bit of everything last season. Nelson averaged roughly 18 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks per game while also shooting just well enough from three-point range (25-for-93) to keep the defense honest.
It was all very similar to what Hunter Dickinson had done at Michigan over the previous two seasons. And thus far, it has translated nicely to Alabama, with Nelson scoring at least 20 in three out of six games while also blocking multiple shots in five contests.
Then there's Estrada, who's now on his fourth school after an impressive two-year stint with Hofstra. He'll leave the shot-blocking to Nelson, but he can fill up a stat sheet in his own right.
In 2021-22, Estrada averaged 18.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, almost identical to what D'Angelo Russell did for Ohio State back in 2014-15—19.3, 5.7 and 5.0, respectively. And even with Mark Sears running the offense, Estrada is still putting up impressive numbers.
4. Cam Spencer, Connecticut
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Season Stats: 28.7 MPG, 16.2 PPG, 3.8 APG, 3.2 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 48.7 3P%, 100.0 FT%
Up until this season, Cam Spencer had spent his college career as something of an oasis in a desert of lackluster offenses.
Between his first three seasons at Loyola Maryland and last year at Rutgers, he averaged 14.1 points per game and shot 40.5 percent from three-point range...for teams that still ranked outside the top 150 in adjusted offensive efficiency. Last year, he shot 43.4 percent from downtown, while the rest of the Scarlet Knights shot 27.8 percent.
Now, he's at UConn, where he's one of many offensive weapons that can destroy you. And he is thriving in that environment.
Spencer entered the year with an impressive career .590 true shooting percentage, but he is sitting at .729 after yet another efficient performance in Friday's blowout win over Manhattan.
Over his last three games (Indiana, Texas and Manhattan), Spencer has scored 52 points on just 30 field-goal attempts while going a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. He has scored at least 16 points in four straight games, emerging as not just one of the scoring options, but quite possibly the best scoring option on a stacked roster.
3. Keshad Johnson, Arizona
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Season Stats: 24.3 MPG, 13.3 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.3 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Between the road win over Duke and the neutral-site victory over Michigan State, Arizona has made one heck of an early case for best team in the nation.
And in both of those games, San Diego State transfer Keshad Johnson had his fingerprints on everything.
Johnson isn't a volume scorer, to say the least. In 119 career games, he has never scored more than the 17 points he had two weeks ago against Southern. But he has scored in double digits in each of Arizona's first six games and always seems to be everywhere.
He was particularly impactful against the Spartans, finishing that one with 13 points (on just five field-goal attempts), 10 rebounds, four steals, two blocks and an assist. And after MSU went on a big run to take a late lead, Johnson had massive offensive rebounds on back-to-back possessions, scoring four second-chance points to put the Wildcats ahead for good.
Johnson also had two huge buckets late in the win over Duke, but what he really did in that game was render both Mark Mitchell and Ryan Young helpless with his ever-present intensity on defense.
It has been fun to watch him integrate his SDSU DNA into Arizona's much more uptempo approach to the game.
2. Dalton Knecht, Tennessee
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Season Stats: 29.8 MPG, 17.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.8 APG, 37.9 3P%
As with LJ Cryer at Houston, the jury is still very much out on whether Dalton Knecht's defense will be acceptable enough to not counteract the major positive impact he can make on offense. Because goodness knows that at Tennessee these days, the ability to prevent buckets is valued above the ability to make them.
Knecht sure looks like an exception to that rule for a team that has spent the past few years searching for a reliable scorer, a la senior year Admiral Schofield in 2018-19.
Knecht was dynamite in the early road win over Wisconsin, scoring a game-high 24 in that one. The 6'6" wing-forward who averaged better than 20 points per game last year at Northern Colorado has put up at least 13 points in each game thus far.
It did take him 17 shots to get there when playing his third game in three days against a very good Kansas in the Maui Invitational third-place game, but he is quickly blossoming into a borderline first-round NBA draft prospect.
Big game at North Carolina coming up on Wednesday, but Tennessee should be able to hide Knecht's defensive limitations by primarily assigning him to guard Seth Trimble and Paxson Wojcik, neither of whom does much shooting.
1. Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
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Season Stats: 29.3 MPG, 21.2 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.7 SPG, 8-for-12 3PT
Not only is Hunter Dickinson clearly the most statistically impactful transfer in the country, but he has lived up to the hype as one of the few legitimate candidates who could keep Zach Edey from becoming the first back-to-back National Player of the Year since Ralph Sampson in the early 1980s.
It's just too bad we didn't get to see those two bigs go head-to-head in the Maui Invitational.
Even if we throw out the blowout wins over Chaminade, Manhattan and NC Central, Dickinson averaged 19.0 points and 16.3 rebounds—plus 2.0 steals, 1.7 assists and a 50 percent three-point stroke—against a trio of legitimate Final Four contenders in Tennessee, Marquette and Kentucky.
Sure, Kentucky was playing without all three of its seven-footers. And, yes, Tennessee entered the year with considerable question marks in the frontcourt, which were further emphasized by the dominant performances by Edey and Dickinson against them in back-to-back days.
That doesn't change the fact that it's damn impressive to go for 27 and 21 and then 17 and 20 against two of the better teams in the country.
Dickinson did get considerably outplayed by Oso Ighodaro in the loss to Marquette, though, so he isn't quite unstoppable. But the 7'2" stretch-5 has been mighty fine early on while embracing his role as the most prominent villain of the 2023-24 men's college basketball season.
Gigantic game against Connecticut coming up on Friday, where Dickinson could really stake his claim to NPOY by putting in some work against Donovan Clingan.
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