Ranking the Top 10 2025-26 Transfer Players in Men's College Basketball
There were 2,631 D-I men's college basketball players who entered the transfer portal this past offseason, per Verbal Commits.
Two thousand, six hundred and thirty one.
They didn't all end up transferring and a lot of them never played much in the first place, but that's more than 100 per letter of the alphabet, more than seven per team and a more than 26 percent increase from the previous year.
If you thought things would slow down on this front after the COVID year of eligibility was no longer a major factor, goodness was that ever wrong.
What it does mean, though, is that the annual ranking of the top transfers is more star-studded than ever before, as the NIL arms race has made it next to impossible to build a title contender without at least dipping a toe into the transfer pool.
Our rankings are based on anticipated national impact.
Possible leading scorer for a possible No. 1 seed? That's a fantastic candidate for the list. But both potential 20 PPG guys on bubble teams and key role players on Final Four favorites also feature prominently.
Two Sets of Honorable Mentions
1 of 11
Ryan Conwell, Louisville
2024-25 stats at Xavier: 16.5 PPG, 2.5 APG, 1.3 SPG, 41.3% 3PT (on 7.1 3PA/G)
Isaac McKneely, Louisville
2024-25 stats at Virginia: 14.4 PPG, 2.9 APG, 42.1% 3PT (on 7.5 3PA/G)
Adrian Wooley, Louisville
2024-25 stats at Kennesaw State: 18.8 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.4 SPG, 42.2% 3PT (on 5.2 3PA/G)
Pat Kelsey's teams have never been shy about letting it fly from three-point land. Winthrop ranked fifth in the nation in three-point attempt rate in 2018-19, Charleston ranked eighth in 2022-23 and Louisville was 20th in that department in his first year at the helm last season.
Well, with Reyne Smith, Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards out of the picture, Kelsey needed to restock the cupboards in order to make it rain once again. And this trio of guards can most certainly do that. Between the exhibition games against Kansas and Bucknell, McKneely shot 8-for-16 from distance, while Conwell was 7-for-19.
Ian Jackson, St. John's
2024-25 stats at North Carolina: 11.9 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 39.5% 3PT
Bryce Hopkins, St. John's
2024-25 stats at Providence (three games): 17.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 3.0 APG, 40% 3PT
In addition to this duo, Rick Pitino also snagged Dylan Darling (19.8 PPG at Idaho State), Joson Sanon (11.9 PPG at Arizona State), Oziyah Sellers (13.7 PPG at Stanford) and Dillon Mitchell (9.9 PPG at Cincinnati, former 5-star recruit) from the transfer portal. The primary seven-man rotation will probably be those six and returning big man Zuby Ejiofor.
It's Jackson and Hopkins, though, who figure to be the biggest catalysts in determining the Johnnies' ceiling.
Jackson is expected to take on more of a lead guard role than what he played in Chapel Hill. Will it work? And after playing in a combined total of just 17 games over the past two seasons, will Hopkins be able to stay healthy and become a force in the paint alongside Ejiofor?
If both pan out, the national championship potential is legitimate. But we're all curious to see if the lack of an established point guard ends up being the Red Storm's undoing.
10. Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee
2 of 11
2024-25 stats at Maryland: 14.7 PPG, 4.8 APG, 2.8 RPG, 1.9 SPG, 40.7% 3PT
Dalton Knecht, Chaz Lanier, Ja'Kobi Gillespie?
Turning a transfer into an All-SEC scoring machine has become an annual tradition for Rick Barnes and Tennessee, and he's hoping to go back to that well with this former Terrapin.
One major difference, however, is that Knecht and Lanier had the luxury of Zakai Zeigler by their side, who ended his career as Tennessee's all-time leader in assists (747). They merely had to get open and get buckets while Gillespie will be tasked with running the offense for a Tennessee team that lost all six of its guards that scored at least 10 points last season.
Fortunately, he has already shown he can do that for a national contender, as he was the primary ball-handler for the "Crab Five." Gillespie also had a team-high 19 points (granted, on 21 field-goal attempts) and eight assists in the Volunteers' exhibition game against Duke.
One-and-done freshman Nate Ament is going to command most of the spotlight in Knoxville. But as was the case last year with one-and-done Derik Queen becoming the shining star at Maryland, Gillespie will be the rudder of this ship.
9. Jayden Quaintance, Kentucky
3 of 11
2024-25 stats at Arizona State: 9.4 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 2.6 BPG, 1.5 APG, 1.1 SPG
Jayden Quaintance originally committed to Kentucky out of high school, back when he was a top-10 recruit and when John Calipari was still in Lexington. But when Cal jumped ship for the Arkansas job, Quaintance neither stuck with the Wildcats nor followed him to the Razorbacks, instead becoming the highest-rated recruit to ever sign with Arizona State.
He finally made his way to Rupp Arena, though, after a lone season in the desert that was a bit of a mixed bag.
