Good Morning, Illini Nation: Transfer portal winners
Apr. 22—Welcome to "Good Morning, Illini Nation," your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He'll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood's team:
Illinois has made strides in the transfer portal, landing Southern Illinois forward Marcus Domask and Utah Valley guard Justin Harmon. Both solid additions. But until the Illini secure their point guard, they don't quite hit portal winner status. These five teams do:
There's a real case to be made that Creighton transfer Ryan Nembhard was the best available point guard in the portal. Former Wyoming forward Graham Ike was also the preseason Mountain West Player of the Year in 2022-23 before an injury cost him the season. The Bulldogs adding both doesn't vault them into top five team in the country status, but they're at least in the top 15 after also landing Eastern Washington wing Steele Venters.
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The Mountaineers got a head start on transfer additions when Jose Perez left Manhattan before the 2022-23 season started following the last minute firing of coach Steve Masiello. A waiver that late, though, wasn't going to happen. West Virginia also got Omar Silverio from the Jaspers, but the impact additions were landing Arizona point guard Kerr Kriisa and Syracuse center Jesse Edwards.
Vols' coach Rick Barnes has been busy in the portal this week. He landed one of the top mid-major wings in Northern Colorado guard Dalton Knecht and paired him with All-Ivy League forward Chris Ledlum out of Harvard. Knecht put up 20.2 points and 7.2 rebounds and shot 38 percent from three in 2022-23, while Ledlum averaged 18.8 points and 8.5 rebounds. South Carolina Upstate guard Jordan Gainey (15.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.3 apg last year) is just a bonus.
Syracuse
In terms of acquiring young talent, it's hard to argue anyone's done a better job than the Orange. First-year coach Adrian Autry added a former five-star guard in J.J. Starling (Notre Dame) and doubled down on consensus top 35 prospects in the Class of 2022 by landing Auburn guard Chance Westry.
The Cougars' backcourt needed rebuilding after losing Marcus Sasser (draft) and Tramon Mark (Arkansas). Houston coach Kelvin Sampson still had Jamal Shead, but his is a style that requires multiple guards. He got them in Baylor transfer LJ Cryer and Temple transfer Damian Dunn. Cryer averaged 15.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 2022-23, while Dunn put up 15.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season.