It was immediately clear that he was one of the best shot-blockers in the nation, as well as a tenacious rebounder, especially on the offensive glass. However, he struggled to make his mark as a scorer, posting brutal shooting percentages of 18.8 from downtown and 47.9 from the charity stripe. And his season was cut short by a torn ACL that will likely result in him missing the first month or so of this campaign.
Once he makes it back onto the court, though, look out. Bobby Hurley couldn't figure out how to best utilize this human pogo stick in the half-court offense, but Mark Pope may have better luck.
8. Tucker DeVries, Indiana
4 of 11
2024-25 Stats at West Virginia (eight games): 14.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.5 BPG, 47.3% 3PT
After scoring nearly 2,000 points in three seasons at Drake, Tucker DeVries' lone year at West Virginia started out promising enough, including a 26-point explosion with eight made triples against Arizona in the third-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Unfortunately, he lasted just one more game before suffering what turned out to be a season-ending shoulder injury. The silver lining (for him; not so much for West Virginia) is that the injury happened early enough in the year for DeVries to get a medical redshirt and follow his dad to a third school in three years.
He looked no worse for wear in Indiana's exhibition game against Baylor, filling up the stat sheet to the tune of 18 points, six rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals.
Business as usual for what ought to be the most productive of the Hoosiers' bevy of transfers.
At any rate, it's tough to envision Indiana contending for a spot in the NCAA tournament if DeVries doesn't contribute at something close to his normal level of excellence.
7. Rob Wright III, BYU
5 of 11
2024-25 stats at Baylor: 11.5 PPG, 4.2 APG, 2.1 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 35.2% 3PT
Overshadowed by V.J. Edgecombe's journey to becoming the No. 3 overall pick in the most recent NBA draft, Rob Wright III had quite the freshman campaign of his own at Baylor, becoming more of a lead guard for the Bears than even Jeremy Roach was after four years as a starter at Duke.
Of course, "thrived despite being overshadowed by a one-and-done superstar" is probably a big part of what made Wright so attractive to BYU once he landed in the portal, as there's no question he'll be playing second fiddle to AJ Dybantsa in Provo.
He'll probably even be third fiddle to returning leading scorer Richie Saunders, too.
But Wright will be the glue that holds the Cougars together in their quest for what would be the first Final Four in program history—a glue that can occasionally go off for 20+ points, like he did in marquee games against Connecticut and Kansas last season.
Wright had five dimes in each of BYU's exhibition games against Nebraska and North Carolina and will be key in Monday's opener against Villanova.
6. Bennett Stirtz, Iowa
6 of 11
2024-25 stats at Drake: 19.2 PPG, 5.7 APG, 4.3 RPG, 2.1 SPG, 39.5% 3PT
Iowa fans who liked Fran McCaffery's run-and-gun, defense-optional approach over the past 15 years are in for a rude-but-welcome awakening with this Bennett Stirtz-led offense.
Much like Tucker DeVries following his dad from Drake to West Virginia to Indiana in the span of three seasons, Stirtz has been Ben McCollum's right-hand man throughout his ascension through Northwest Missouri State, Drake and Iowa.
Stirtz played darn near every minute of every game last season. In fact, if you take out the two games against non-DI competition, he averaged 40.3 minutes per contest, playing all 45 minutes in each of their five overtime affairs. Yet, he never seemed to tire, scoring at least 20 points in 12 of his final 15 games and almost always posting an O-rating well north of 100.
Given how well he performed against the likes of Texas Tech, Missouri, Kansas State and Vanderbilt, his play certainly should translate just fine in the jump from the Missouri Valley to the Big Ten. If anything, we're intrigued to find out what he can do now that there's plenty of high-major talent by his side.
5. Darrion Williams, NC State
7 of 11
2024-25 stats at Texas Tech: 15.1 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.3 SPG, 34.0% 3PT
Darrion Williams was already quite good in his first two years of college hoops, but he somewhat reinvented himself last season as the Red Raiders adjusted to life after Pop Isaacs and Joe Toussaint, not to mention life with JT Toppin dominating in the paint.
Williams exploded from a 17.1 usage percentage in 2023-24 to a 27.0 mark, going from 9.8 field-goal attempts and 3.0 assists per 40 minutes played to 16.6 and 4.8, respectively. His fingerprints were on everything the Red Raiders did, even though Toppin was the one who got all the love, including Big 12 POY.
Now at NC State, though, it's finally his time to shine.
Even in a league where Duke's Cam Boozer very much exists and might be the No. 1 pick in the next NBA draft, Williams was tabbed by ACC media as the league's preseason player of the year. If the Wolfpack are going to live up to the hype and get back to the NCAA tournament in their first season under Will Wade, Williams may well be a national All-American at the end of the year.
4. Boogie Fland, Florida
8 of 11
2024-25 stats at Arkansas: 13.5 PPG, 5.1 APG, 3.2 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 34.0% 3PT
For as abundantly talented as Boogie Fland clearly is, his freshman season devolved into quite the example of the Ewing Theory in action, as the Razorbacks suddenly turned their season around right after he suffered a thumb injury and missed two months of action.
He wouldn't be No. 4 on this list if anyone honestly believed that was addition by subtraction, though. His injury just so happened to coincide with Nelly Davis and Karter Knox starting to figure things out, as well as Zvonimir Ivisic resurfacing as an impact player after about two months of ghost-like activity.
Now at Florida, Fland is working his way back from another injury, undergoing hernia surgery in the offseason and reportedly missing the "secret scrimmage" against Illinois a few days ago. Until we hear otherwise, though, the expectation remains that he'll be available for that marquee opener against Arizona on Monday night and that he'll be the primary lead guard for the reigning national champions.
Once Fland is fully up to speed, it's not hard to envision him becoming for the Gators what Walter Clayton Jr. was last year. He might launch about 100 fewer triples than Clayton did, but it will be Fland's hand that rocks the cradle in Gainesville.
3. PJ Haggerty, Kansas State
9 of 11
2024-25 stats at Memphis: 21.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.8 SPG, 36.4% 3PT
Kansas State just might be the biggest question mark in the entire country.
The Wildcats lost all five of the leading scorers from a team that went 16-17 overall. But Jerome Tang put together one of the most loaded crops of transfers out there, including MAC Player of the Year Nate Johnson, a second quality MAC product in Bowling Green's Marcus Johnson and Abdi Bashir Jr., who averaged 20.1 PPG at Monmouth.
It all hinges on this one, though, who was awesome at Tulsa two years ago, awesome at Memphis last year and ideally better than ever this season in Manhattan.
PJ Haggerty is a do-it-all star who ranked third in the nation in points per game, averaging better than 21 points for the second consecutive year. A lot of that stems from his James-Harden-in-his-prime bowling ball approach to running the offense, ranking second in the nation in total free throw attempts in each of the past two years.
Haggerty also became more of a legitimate three-point threat this past season, although he is still most dangerous when driving downhill before either finishing through contact or kicking it out to the open man.
And if that open man is Bashir, good luck, opponents. He canned 3.8 triples per game last season, both making and attempting the second-most in the nation. Marcus Johnson is also a big perimeter threat who made eight threes in a game at Michigan State last November, and eight more in his subsequent game against Niagara.
2. Donovan Dent, UCLA
10 of 11
2024-25 stats at New Mexico: 20.4 PPG, 6.4 APG, 1.4 SPG, 40.9% 3PT
In the first of his three seasons at New Mexico, Donovan Dent's job was basically to stay out of the way of the established veterans, learning from but regularly deferring to the likes of Jamal Mashburn Jr., Jaelen House and Morris Udeze.
By last season, however, the Lobos simply were the "Donovan Dent Show." He had 16 games with at least 20 points and five dimes, as well as a 40 burger in a mid-December win over VCU, which shouldn't be possible without multiple overtimes.
He does sometimes get a little too loose with the ball, committing eight turnovers in the NCAA tournament game against Marquette, that coming after he had nine giveaways early in the year against his new team, UCLA. And largely due to the turnovers, his overall efficiency when facing "Tier A" competition has taken a real nosedive over the past two years.
When he's on his "A" game, though, he's basically unguardable. And with all due respect to Tyger Campbell, UCLA hasn't had a lead guard like that since Aaron Holiday averaged roughly 20 points and six assists as a junior back in 2017-18. The more he can play at that level, the better the Bruins' chances of winning their first title since 1995.
1. Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan
11 of 11
2024-25 stats at UAB: 17.7 PPG, 11.4 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.8 BPG, 1.7 SPG, 35.7% 3PT
When Ben Simmons averaged 19 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals per game as a freshman at LSU back in 2015-16, he was a consensus first-team All-American and the easy choice for the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.
For putting up a comparable stat line at UAB last season, Yaxel Lendeborg basically went unnoticed by 95 percent of college basketball fans—until he landed in the transfer portal and found his way to a coach (Dusty May) who just last season plucked a similar do-it-all big man from Yale (Danny Wolf) and turned him into a first round draft pick.
All of a sudden, Lendeborg has become perhaps the most noteworthy non-freshman not named Braden Smith in the entire country, as we wait with bated breath to see what he can do against real competition.
He did go for 25, 10 and four in Michigan's exhibition game against St. John's last week, but UAB didn't face a single KenPom top 50 team last season. And in the Blazers' only two games against top 45 foes the previous year, Lendeborg averaged 8.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 5.0 personal fouls.
If he remains a box score aficionado throughout life in the Big Ten, Michigan might just be the best team in the country.
.jpg?w=480 "Cardinals Draft Love Football")
